Category Archives: Charger Hockey News

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Editorial: UAH should consider women’s hockey

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Let me preface this by saying I expect none of this to happen. But as we are in the fourth season in which UAH has “suspended” the men’s varsity hockey program after failing to find a conference, dreaming is about all we have.

I was looking at how the independent NCAA Division I men’s hockey teams were faring this season, and it’s not great. The independents are playing at home about 30 percent of the time, which is about how it was for UAH when it was a D-I independent from 2010-13. They are also a combined 12-32-4 so far against teams in conferences, a .292 win percentage. Last season, the independents were 35-72-14 (.347) against the six conferences.

Adding insult to injury, independent programs had an average of nine players enter the transfer portal over the summer, more than double any of the conference based teams.

It continues to make me wonder whether UAH would have been able to build a viable program if the university had decided to stick it out as an independent. Good luck building a program without a conference in this day and age, and that’s not even considering things like NIL or payments to players in Division I.

But as I looked at the NCAA college hockey landscape and the setup of one conference in particular, it occurred to me that if UAH actually wanted to get back into hockey, it stood a better shot at viability if it created a women’s hockey program instead.

NCAA women’s hockey has two levels: National Collegiate (essentially a combined Divisions I and II, commonly referred to as Division I) and Division III. UAH would be in National Collegiate. This season, there are 44 programs at the National Collegiate level in five conferences (there are no independents). Delaware will make it 45 next season.

The conference in question is Atlantic Hockey America. This season, the men’s Atlantic Hockey Association and the women’s College Hockey America, which had shared some organization and administrative roles, formally merged into one brand.

UAH was a member of the men’s College Hockey America conference from 1999-2010, when the men’s league ceased, and tried to join Atlantic Hockey in 2021 but failed, leading to the program’s suspension.

AHA women has room to grow

I have opined before that Atlantic Hockey should have split, which would have given UAH a real option for a new conference home. The problem (which I should have recognized before) is that the NCAA has a moratorium on new single-sport conferences, meaning the AHA couldn’t spin off a new men’s hockey league if it wanted to unless all that league’s members are part of the same multi-sport conference (like the Big Ten).

The AHA men’s league has 11 teams, and although it will down to 10 when American International drops its program to Division II next year, the conference has been hesitant to add any others, including notable in-region independents like Long Island and Stonehill.

The women’s league has six teams, Lindenwood, Mercyhurst, Penn State, RIT, Robert Morris, and Syracuse, with a seventh, Delaware, joining when its program starts in 2025. It has room to grow, and Lindenwood, being in the St. Louis area, is the closest NCAA women’s hockey program to Huntsville.

And, just like with the men’s program, having a conference home, a championship to play for, and a path to the NCAA tournament would be critical for any chance to build a viable program.

The time is also right because of the continued growing popularity and participation in women’s hockey in particular and women’s sports in general.

Could UAH actually do it?

(Assuming UAH is actually interested, of course.)

First, the program would require funding to start up. The most logical source would be from the UAH hockey alumni group, which had spearheaded a financing plan for the men’s team if it had joined a conference. Would they be open to kickstarting a women’s team?

Second, this new Charger team would need to decide on where to play. Returning to Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center would be great, of course. The Huntsville Ice Sports Center has a 1,000-seat rink and has funding approved by the Huntsville City Council to expand with two more rinks.

Third, UAH would have to be accepted into a conference, specifically Atlantic Hockey America. That league would have to be open to accepting a new UAH program as a travel partner for Lindenwood and provide further stability. The AHA is bringing in Delaware as that program is just starting up, so there is ppreced

So there are significant ifs to UAH to having the first varsity women’s hockey program in the South, distinguishing the university once again as it did with the men’s program for all those years.

Another consideration: There have been rumors of UAH starting a football program soon but the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees has been reluctant to give the green light. I’m not sure if they’d be gung-ho about UAH adding women’s hockey when they’ve been cool to men’s hockey’s existence before.

But if UAH is allowed to start up a football program, there will likely need to be a women’s sport added for Title IX compliance. Women’s hockey would be a nice way to do it.

I think it’d be fun. And more likely to succeed.

Photo at top: Players from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University club women’s hockey teams battle for the puck. Photo by Jaime Crawford/JC Sports Photography

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Veterans Cup ahead for Chargers

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The UAH club hockey team is participating in the College Hockey South Veterans Cup at the Huntsville Ice Sports Center this weekend.

For the Chargers, it will be another tough challenge in a challenging season.

“We’re very excited to be hosting the Veterans Cup again this year and looking forward to seeing all the veterans at the rink this weekend,” UAH head coach Tim Flynn said. “From a hockey standpoint, any time you get to play for a trophy it’s special and it’s a great opportunity to showcase College Hockey South and the caliber of hockey that’s out there. (CHS commissioner) Kyle Knell does a great job working with the Huntsville Ice Sports Center and the Huntsville Sports Commission to put this event on and make sure it’s a first class event every year.”

UAH is still looking for its first win of the season. The Chargers were swept by Middle Tennessee at home last week to fall to 0-8 overall and 0-4 in CHS Division 2 North play.

So it will be a tall order to take down South Carolina, the defending AAU Division 1 national champions, on Saturday night at 8 p.m. The Gamecocks are 7-2-2 this season.

The winner of the UAH-South Carolina match will face the winner of the first semifinal between Alabama (4-6-1) and Auburn (1-10-0). That game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

The third-place game will take place Sunday at 10 a.m., followed by the championship at 12:30 p.m.

“We’re going to have our work cut out for us,” Flynn said. “They’re obviously a great team but we’re just focused on us right now. We need to execute better and more consistently. No one is happy with our record, and if you look at the scores it doesn’t look much better from the outside looking in. Trust me, we get that and we feel that too. We’re disappointed, we’re frustrated but we haven’t stopped working and won’t stop competing.

“We talked after last weekend about cleaning up these 2-3 minute spans where we go from being tied or down by a goal to all of a sudden down by three or four, and being right there and having a chance to win to essentially being out of the game. That’s happened in five of our eight games this year, and a sixth was a 2-1 loss. So you can look at scores and shots against and come to one conclusion, but you play differently when you’re in a tight game versus when you’re in a game with a larger margin. If we can eliminate those stretches from our game, I think we’ll start being a lot happier with the results.

“We have a young team, experience wise. Even guys that have played for a year or two, they’re being asked to take on bigger roles. We have first year players getting thrown into the fire. It’s a big jump to play at this level so to expect a seamless transition, that we all hoped for, from last year just isn’t realistic. To me, all in all, there’s been a lot more good than bad when it comes to everyone getting acclimated to this level and our expectations. The improvement from Day 1 is noticeable at an individual level across the board, and as coaches it’s on us to roll that individual improvement into team improvement and play well down the stretch. We still have 12 divisional points left, so everything is still in front of us. Our goal is to be a playoff team, and that’s still what we’re striving for.”

2024 College Hockey South Veterans Cup

Saturday, November 9
Game 1: Auburn vs. Alabama, 5:30 p.m.
Game 2: UAH vs. South Carolina, 8 p.m.

Sunday, November 10
3rd Place Game: Semifinal losers, 10 a.m.
Championship: Semifinal winners, 12:30 p.m.

All games will be streamed on the College Hockey South YouTube channel.

Tickets:
Weekend pass (all four games): $20
Adult day pass: $12
Child day pass: $5
Veterans admitted free with valid ID.
Purchase tickets

Chargers restarting season at home against Vandy

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The UAH club hockey team has played four games, but after a month-long layoff and finally getting a chance to play at home, it feels like a season restart for the Chargers. It’s probably the best way to approach it.

UAH, which lost its first four games in September, will open College Hockey South play this weekend against Vanderbilt at the Huntsville Ice Sports Center. The puck drops at 9:45 p.m. on Friday and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“It definitely feels like another opening weekend, I guess in a sense it is,” UAH head coach Tim Flynn said. “Home opener, first weekend of division games, it’s exciting and we’re ready to get going (again).

“We’ve had a good month of practice, which should allow us to a more complete and consistent game. The guys have bought into the team and its success. They’ve definitely put in the work so now we need to get some results.”

The Chargers will need to kick-start their offense after scoring only four goals so far. Three tallies are by returnees Henry Hoff, Tyler Trombly, and Elijah Howard, and the fourth by newcomer Matthew Davis.

Vanderbilt (4-3-0) won its first three games, then lost three in a row before beating Indiana on Oct. 4. The Commodores have a pair of CHS Division 2 North games under their belt, splitting a pair against Ole Miss.

Harrison Parent leads Vanderbilt with five goals this season. Cole Miller and Michael Cowling have three goals each.

“Vanderbilt is one of the more disciplined teams we’re going to play this year they work extremely hard,” Flynn said. “They don’t do anything super flashy but they do just about everything very well. We know we need to go out and compete for 60 minutes, limit mistakes and penalties, and execute the little details.”

“I’ve been listening to some of the college football coaches whose teams aren’t quite where they expected or wanted to be at this point in the year,” Flynn said. “The common theme is there’s not a magic play or scheme that’s going to ‘fix everything.’ They’re just focused on doing ordinary things very well. I think that applies to our team at the moment and I think we’ve done that so we’re excited for the weekend. We’ve mentioned this is our first step in our path to the playoffs, so that’s our focus and we’ll see where we end up Saturday evening.”

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Chargers regrouping after rough start

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To say it’s been a rough start for the UAH club hockey team would be an understatement. The 0-4 Chargers have been beset with shorthandedness — not by penalties, but bodies.

The Chargers are 0-4 with series sweeps by Alabama (AAU D1) and Alabama (AAU D3). They have scored only four goals and allowed 26. But what personnel the Chargers did have fought hard as long as they could.

“We were a little more shorthanded than expected that played a big part,” UAH head coach Tim Flynn said regarding the season opening series against Alabama D1 on Sept. 6-7, which the Chargers lost 7-1 and 7-0. “If you look at the first period of each game, we’re right there on Friday, down 2-1 and 0-0 on Saturday. I liked the way we played for the most part out of the gate both nights, we just ran out of gas way to soon and that’s something we will work at and improve on throughout the season.

“We certainly weren’t happy with the result of the weekend, but our young guys got some good experience playing a team like that can be like drinking from a firehose for your first game and I think overall they did a good job navigating that.”

UAH’s biggest losses are its main offensive weapons from last season. Kolton and Keaton Watts, who combined for 47 goals and 96 points, are not on the team for personal reasons. The Chargers also lost Josh Corrow, who was tied on the club with 16 goals.

Henry Hoff, Tyler Trombly, and Bradly McDonald are back as UAH’s top returning offensive threats, but Hoff and McDonald missed last Saturday’s game after being injured the night before.

“We also a couple others were unable to go on in the second game and we had a very limited line up,” Flynn said of UAH’s 2-1 loss to Alabama D3 on Saturday, the Chargers’ most competitive game so far despite only having 12 skaters. “I was very pleased with how the guys took a new concept and executed it, again we knew as a byproduct of this they were going to get a lot of shots, and we were going to have to capitalize when we had our chances. That’s not a recipe for a successful season, but in a unique circumstance like this, they did a great job.”

UAH did see a lot of shots — 71 to be precise. Ayden Trombly was crazy in his first start between the pipes, making 69 saves, the most in the current club hockey era.

“Obviously, Ayden played great,” Flynn said. “I can’t speak high enough about how impressed I’ve been with his work ethic and compete level since day one.”

Thankfully, the Chargers have a month off before their next series. And that series is at home against Vanderbilt (Oct. 18-19) in a crucial start to College Hockey South play.

“We have a a good break here,” Flynn said. “Hopefully we can start to get healthy again and we’ll look at some video and clean up the problem areas. Looking forward to taking advantage of the time without games to keep getting better. Now we start a stretch of divisional games, and this next stretch is going to very important in where we end up in the race for playoffs.”

Trombly stops 69 but UAH falls twice to D3 Tide

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A depleted UAH club hockey team lost two games to Alabama’s AAU Division 3 team over the weekend, falling 10-2 on Friday and 2-1 on Saturday.

In the first game, Alabama scored four goals in the first period and four in the second. UAH got goals from Henry Hoff and Elijah Howard in the third period after the Tide led 9-0.

BOX SCORES: Friday | Saturday

Saturday’s game was more competitive, at least on the scoreboard, despite UAH only having 12 skaters. The Tide scored single goals in each of the first two periods, and Tyler Trombly scored halfway through the third period for UAH’s lone goal.

Ayden Trombly played all of Saturday’s game in goal, stopping 69 of 71 Alabama shots. The 69 saves set a record for most saves in a game since at least 2018, when the UAH club team was re-established.

The Chargers (0-4) gets a month to regroup before their first home series, Oct. 17-18 against Vanderbilt at the Huntsville Ice Sports Center to start College Hockey South play.

Chargers swept by Tide to open season

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The UAH club hockey team lost a pair of games at the Pelham Civic Center to Alabama’s AAU Division 1 team, losing 7-1 on Friday and 7-0 on Saturday.

Matthew Davis scored the lone goal for the Chargers on Friday, which tied the game at 1-1 with 7:46 remaining in the first period. But the Tide scored six unanswered goals for the win.

BOX SCORES: Friday | Saturday

Saturday’s game was scoreless after one period before Alabama scored four goals in the second period and three in the third.

Goaltender Andrew Sledge made 60 saves on Friday were the second most made in a game since the UAH club team was reinstated in 2018. On Saturday, Sledge made 50 more saves.

The Chargers return to Pelham again next weekend to play Alabama’s AAU Division 3 squad.

Hoof Beats: Talbot to Detroit as ex-Chargers on the move

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Cam Talbot has signed a two-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings.

The former UAH goaltender, 36, spent last season with the Los Angeles Kings, where he went 27-20-6 record with a 2.50 goals-against average, a 0.913 save percentage and three shutouts in 54 games. He made the NHL All-Star Game for the second time in three seasons. The Kings lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Red Wings will be Talbot’s eighth NHL team. He has a 245-176-42 record with a 2.63 goals-against average, a 0.914 save percentage and 31 shutouts in 486 games since joining the New York Rangers in 2010. Talbot has played for the Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary Flames, Minnesota Wild, and Ottawa Senators.

The contract has an average annual value of $2.5 million.

Ayodele Adeniye
Ayodele Adeniye vs. Michigan Tech, Feb. 5, 2021 (Photo by Todd Thompson/RiverCat Photography)

Adeniye invited to Capitals camp: Former Charger Ayo Adeniye has been invited to the Washington Capitals development camp.

The defenseman from Columbus, Ohio played 21 games as a freshman at UAH in 2020-21, the final varsity season before the program was shuttered.

Adeniye transferred to Adrian, where he helped the Bulldogs win the NCAA Division III national championship in 2022. He scored four goals with 19 assists for 23 points.

Corbett joins staff at ASU: Mike Corbett, who was head coach of the Chargers for sevens seasons, has joined the staff at Arizona State as an assistant coach.

Corbett spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach at Quinnipiac, helping the Bobcats win the 2023 national championship and compile a 93-21-8 record.

As head coach at UAH from 2013-20, the Chargers went 48-181-24.

The Sun Devils are entering their first season as members of the NCHC.

Saulnier signs AHL deal with Hershey: UAH alum Brennan Saulnier has signed a one-year American Hockey League contract with the Hershey Bears.

A forward from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Saulnier, 30, spent last season in the AHL with the Belleville Senators. He had three goals and four assists with the Sens, along with 94 penalty minutes. He spent time with Belleville and Lehigh Valley over 2020-22.

Saulnier had 56 points on 21 goals and 35 assists in 119 games with the Chargers from 2014-18. He was fifth in the UAH varsity record book in career penalty minutes with 351.

Finstrom signs with Havoc: Noah Finstrom, another member of the final UAH varsity team, has signed with the Huntsville Havoc for the upcoming season.

After scoring a goal in the 2020-21 season at UAH, Finstrom transferred to Division III Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he scored 25 goals in 69 games over three seasons.

Watts, Cameron represent UAH and CHS as AAU All-Stars

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Two members of the UAH club hockey team represented College Hockey South squads at the AAU College Hockey All-Star Challenge in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. from April 12-14.

The event featured six teams representing five of the AAU’s conferences. College Hockey South had enough all-stars to field two teams: CHS Gray and CHS White.

Keaton Watts, after a 25-goal season with the Chargers, was on the CHS White team, which won the tournament title. Watts scored two goals with an assist in four games, including one in a 7-3 win over the Empire Collegiate Hockey Conference team in the championship game.

Cameron Crawford minded the net for the CHS Gray squad, which went 2-2. Crawford played in two games, and allowed only two goals in 40 minutes in his start against the ACCHL team, in which CHS Gray won 5-3.

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Bracket challenge fundraiser for UAH Club Hockey

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UAH club hockey coach Tim Flynn is running a final fundraiser for the season after the Chargers’ run at nationals:

Charger Hockey ESPN Men’s Tournament Challenge Group
Password: uah

Entry is $20 per bracket
Max 5 brackets per user

Venmo Tim Flynn @tim-flynn-31 with your entry and include the names of your brackets.

Breakdown of proceeds:
40% to UAH Club Hockey
25% to first place
15% to second place
10% to third place
5% to fourth place
5% to fifth place

Dollar amounts will be finalized and shared on Thursday, March 21 after the total number of entries is finalized.

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UAH nationals run ends with loss to Gators

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WEST CHESTER, Pa. — The UAH club hockey team lost 6-4 on Monday to the No. 2 seed Florida Gators, who erased a 4-1 Charger lead, in the AAU College Hockey national quarterfinals.

UAH finishes the season at 12-12-1. Florida (18-7-0) heads to the semfinals against High Point.

“And the end of the day, we were shorthanded,” UAH head coach Tim Flynn said. “Four games in four days is just too much. We didn’t have what we needed to close it out.

BOX SCORE

“I’m very proud of the guys, the whole game, all weekend, the whole year, really. It’s been a big step forward for the program and they deserve a lot of credit for that.”

Florida got the quantity of chances in the first period, but it was the Chargers who made most of the quality chances.

Kolton Watts put the Chargers up 1-0 with a rebound goal in the slot with almost 11 minutes remaining, assisted by Henry Hoff and Keaton Watts. It was Kolton’s team-leading fifth goal of the tournament.

Three Florida penalties helped, and UAH capitalized on the last one with 3.5 second left in the period on a Josh Corrow blast from the right point for a 2-0 lead at the first break.

UAH went up 3-0 on a nifty tic-tac-toe play, Josh Corrow to Kolton Watts to Keaton Watts at point-blank range with 16:42 remaining in the second period.

It took Florida’s 28th shot on net to finally get one past goaltender Cameron Crawford with 6:54 left in the second.

But it only took 20 seconds for the Chargers to answer, with Jackson Herman’s drive up the middle through traffic finding the back of the net and putting UAH up 4-1, which was the score at the final intermission.

Then the Gators’ potent offense, which scored 24 times during their three pool games, wore the Chargers down in the third. Parker Mara, who scored Florida’s first goal, got two more for a hat trick in the third period’s first six minute to cut UAH’s lead to 4-3.

Michael McCoy tied the game up with 6:41 remaining, the Michael McKatz gave UF the lead with 2:05 to go. Kegan Lampinen added an empty-netter with 20 seconds remaining for the final of 6-4.

“Full credit to Florida, too. I know they had a stomach bug going through the rink. Not making excuses but our guys played hard and I’m proud of them.”

The Gators finished with a 52-18 shots on goal advantage for the game. Crawford had 47 saves, giving him a total of 139 in three games for the tournament, a .910 save percentage with a shutout.

“That’s exhausting,” Crawford said. “We gave it our all out there. We tried our best to focus on defense and force their shots from outside. It was working there for a good minute against a good offense, but we just got worn down.”

Pictured: Top – Cameron Crawford, center, makes a save with Jackson Herman and Benjamin Hoard defending. Above – A scramble in front of the UAH net. (Photos by Tim Newman)

“He’s been awesome,” Flynn said. “All year…every time we’ve needed him he’s been big for us. Today, included. (The loss) was definitely not on him. We just ran out of gas at the wrong time. Very thankful he played this year and helped us make this step.”

Even though this will be Crawford’s only season between the pipes, he wants to keep helping the program moving forward.

“I played four years of college lacrosse (at UAH) before this and this was far and way the most fun I’ve ever had playing a college sport, even if it is club,” Crawford said. “I want to try to stay with the team and maybe coach next year and see what I can do to help out.”

While it was a disappointing end, just reaching the quarterfinals showed the program’s promise of restoring a winning hockey tradition at UAH.

“I think it shows, coming into the tournament, what UAH hockey can be,” Flynn said. “To be that close to moving on to a semifinal, to compete for national championships, that’s what the program is and that what we’re trying to get it back to. Today hurts, but big picture, very proud and we’re going the right way for sure.”