Category Archives: Recaps

Wisconsin 3, UAH 2

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With the Chargers having played one of their best periods of the season, I started to think of what UAH’s season was looking like at this point.  I came down to it: we’re Gipsy Danger in Pacific Rim.  In amongst all the various imagery of that mighty Jaeger, it’s the one at the breach that does it for me: left arm ripped off, right arm wielding a sword, bent down on one knee, sword in the sea floor, weathering the storm.

That’s what last night felt like.  It’s what tonight felt like.

The Badgers scored two goals just :49 apart in the first five minutes of the game, and you could just feel it coming on.

It didn’t.  Carmine Guerriero (42 sv) just wouldn’t quit in this one.  When he saw them, he stopped them.  The boys did a fantastic job of guarding the house and keeping the Badgers from slicing through the slot for goals.  Many of those 45 shots-on were from well outside the prime real estate.  That’s exactly what they’re doing: weathering the storm.  Take all the shots you want from outside, guys: we’ll get Carmine and Matt lanes to see the pucks, and they will stop them.

The Chargers’ first goal came when Chad Brears found a little time and space near the net on a 5×3 power play.  The goal is his team-leading fourth of the season.

Now after pitching a phenomenal game, you’d hope that it would be a one-goal deficit in time to pull Carmine and get the extra skater on.  Unfortunately, Chase Drake found Tyler Barnes right near the net with time and space, and Barnes found a small 5-hole opening to put the Badgers up 3-1.  A few seconds later, Mike Corbett took his timeout and put a sixth skater on the ice.

It worked!  While the Fox Sports Wisconsin cameramen were too busy listening to the announcers’ non-pertinent commentary about one of their skaters trying to extend a goal-scoring streak to 7, Jack Prince sliced through the defense and beat Landon Peterson (18 sv).  Suddenly it was :18.4 left and a one-goal lead facing down six blue jerseys.

Alas, it was not to be.  But if you watch Pacific Rim, you’ll see that Gipsy Danger takes a beating, gives a beating back, and eventually wins.  That “eventually wins” isn’t going to be this year, but you can see it coming.  With the team struggling to score goals, it’s all about supporting Guerriero and Larose in net, keeping pucks to the outside, and punching back when you can.

I’m sure that nobody in that locker room believes in moral victories.  I know that I believe in the victories to come.  You can see them off in the distance.

[I tried vainly to find screenshots and video clips, but the studios have it locked down.]

Wisconsin 5, UAH 0

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Wisconsin beat UAH 5-0 on Friday. There’s not much to say about this, but that the 14th-ranked Badgers dominated in just about everything, including shots on goal (55-9) and faceoffs (33-11).

The Chargers didn’t get a shot on goal until the second period, and narrowly avoided tying the record for fewest shots on goal in the game.

And despite all that, Wisconsin only led 2-0 after two periods, thanks in part to great goaltending. Joel Rumpel got credit for the victory and the shutout, but the Charger goaltenders were the ones who really saw action.

Matt Larose got the start, stopping 23 of 25 shots in the first period. He left the game after the first with a cut, and Carmine Guerriero came in and made 27 saves.

The maligned UAH penalty kill also had a good night, stopping all five Wisconsin power plays.

Both teams face off again tomorrow night at 8 p.m. The game can be seen on Fox College Sports Central.

 

Minnesota State 4, UAH 1

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UAH will just have to keep fighting for win number two. But tonight, Minnesota State continued to raise its game.

The Mavericks used three third-period goals to beat the Chargers 4-1 on Friday night at the Von Braun Center. It’s MSU’s sixth straight victory.

Matt Larose made a season-high 43 saves to keep UAH in the game as long as he could, but the Mavericks were able to capitalize on the power play with three goals on seven opportunities.

The Mavericks dominated possession in the first period, due partly because of three straight UAH penalties. The third power play was the charm for the Mavericks, as Dylan Margonari redirected the puck past Larose for a 1-0 lead.

Fortunately for the Chargers, it was the only goal Larose would allow in a period where they were outshot 20-5.

UAH stepped it up to start the second, forcing the Mavs into multiple icings and taking their timeout early. But Minnesota State would crank up the offensive pressure with four more power play shots following a Stephen McKenna slashing call.

UAH got its power play chances but could not convert. On one, the Chargers had MSU goalie Cole Huggins out of position, giving Brandon Carlson a wide open net, but his shot was blocked by a defenseman. In another, Minnesota State had five clears, allowing only one UAH shot on goal.

So many chances for goals, but none were to be found in the second period. UAH was still in the match despite a 33-16 shots deficit through two.

UAH finally broke through at the 3:46 mark of the third. Jack Prince earns his first goal of the season in traffic, assisted by Matt Salhany and Joakim Broberg, to tie the game at 1-1.

And then, what seems all too commonplace after a big goal this season, it didn’t take long for the opponent to retaliate. Just 18 seconds after a Brandon Carlson hooking penalty and 29 seconds after UAH tied it up, J.P. LaFontaine scored on a rebound to regain the lead for Minnesota State.

Just under three minutes later, Zach Lehrke made it 3-1, and that basically put the game away for good. MSU captain Johnny McInnis added another power play goal — the Mavs’ third on the night — for the final 4-1 score.

Minnesota State finished the game with a 47-24 shots advantage. UAH went 0-for-5 with the man advantage.

Both teams meet again Saturday night at 7:07 p.m. Kids 12 and under get free admission, and the first 500 fans get a Charger Blue bobblehead.

Highlights: UAH 4, Bowling Green 3

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Here are video highlights of UAH’s 4-3 overtime win over Bowling Green on Saturday night:

 

If you have a WCHA TV subscription, you can watch Bowling Green’s broadcast on demand over the next 30 days.

Notes:

  • UAH notches its first-ever WCHA victory.
  • The Chargers scored four goals against a Division I opponent for the first time since Jan. 14, 2011, a 5-4 loss to Merrimack.
  • It was UAH’s first overtime victory since beating Nebraska-Omaha 2-1 in Omaha on Jan. 29, 2011.

Next up: The Chargers return home and host Minnesota State on Friday and Saturday. Puck drop is at 7:07 p.m. both nights.

UAH 4, BGSU 3, OT

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Somewhere under there, Frank Misuraca cries for everyone to get off of him because he can't breathe. (Credit: Todd Pavlack)

Somewhere under there, Frank Misuraca cries for everyone to get off of him because he can’t breathe. (Credit: Todd Pavlack)

Oh, you want to see the man of the hour? Okay.

(Credit: Todd Pavlack)

Wow.  What a game.  That would be an exhilarating game even if it wasn’t that first win all of our young men have been working and working and working to get.  But to have all of the frustration of this season to be decided on a last-second overtime goal?  COME ON.

So how did we get here?  I mean, it was tied at three after regulation time expired.  So there was some fun, yeah?

Yeah.

Sean Walker started off the scoring in the first for the Falcons, flinging a puck through traffic that I’m not sure Carmine Guerriero ever saw.  But after a few minutes, it was a Charger power play and …

… tic-tac-GOAL for Cody Marooney, his first collegiate marker.

The Chargers couldn’t pull ahead even with 1:06 of 5×3 late in the first when Brett Mohler (hooking) and Connor Kucera (boarding) took minor penalties.  Guerriero was still sharp after not a lot of pressure, and he stopped a couple of chances to end the frame.

Unfortunately for partisans in blue and white, the Falcons struck early in the 2nd, with Brent Tate slipping the defense to find a Cam Wojtala pass in the slot for a goal.

A couple of penalties on Marooney left the Chargers scrambling to cover Falcons, but the Chargers were crashing the point pretty hard.  BG countered by taking the puck wide to the boards while looking for cross-ice passes to the bottoms of the circle.  But they took their eyes off the puck for a second, and …

… it’s Matt Salhany time!

Who cares that the Falcons scored 52 seconds later?  Okay, we should all care, but the key thing is that the home side didn’t go up 3-1 late in the 2nd.  Instead, the margin was just one, and the boys knew that they had a very good chance at winning this one.

I will let these two tweets stand to vent my frustration with a broadcaster that was … sub-par but has a career that should have him be better.

Sorry, you mess with my alma mater and I’m gonna say something about it.  Back to hockey!

There were a lot of times where I could’ve tweeted this:

We're calling him CG35, and we're hope that he's okay with that. (Credit: Todd Pavlack)

We’re calling him CG35, and we’re hope that he’s okay with that. (Credit: Todd Pavlack)

Then at the 12:30 mark of the third, Jack Prince had the puck just outside of the slot.

After that point, the boys were flying all over the ice.  There was a puck that ended up in the net before being taken back out and flipped in the air, but no amount of Prince arguments got the referees to change their mind, even with a review.  Presumably Jack tried a Cockney accent while he was at it.

A late tripping penalty on Brent Fletcher led to a BG power play with just 2:49.  Did the boys quit?  Hell no they didn’t.  Have you seen these guys quit?  Every WCHA coach praises their intensity.  Intensity is what made the PK happen.  The boys were again pressuring the D and looking for breakaways, and Joakim Broberg was tripped up.  4×4 for :31, and the penalty carried into overtime.

Overtime is a bit of a haze for me, but that’s mainly because it was just wide-open, end-to-end hockey, great goaltending at both ends, solid back-checking, strong passes through neutral ice, and good shots.  In other words:

But nothing, nothing, nothing replaces what Frank Misuraca did.

Oh, wait, yeah, this:

That “charge the hashes” stuff was pure Tim Thomas.  Steve Koshey helped out just enough to make sure that the puck was fluttering and rolling past BG sticks.  That the puck didn’t go in told you that this just might be the night.

MisuROCKET.

Good night, everybody.

Bowling Green 3, UAH 0

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#28 Ben Reinhardt controls the puck behind the net. (Credit: Todd Pavlack, BGSUHockey.com)

#28 Ben Reinhardt controls the puck behind the net. (Credit: Todd Pavlack, BGSUHockey.com)

Matt Larose stopped 40-of-43 shots on goal tonight, an effort that I’d rate as his best performance of the season (though his effort against Ferris was also very good). The Friday night blues weren’t played tonight, but the boys never could solve Bowling Green State University’s Tommy Burke, who logged his first collegiate shutout and the Chargers fall 3-0 to the Falcons on a snowy night in northwest Ohio that had many in their fan base missing the game in favor of the MAC championship game for their Falcons.

The Falcons’ best pressure was applied on special teams, whether they had the advantage or not.  Two of those three goals allowed were power-play goals.  One was a multiple-effort goal:

… and the second one came late in the second.

While the goals didn’t come, there was some great effort out there.

But unfortunately, it was a lot of this tonight:

The puck drops again tomorrow at 6:07 Huntsville time, but if you haven’t had enough hockey yet, there’s always more:

Have a great night, everybody.