Category Archives: Charger Hockey News

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UAH looking for complete game vs. Tide

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UAH (3-1-1 overall, 3-0-0 CHS D2) vs. Alabama (4-3-0 overall, 2-3-0 CHS D1)
When: Friday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, 6:00 p.m.
Where: Huntsville Ice Sports Center
Admission: $5 tickets, free for students and kids 12-under
Watch: LiveBarn.com

The UAH club hockey team is riding a 3-game winning streak coming into a home series with Alabama’s AAU Division 1 team at the Huntsville Ice Sports Center. But the Chargers feel like they have yet to reach their full potential.

The Chargers swept their first road series of the season two weeks ago, defeating Middle Tennessee State by scores of 13-7 and 7-5. The wins put UAH’s conference record at 3-0-0, and with six points the Chargers are tied with Vanderbilt for an early first-place position in College Hockey South Division 2 North.

The Watts brothers had a series for UAH. Keaton Watts had four goals, including a hat trick in the first game, en route to an eight point weekend. Kolton Watts also had four goals in his seven points. Both lead the Chargers with 12 points through five games on the season.

Josh Corrow also had a four-goal series against MTSU, with a hat trick in the opener.

UAH was able to score 20 goals in the series, but momentary lapses did lead to 12 goals allowed.

“Happy to get 4 big division points against MTSU,” said UAH head coach Tim Flynn. “We’re really working on playing a full 60 minutes at a high level, for whatever reason we haven’t been able to put together a full game yet this year. We’ve had our moments for sure, and when we’re good I think we can play with anyone but when we’re on our heels we can also struggle against anyone.”

SEASON STATS: UAH | ALABAMA

Alabama is 4-3-0 overall and 2-3-0 in College Hockey South’s Division 1. The Frozen Tide split its Iron Cup series last weekend in a pair of overtime games, winning the first game 5-4 before falling 6-5.

Max Savaloja is the offensive leader for Alabama, with seven goals and eight assists for 15 points in seven games. He’s heating up, scoring two goals in the opener against Auburn and netting four helpers in the second game for a seven-point series.

“We’ve had a couple good weeks of practice and are excited to get back on the ice and compete against a very good Alabama team,” Flynn said. “We’re going to have some tough opponents over the last eight games of the semester, and we need to be more consistent. It doesn’t matter if we’re ahead or behind, sticking to our game plan and competing without getting too high or too low is going to be very important.”

After this weekend with Alabama, the Chargers resume CHS Division 2 North play with two games at home against Clemson. Then they head on the road to start November for a game at D1 Georgia and another conference game at Tennessee.

“The guys have put the work in at practice, so now we just need to execute it in a game situation,” Flynn said. “We’ve put ourselves in a good position out of the gate, but there’s a long way to go and we need to keep improving week in and week out.”

CHS Division 2 NorthPtsRecordOTLOverall
UAH63-0-003-1-1
Vanderbilt63-1-003-5-0
Clemson21-0-005-1-0
Ole Miss21-1-003-3-0
Middle Tennessee21-3-003-5-0
Georgia Tech21-4-001-5-0
Tennessee10-1-012-3-0
Two points are awarded for a win, one point is awarded for a tie or overtime loss (OTL). The top four teams qualify for the College Hockey South D2 Tournament in Huntsville in February.
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Resilient Chargers finish off sweep of MTSU

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Kolton Watts scored two goals to lead the UAH club hockey team to a 7-5 win over Middle Tennessee on Saturday for a series sweep.

The Chargers (3-1-1) have won three straight to start College Hockey South play. MTSU falls to 1-5-0 overall and 1-3-0 in league play.

A much quieter first period compared to Friday’s frenetic game, but there were still many shots on goal to be had. UAH outshot MTSU 16-15 in the period.

BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY

This time it was the Chargers who scored first, with Elijah Howard netting his first goal of the season from the slot at the 6:35 mark. However, Brendan Ogle would equalize for the Blue Raiders almost a minute later.

Things picked up in the first half of the second period, however. Keaton Watts and Kolton Watts scored to put UAH up 3-1, but Middle Tennessee fought back to tie the game by the halfway point.

MTSU took its first lead of the game at the 2:43 mark of the third, but Josh Corrow, who had a hat trick in Friday’s 13-7 win, rifled a score from the left side just five seconds into a UAH power play to tie the game at 4-4.

Zachary Giblin put the Blue Raiders up again near the halfway point of the third. The Chargers then showed resiliency yet again, tying the game at 5-5 as Kolton Watts finished a tic-tac-toe play with Keaton Watts. Kolton has a team-leading seven goals on the year.

With 7:11 to go, Henry Hoff took a snipe up the middle to regain the lead for the Chargers at 6-5. Then with under two minutes to go, Hoff finished the 7-5 win with a goal on a two-on-none with Bradly McDonald.

Drew Sledge played in goal for UAH, stopping 32 of 37 MTSU shots. UAH had 45 shots on goal in the contest.

The Chargers have the next weekend off before hosting Alabama’s AAU D1 team in non-conference action at the Huntsville Ice Sports Center on Oct. 13 and 14.

Pictured: Bradly McDonald (forward) celebrates as Kolton Watts scores one of his goals. Photo by Jaime Crawford/JC Sports Photography

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UAH scores 13 in win over MTSU

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The UAH club hockey team rolled to an 13-7 win over Middle Tennessee on Friday night in Antioch, Tenn.

UAH (2-1-1 overall, 2-0-0 College Hockey South) actually fell behind 3-0 in the first ten minutes, but then cruised to win the opener of the two-game set. Game two against MTSU (1-4-0, 1-2-0) Saturday night is at 8:45 p.m.

BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY

It was the worst possible start for the Chargers, who allowed goals on the first two MTSU shots in the first minute of play. Add a power-play goal at the halfway point of the opening period and the Blue Raiders rolled to a 3-0 lead.

UAH was short-handed again after that third goal, but got on the board 44 seconds later. Keaton Watts stole the puck at center ice and then scored high stick-side from the left circle, cutting MTSU’s lead to 3-1.

The Chargers tied the game at 3-3 with back-to-back power-play goals 1:30 apart on blasts from Josh Corrow and Bradly McDonald. Then with 1:01 remaining in the first, Henry Hoff gave UAH its first lead as he roofed in a rebound.

About seven minutes into the second period, UAH scored three goals in a span of 32 seconds to lead 7-3. Kolton Watts, Corrow, and Nathan Litton provided the tallies.

MTSU got one back with 9:03 remaining in the period, but Corrow’s third goal of the night and Elijah Howard’s pickpocket in the slot gave the Chargers a 9-4 lead in the second intermission.

UAH outscored MTSU 4-3 in a garbage-time third period. Keaton and Kolton Watts, Hoff, and Jacob Harrison scored for the Chargers.

Cameron Crawford stopped 27 of 34 shots between the pipes for UAH, which outshot MTSU 42-34.

Pictured: Josh Corrow fires a shot that led to one of his three goals on the night. Photo by Jaime Crawford/JC Sports Photography.

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Chargers hit the road to battle Raiders

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UAH (1-1-1, 1-0-0 CHS) vs. Middle Tennessee (1-3-0, 1-1-0 CHS)
When: Friday, 8:45 p.m.; Saturday, 8:45 p.m.
Where: Ford Ice Center, Antioch, Tenn. (Map)
Watch: Penalty Box Radio (Facebook)

The UAH club hockey team heads up I-65 for the first road trip of the season this weekend against Middle Tennessee State.

The Chargers are fresh off their first win of the season, a 4-3 overtime victory at home against Tennessee to start College Hockey South play last Friday.

“Very proud of how this team battled throughout the game and found a way to get a win against a very good team,” UAH head coach Tim Flynn said. “I know it’s early in the season but these are two big points in the division that help us when it comes to the playoff race. We haven’t had a good first period yet this year, so that’s something we need to clean up.”

While Kolton Watts (3g-2a-5p), Keaton Watts (2g-2a-4p), and Henry Hoff (2g-3a-5p) have been powering the offense, it’s been goaltender Cameron Crawford busy keeping the Chargers in games. In two starts so far this season, Crawford has 113 saves, posting a .929 save percentage.

“Cameron Crawford kept us in it and let us get our legs under us, but that’s not going to be sustainable,” Flynn said. “We’ve talked about learning how to win, and I think we took a big step forward in that department. We were able to bend and not break defensively, again a lot of that credit goes to Crawford. We also had a few situations where, in the past, I feel like we would have taken penalties and negated an advantage but we kept our cool and were able to capitalize on our power play chances which ultimately was a deciding factor in getting us the win.”

Middle Tennessee split its first CHS series last weekend against fellow Nashville metro club Vanderbilt. The Blue Raiders lost the first game 5-1 before taking the second 6-3.

Donovan Yesnach has four goals and six points in four games to lead MTSU.

“We need to have a good start, that’s just something we need to figure out,” Flynn said. “MTSU is a team that is going to work hard for 60 minutes and I expect them to come out fast, and we need to be ready to match that intensity. They have good depth, and are very hard to play against. I mean that in the best way possible.”

The two teams split a pair of one-goal games in Huntsville last season, with UAH winning 5-4 and MTSU winning 9-8.

“There are no easy shifts against MTSU. We had two great back and forth games with them last year, and I expect two more this weekend,” Flynn said. “I’m excited to see how our guys handle the environment on the road. Again, these are four very important intra-division points, so we need to be focused and focus on winning shift to shift.”

CHS Division 2 NorthPtsRecordOTLOverall
UAH21-0-001-1-1
Ole Miss21-1-003-1-0
Vanderbilt21-1-001-4-0
Middle Tennessee21-1-001-3-0
Georgia Tech21-1-001-2-0
Tennessee10-1-010-3-0
Clemson00-0-002-1-0
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Watts power: Chargers sting Vols in OT

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Keaton Watts’s power-play goal early in overtime gave the UAH club hockey team its first victory of the season, a 4-3 decision over Tennessee on Friday night at the Huntsville Ice Sports Center.

The Chargers got a four-point night from Keaton’s brother Kolton and 43 saves from goaltender Cameron Crawford to win the College Hockey South opener for both teams.

Tennessee (0-3-0 overall, 0-1-0 CHS) scored the opening goal halfway through the first period on a close call. Connor Frazer’s shot in the slot was just before a whistle, and the officials determined that the puck crossed the goal line past Crawford in time.

BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY

The Chargers (1-1-1 overall, 1-0-0 CHS) tied the game at 1-1 just under five minutes remaining in the second period when Matteo Siciliano’s blast from the left point found its way home. Kolton Watts and Henry Hoff got the assists on the power-play goal.

The Vols regained the lead about six minutes later on a Michael Consentino tally, but UAH equalized again with 1:07 to go in the period. Kolton Watts followed up a rebound from the right circle after a Charger breakaway to make it 2-2 after two.

Kolton scored his second goal of the night halfway through the third, taking Keaton’s pass from the defensive zone up the right wing and beating Patrick Green for UAH’s first lead.

The Chargers committed back-to-back tripping penalties, and Louis Gimbert tied the game for Tennessee at 3-3 with 2:19 left in regulation.

Then the Vols got the penalty bug, with boarding and roughing calls to set up a two-man advantage in the final 1:22 of regulation.

The game did go into overtime, and with a 5-on-4 advantage, Keaton Watts found the puck in the slot and wristed it home for the winner 52 seconds in.

The Chargers won despite the Vols holding a 46-30 advantage in shots.

UAH sees its first road action next weekend at Middle Tennessee State.

Pictured: Cameron Crawford, Josh Campbell, and Zachary Wolfe celebrate UAH’s overtime victory. Photo by Todd Thompson/RiverCat Photography.

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Chargers host Vols to start league play

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UAH (0-1-1, 0-0-0) vs. Tennessee (0-2-0, 0-0-0)
When: Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Huntsville Ice Sports Center
Admission: $5 for adults, free for students and kids 12 and under. Available at the door.
Watch: LiveBarn.com

The UAH club hockey team opens up College Hockey South conference play Friday night against Tennessee at the Huntsville Ice Sports Center.

The Chargers were off last week after opening the season with a 5-5 tie and 6-1 loss at home against Auburn. UAH held a 5-1 third-period lead in the opener.

“We knew Auburn was going to be a tough test,” UAH head coach Tim Flynn said. “On Friday, we didn’t love our first period, got out of it being down 1-0 and then really came out in the second period and played on our toes, drew some penalties and took advantage of our power play opportunities. We got a quick one in the third, and with a 5-1 lead, regardless of the opponent, you have to be able to close those games out. We talked about discipline, and just lost it in the third period.

“Give (Auburn) credit. They took advantage of their power plays and came all the way back. We weren’t happy that they tied it, but we responded well after that and battled hard to earn a point.

UAH captain Brady McDonald leads the team with three points so far, along with Henry Hoff, who heads the squad with two goals.

“There’s no moral victories, but like we talked in the preseason about how we need to learn how to win consistently at this level and now we’ve seen what it takes,” Flynn said. “We know we’re good enough. We just have to put together a complete 60 minutes.”

Tennessee started its season last weekend at Florida, falling 6-3 and 4-2. Connor Frazer lead the Ice Vols with three goals in the series, while Kyle Stober had two. The Ice Vols reached the CHS D2 tournament last season as the seventh seed.

“We’re looking forward to the opportunity in our first league games of the season against a good Tennessee squad,” Flynn said. “They work hard, have a lot of skill and ultimately they were a playoff team last year. We’re going to have to execute the game plan and do it for three full periods and see how we measure up.”

Fundraiser under way: The UAH club program has started its GoFundMe campaign for the season. The club team is a student organization that needs help cover costs and allow the program to grow.

Donate to UAH Club Hockey

College Hockey South Division 2 North standings:

DIVISIONOVERALL
PtsWLTWLT
Ole Miss2110110
Georgia Tech2110110
UAH0000011
Clemson0000010
Middle Tennessee0000020
Tennessee0000020
Vanderbilt0000030

Hoof Beats: Talbot’s 11th NHL season leads UAH pros

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It’s been over two years, but here are some news and notes regarding UAH hockey. We call them Hoof Beats.

First, a look at Chargers in the pros.

There may not have been much ice hockey at UAH recently, but there are still several Charger alumni still playing professionally.

It seems hard to believe it’s been nearly 10 years since Cam Talbot (’10) made his NHL debut with the New York Rangers. Now the 36-year-old goaltender is on his seventh NHL club, signing a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Kings in July.

Cam Talbot
Cam Talbot with UAH in 2010.

Last season, Talbot had a 2.93 goals against average and .898 save percentage with a shutout in 36 games with the Ottawa Senators. He’s currently projected to split time with Pheonix Copley to start the season.

AHL

Brennan Saulnier signed a one-year, one-way contract extension with the Belleville Senators on July 1. Saulnier had six goals and 15 points with 79 penalty minutes with the Senators last season, his third in the AHL.

Mark Sinclair also signed a one-year, two-way AHL contract with Belleville a week after Saulnier. The goaltender, who spent two seasons at Michigan Tech following three years at UAH, spent most of last season with Cincinnati of the ECHL with a 2.70 goals against and a .915 save percentage.

ECHL

Kurt Gosselin signed a contract with Kalamazoo last month after being acquired in a trade with Toledo in February. The defenseman and former Charger captain, entering his third pro season in the ECHL, scored four goals and six assists in 27 games after joining the Wings last season.

Tyler Poulsen returns to the Tulsa Oilers, who acquired him from the Allen Americans just before last season’s Kelly Cup playoffs. Poulsen, entering his fifth ECHL season, had seven goals and 11 points in 33 games with Allen.

Jay Powell signed with the Orlando Solar Bears for his seconds season. Powell, who played one year with the club team and two with the varsity team, was acquired by Orlando from Kansas City in March. The defenseman scored a goal with each team last season.

Jake Theut announced his retirement last week. Theut had a .907 save percentage and 2.98 goals against in 34 regular-season games with Adirondack last season.

Around the world

Josh Kestner will be in the Czech Republic for his sixth professional season, playing for HC Sparta Praha in Prague, one of the oldest franchises in Europe. Last season, Kestner scored 10 goals in 48 games with Lukko in Finland’s Liiga.

Matti Järvinen is also in Czechia, playing his 14th pro season with BK Mlada Boleslav. Järvinen, 33, had spent nine of the last 10 seasons in Liiga in his native Finland, scoring 12 goals in 45 games with HPK last season.

Bauer Neudecker is entering his second season with EV Füssen in the Oberliga, the third tier of hockey in Germany. The former Huntsville Havoc scored 33 goals last season.

Matt Salhany is back in Denmark for another season with Aalborg.

Complete list of Chargers in the pros

Puppa to enter UAH Hall of Fame

Derek Puppa, who was the Chargers’ wall for the 1996 NCAA Division II national champions, will be inducted into the UAH Athletics Hall of Fame in a ceremony during Alumni Weekend.

Puppa ranks in the top three of the program’s career records for goals against average (2.73), save percentage (.911), games played (94), minutes played (5291), saves (2480) and shutouts (7). He had a record 66 wins in his UAH career, helping the Chargers win the 1996 title and finish as runner-up in 1994.

Puppa is the second Charger hockey player to be inducted into the hall, which was established in 2020. He joins Taso Sofikitis, another member of the 1996 champions and who was in the hall’s first class of inductees.

Tickets are available for the ceremony, which will take place Saturday, Sept. 23, at 5:30 p.m. at the Student Services Building.

Zirnis joins staff at RPI

Karlis Zirnis, who was associate head coach with the Chargers in the last varsity season of 2020-21, has been named an assistant coach at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Zirnis played for the Chargers from 1999-2003, helping them win two College Hockey America regular-season titles. His 119 career points is 14th in UAH’s varsity history and second in the school’s modern Division I era. He also ranks third in goals (46) and second in assists (73) in UAH’s modern D-I era.

After his coaching stint at UAH, Zirnis was the head coach of the 18U AAA Nashville Jr. Predators, and director of personnel for the NAHL’s Amarillo Wranglers. Zirnis was also a player development coach at Total Package Hockey Academy.

Volleyball earns win over…Bemidji?

Back on September 1, the UAH volleyball team defeated an old hockey rival. The Chargers took out the Beavers of Bemidji State three sets to one at the Ray Thrasher Classic hosted by Trevecca Nazarene in Nashville.

It was the first time that UAH played Bemidji State in a sport other than hockey.

The Chargers and Beavers battled in hockey 94 times from 1994 through 2021, with BSU holding a 57-32-5 advantage in the series. Each school took two NCAA Division II titles from the other in the 1990s, sparking a fierce North vs. South rivalry.

In memory of Geof

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From Doug Morris, brother of UAHHockey.com creator Geof Morris:

If you knew Geof, you knew he loved hockey. You knew he loved his Boston Bruins. But closer to home, he loved his UAH Chargers.

When he was color commentator on the radio, it was great to see him be big brother to many players on the team. Many players came from Canada and other faraway places to play in Huntsville.

Geof also shared that passion and love of the Chargers through a website he founded — UAHHockey.com. He was so passionate, he was part of the reason the Chargers stayed in existence in 2011.

But fast forward to the pandemic. In 2020, UAH announced the end of the men’s hockey program and the men’s and women’s tennis programs.

After a short comeback, another announced closure due to funding issues and the lack of conference membership.

Today, the UAH hockey team lives on as a club organization. It’s easy to say it’s better than nothing. But there is always hope the Chargers can return to D1 competition.

Geof’s UAHHockey.com has evolved as well — into Charger Hockey Journal. When professional responsibility became too much, fellow Charger fans picked up where Geof left off. Those UAH fans proposed the change in branding from UAHHockey.com to ChargerHockeyJournal.com. Geof not only blessed those plans, he secured the domain.

It’s still hard to imagine life with Geof. He was the life of our party. As of this writing, his next birthday would be less than one month from now. A present would’ve been bought with delivery plans made by now.

To all at Charger Hockey Journal, please take care of that website and the best of luck in your future endeavors. You know Geof’s watching from above.

May the Chargers return to D1 competition someday. Even from above, Geof wants to see the Chargers defeat Rodent State.

Chargers fall 6-1 to AU

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The UAH club hockey team lost 6-1 to Auburn on Saturday to finish its season-opening two-game set.

Keaten Watts scored the Chargers’ lone goal with 4:09 remaining in the second period after Auburn (1-0-1) staked a 5-0 lead.

Elijah Howard got an assist.

UAH (0-1-1) will next host Tennessee to open conference play in College Hockey South’s Division 2 North.

BOX SCORE

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Chargers survive ferocious Auburn rally in 5-5 tie

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The UAH club hockey team survived a furious Auburn rally and held on for a 5-5 tie in its season opener for both teams at the Huntsville Ice Sports Center on Friday night.

The Chargers held a 5-1 lead early in the third period, scoring five straight before Auburn countered with four of their own. Cameron Crawford had a stalwart 62-save performance, including stopping seven Tiger shots in overtime.

Game two of the series is at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

BOX SCORE

Auburn took a 1-0 lead with 47 seconds remaining in the first period with Henry Lange’s power-play goal. The Tigers outshot the Chargers 16-3 in the frame.

The second period was all Chargers. UAH tied the game at the 4:18 mark when Kolton Watts beat Camden Denk on a 2-on-none break with Henry Hoff.

Watts would leave the match on a game misconduct along with Auburn’s Jordan Pakuris following a scrum in front of the Charger net. UAH did get a resulting power play, and Hoff slipped the puck between Denk’s pad and the post for a 2-1 Chargers lead with just under eight minutes remaining in the second.

Hoff made it 3-1 over two minutes later on another power play as the Tigers were racking up penalties. His snapper from the left was assisted by Bradly McDonald and Keaton Watts.

McDonald made it a four-goal period in the final minute, with Tyler Trombly and Josh Corrow with the helpers.

UAH made it five unanswered when Jackson Herman scored early in the third. Auburn cut the Chargers’ lead to 5-2 with a power-play goal two minutes later.

Auburn then took advantage of three consecutive UAH penalties to complete the rally. The Tigers tied the game at 5-5 with 3:17 remaining.

The Tigers outshot the Chargers 67-29.