What does the fox say? An odd question to ask regarding a hockey game, but in a weirdly scheduled game in a weirdly scheduled season, apparently the fox says “victory.”

The Chargers, having to wear jerseys with the emblem of Fox Motors, a local car dealership, snapped a 29-game road winless streak Tuesday afternoon with a 3-1 victory over Northern Michigan at the Berry Events Center in Marquette, Mich.

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UAH’s blue road jerseys did not make the trip, and with the winter storm battering a swath through the Midwest, they could not be shipped in time. So the Chargers wore basic white jerseys with the Fox Motors logo along with their regular blue helmets and pants.

The one thing that could be considered normal was the play of UAH goaltender David Fessenden, who stopped 35 of 36 shots. The sophomore returned to action after being scratched in the Chargers’ last game against Minnesota State on Friday.

Fessenden’s status is up in the air again, however. Fessenden had to be helped off the ice with 2:22 remaining in the third period. Inexplicably, Fessenden received a delay of game penalty.

Derek Krall filled in the rest of the game, making one save as the Chargers killed the penalty and finished the victory.

UAH (3-9-1 overall, 3-4-0 WCHA) won its third game of the year, surpassing last season’s mark.

The series finale is Wednesday night at 6:07 p.m. The Chargers travel to Lake Superior State for games Friday and Saturday.

The Wildcats (7-12-0 overall, 5-4-0 WCHA) had come in winners of five of their last six, but it was the Chargers who put the squeeze on them through most of two periods.

To start the scoring, Tyrone Bronte drove to the net, crossed to goaltender Rico DiMatteo’s right and delivered a nice back-hander over the pad for a 1-0 Chargers lead 4:32 in.

UAH took a 2-0 lead early in the second period when Adrian Danchenko followed up Ben Allen’s shot with a pop-in rebound from the slot.

The Chargers had their first three-goal lead of the season with 4:14 remaining in the second. Connor Wood, on a 2-on-1 fresh out of the penalty box, centered a pass to Bauer Neudecker, who ripped the puck past DiMatteo for his fourth goal of the season.

DiMatteo made 13 saves as the Wildcats lost for this first time in four starts for the freshman.

NMU’s top line would not be denied, however. Andre Ghantous, assisted by Joseph Nardi, beat a sprawling Fessenden to cut UAH’s lead to 3-1 with 2:53 remaining in the second.

No goals were scored in the third period, even though Northern Michigan dominated possession. The Wildcats outshot the Chargers 16-2 in the final frame and 37-16 for the game.

Part of the reason for the shots advantage was the faceoff advantage. NMU won that battle by a decisive 47-23 margin.

But Fessenden would come up big yet again, making use of his large frame and quick glove to keep the Wildcats out of the net.

UAH had not won a road game since March 1, 2019 at Bowling Green. The Chargers had gone 0-24-5 on the road since.

Technically, UAH played as the home team. This series was originally scheduled for January 22 and 23 in Huntsville but COVID-19 issues with the Chargers forced a postponement.

For a period at least, there were thoughts of an upset.

But Minnesota State did what a third-ranked team should do, scoring three goals in the second period en route to a 4-1 win over the Chargers at the Von Braun Center on Thursday night.

UAH (2-8-1 overall, 2-3-0 WCHA) struck first 3:32 into the contest when Quinn Green, taking a feed from the rigth wing Bauer Neudecker, beat superstar goaltender Dryden McKay from the high slot.

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Tyrone Bronte extended his point-scoring streak to five games with the secondary assist on Green’s first collegiate goal.

After that, it was all Mavericks, who outshot the Chargers 46-10.

Minnesota State (12-2-1 overall, 9-0-0 WCHA) had tied the game with 7:18 left, but after a long video review officials determined that Brendan Furry’s stick was above the crossbar.

The Mavericks started the second period on a blistering pace and tied the game up on a power play. Andy Carroll back-handed in a rebound with goaltender David Fessenden down at 4:31 to go.

MSU took a 2-1 lead just over a minute later when Walker Duehr’s deflection in front handcuffed Fessenden. With 7:18 remaining, Cade Borchardt’s one-timer made it 3-1.

It was all Fessenden could do while being bombarded. The Mavericks put up 20 shots on goal in the second period alone.

UAH defenders were handling all they could as well, blocking 10 shots in the second period and 24 for the game.

Ayodele Adeniye led the Chargers with six blocked shots. During the power play when the Mavericks scored their second goal, Adeniye blocked two hard shots from the right slot. The first occurred while a Maverick player was falling on him. Adeniye got up with a limp before sliding to block the second. He skated gingerly off the ice but returned after being tended to.

Fessenden left the game hurt early in the third period and finished with 29 saves. Derek Krall, who started the Chargers’ second game against Michigan Tech last week, stopped 13 of 14 shots the rest of the way.

Dallas Gerads added a third-period power-play goal for the final 4-1 score. Meanwhile, UAH did not get any power plays.

Game two of the series is Friday night at 7:07 p.m.

UAH played better in its 4-1 loss to Michigan Tech at the Von Braun Cebter on Saturday, but the Chargers have work to do to regain their legs following their pandemic-induced layoff.

The Huskies wore down the Chargers with three unanswered goals in the third period to complete a sweep of the non-conference series.

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The Chargers (2-7-1), who were idle for 27 days because of COVID-19 protocols coming into the weekend, had only 19 shots on goal. But even that was improvement over the nine shots on net they had in Friday’s 3-1 defeat.

Once again, UAH’s starting goaltender had to work hard to keep the Chargers in the game. This time, it was freshman Derek Krall, who had not seen any action in two months with David Fessenden assuming the No. 1 spot. Krall responded admirably with 37 saves on 41 Michigan Tech shots.

Trenton Bliss opened the scoring for Michigan Tech (11-5-1) by sneaking the puck off Krall and in with 11:07 remaining in the first period.

Michigan Tech nearly made it 2-0 when Alec Broetzman deflected a centering feed during a power play, but Krall denied him with a sprawling pad save and sitting cover.

The Chargers tied the game at 6:57 of the second period in a rather unorthodox fashion. Bennett Stockdale, trying to create a chance in front of the Tech net, was tripped as he crossed the goal line. His back-hander deflected off a Husky defender and past goalie Blake Pietila (18 saves) for his first college goal and point.

Bauer Neudecker and Tyrone Bronte got the assists. Bronte now leads the Chargers with six assists and nine points.

Michigan Tech dominated possession for the rest of the period after the UAH goal. The Huskies outshot the Chargers 15-5 in the frame, keeping Krall busy with the pad and glove.

The biggest test for UAH came at start the third period. After back-to-back penalties to Connor Wood and Ayodele Adeniye to end the second, the Chargers had to kill off a 5-on-3 Huskies advantage for 1:33.

Test passed, thanks in large part to Krall, who robbed Arvid Caderoth’s doorstep snipe with the pad to keep the game tied 1-1.

However, the Huskies eventually put the game away with three unanswered goals over a span of 3:46 as Tech kept firing.

Justin Misiak pounded in a rebound through traffic in the slot to put the Huskies up 2-1 almost four minutes into the third. Tristan Ashbrook wristed in a centering pass two minutes later, and Alec Broetzman followed up with a slapshot from the left circle a minute after that.

UAH will turn attention to the best team in the WCHA, No. 6 Minnesota State, for a conference series at the VBC on Thursday and Friday.