Category Archives: 2013-14

Hoof Beats: Alumni edition

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Practice officially began on Sunday! With three weeks to go before the season opener at Northeastern, here’s some news and notes with an alumni flair. UAHHockey.com will have a special page soon detailing where all currently active former Chargers will be playing this season.

Alumni discount on season tickets: The UAH Alumni Association on Monday announced that UAH alumni can get a 10 percent discount on season tickets. Just say you are an alum when you call 256-UAH-PUCK.

Kyle Lysaght update: Look who was on the ice on Wednesday!

http://twitter.com/morgee11/status/380447442581221376

Kyle was critically injured in a car accident in Atlanta in March.

Talbot in Rangers’ preseason action: Former Charger Cameron Talbot has seen action in both New York Ranger preseason games so far, stopping 21 of 24 shots in just over 56 minutes.  Talbot got the win in relief of Martin Biron in the Rangers’ 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.

Munroe in Sweden: Another former UAH netminder, Scott Munroe, has started his 2013-14 season with the Växjö Lakers of the Swedish Hockey League. Munroe, who was in the Flyers organization, has a 2.4 goals against average and .895 save percentage in two starts. Watch an interview with Munroe on the Lakers web site.

Ross back with Ingolstadt: Jared Ross is back in Germany for this third season with ERC Ingolstadt of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. He’s starting the season on the injured list with a slipped disk and will be out for a month.

Changes to the Pairwise: The Division I Men’s Hockey Committee introduced changes to its NCAA Tournament selection process on Friday, giving added weight to road wins and less for home wins. This might lead the larger schools from the power conferences (Big 10, NCHC, Hockey East) to schedule more non-conference games on the road. It will be interesting to see if “big name” schools will now want to visit Huntsville.

Hoof Beats: T-minus 30 days

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As of this writing, there are 30 days until the boys open the season in Boston against the Northeastern Huskies. It is time to get ready for hockey goodness!

You can probably tell that we’ve spruced up the site a bit. Hopefully you’ll enjoy our changes as we enter this new era of Charger hockey. We’ll be adding more as we get closer to the opening faceoff.

For now, here’s some news and notes about your Chargers, in case you missed it:

Have you ordered your season tickets yet? Prior season ticket holders should re-new your seats by September 24 in order to get our tickets mailed in time for our home opener (vs. Bemidji State on October 25). Also note that season tickets come with memberships to the Blue Line Club. All the information and order forms are on our tickets and Blue Line Club pages.

Huntsville native commits: Ted Rotenberger, a defenseman who grew up in the Rocket City, has a verbal commitment to UAH and is expected to play for the Chargers in 2015. Rotenberger plays for the TPH Thunder AAA U-18 midget program run by former Charger Nathan Bowen.

Gnash is coming: UAH hockey’s ties with the Nashville Predators continue. Gnash, the Preds’ mascot, will appear for the Chargers’ home opener against Bemidji.

In the community: Craig Pierce, Frank Misuraca, and Anderson White spent some quality time reading to kids at Blossomwood Elementary in Huntsville. Check out photos here, here, here, and here.

Brice to wear 57: If you’ve seen the new season’s roster, you’ll notice senior Brice Geoffrion has a new, non-traditional number, a rarity at UAH. But Geoffrion wearing 57 this season is special: The numbers honor his Hall of Fame, Montreal Canadien ancestors.  The 5 is for his grandfather, Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, and the 7 is for his great-grandfather, Howie Morenz. Before his retirement, Brice’s brother Blake wore 57 after he was traded to Montreal in 2012.

Sebastian in Predators camp: Sebastian Geoffrion, who was at the Predators’ rookie camp last week, was to start training camp with the team today on a tryout agreement.

Quick Update

We’ve got two short things to throw your way:

  1. We’re interviewing Dr. Altenkirch about the past, present, and future of the program. We’ve got a list of questions that we’re thinking of asking, but you might have some ideas that we haven’t thought of.  So: if you could ask Dr. Altenkirch one thing about the program, what would it be?
  2. We put out a call on Facebook the other day for writers and photographers.  We’ve already had great responses with the photographers (although we welcome more interest), but we’re still hoping to hear about writers and/or editors.  We’re planning features, short pieces, and recaps during the season, and we’d love to bring along bright young hockey minds for the ride.  We pay in high fives, bylines/credits, and your copyright on the material.  We will also give recommendations to future employers.  If you’re interested, drop me an email at g@uahhockey.com and we’ll trade ideas.

Matty Thomas Named Assistant Coach

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Matty Thomas Our coaching staff is complete.  Gavin Morgan will be the lead assistant, and Matty Thomas is joining the program:

Following two seasons working with the illustrious University of Denver hockey program, Thomas joined the Chargers in the summer of 2013 to work with the UAH defensemen and penalty kill this upcoming season.

Thomas served as the volunteer assistant coach for the seven-time NCAA champion Denver Pioneers from 2011 to 2013, appearing in the national tournament in both of his seasons. While at Denver, he contributed in numerous aspects within the program; including video, practice planning and individual on-ice instruction. Prior to his arrival in Denver, Thomas served as assistant coach with the United States Naval Academy hockey program (ACHA) from 2009 to 2011.

A 2005 graduate of the Naval Academy, Thomas was commissioned as a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy. He then completed three wartime deployments during tours aboard USS MONTEREY (CG 61) and USS ELROD (FFG 55), serving as Tomahawk Strike Officer and Damage Control Assistant, respectively. During his final tour of duty at Military Sealift Command Headquarters in Washington D.C., Thomas rejoined Navy hockey as an assistant coach. While there, he was responsible for recruiting, video coordination, special-teams strategies, classroom sessions, team-building development and off-ice conditioning.

I missed Matty when I went to the hockey office earlier this week, but I can tell you that everyone’s excited to have him. I’ve also spoken with some DU fans who speak very highly of him.

Hoof Beats: Corbett and identity

  • Coach Mike Corbett continues to make the media rounds in his first weeks as head coach. He was featured on USCHO.com, with the main theme of establishing UAH’s identity as a hockey program. Corbett also touched on this in his recent interview on Penalty Box Radio in Nashville.
  • The Bemidji Pioneer takes a look at UAH as it begins its series on the teams in the reconstructed WCHA. We plan to post a retrospective of the 20-year UAH-Bemidji rivalry in time for the home opener on October 25.
  • The WCHA on Wednesday released its full 2013-14 composite schedule.

Corbett Named Head Coach

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Mike Corbett, an assistant coach at Air Force for the past 10 seasons, was named UAH’s sixth head hockey coach on Monday. Corbett was part of a recruiting effort that helped the Falcons win five Atlantic Hockey titles and earn five NCAA tournament berths.

Mike Corbett (Credit: Air Force Sports Information)

Mike Corbett (Credit: Air Force Athletics)

“Mike Corbett has spent the last decade recruiting elite young men to the United States Air Force Academy and winning championships,” said UAH Director of Athletics Dr. E.J. Brophy. “We are very confident that he is the man to lead Charger Hockey into the prestigious WCHA and back to winning on a consistent basis here at UAH.”

Corbett, a defenseman and two-time alternate captain at Denver from 1992-97, will be leading the Chargers into their first season in the WCHA this fall.

Read UAH’s full press release. Corbett is expected to be in Huntsville next week for a formal press conference and to meet with players and fans. More to come as it develops.

Former Denver head coach Gwozdecky interviews for opening

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(AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

 

UPDATE (6/21, 7 p.m. CT): George Gwozdecky will not be taking the UAH hockey head coaching job, reports Andy Baggot of the Wisconsin State Journal. “The way my career has evolved, it wasn’t the right fit,” Gwozdecky said.

UAHHockey.com has confirmed from multiple sources that former Denver head coach George Gwozdecky was in town this week to interview for the head coaching vacancy created last month when Kurt Kleinendorst stepped down to pursue opportunities in professional hockey.

One of the biggest names in college hockey and a WCHA veteran, Gwozdecky won a pair of national championships at Denver and posted 12-straight, 20-win seasons with the Pioneers before he was let go at the end of the 2012-13 season with one year remaining on his contract.  He made a base salary of $221,000 in his final season with DU.

While at Denver, Gwozdecky was a friend to the UAH program hosting the Chargers a number of times for nonconference series and had a visit scheduled to Huntsville during the 2012-13 season before the program’s turmoil caused the schedule to be scrapped.

The 59-year old owns a career mark of 443-267-64 in 19 seasons including five seasons at Miami. The Thunder Bay, Ontario native guided the Pioneers to the NCAA tournament five of his last six years.  Gwozdecky is also the only coach in NCAA history to win a national title as a head coach, an assistant coach (Michigan State) and as a player (Wisconsin).

The Huntsville Times has reported that UAH director of athletics E.J. Brophy hopes to have the new coach in place by mid-July at the latest and has had as many as 75 candidates express interest in the position.

Kurt Kleinendorst Resigns

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I’m a wee bit blown away:

The University of Alabama in Huntsville Department of Athletics announced today that Kurt Kleinendorst has stepped down from his position as the program’s head hockey coach. Kleinendorst guided the Chargers through the team’s final season as a Division I independent as the program begins play in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in the upcoming 2013-14 year.

“Kurt Kleinendorst has steadied the rough waters during our transition into the WCHA, and we will always be grateful to him for that,” said UAH Director of Athletics Dr. E. J. Brophy. “He has signed nine quality recruits for next fall, and he has done a fantastic job with our program. Now that we have our program on firm footing, we will start the process of identifying the coach who will lead our hockey program into the WCHA.”

Go read the full press release if you like.  The rest of it reads as you’d expect.

Wow.

2013-14 Season Tickets and the Blue Line Club

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puckyeahfb

Six months to go until the WCHA era of Charger hockey finally begins. But why wait to secure your seat? Season tickets are already available!

There are two plans:

  • Full season ticket ($192): Reserved seat for all 16 home games.
  • FlexTix ($99): A booklet of 10 coupons redeemable at the door for individual game tickets. Use them yourself to go to 10 games, bring a group of 10 to one game, or whatever combination the holder chooses.

To order a ticket plan, call 256-UAH-PUCK (256-824-7825) or download and mail the season ticket brochure.

Individual game ticket information will be revealed at a later date.

The Blue Line Club is also ready for the 2013-14 campaign. Consider joining and support the Chargers as they build a winner. Download and mail the Blue Line Club brochure, or call 256-UAH-PUCK (256-824-7825).

Six months seems like a long time before making your choices, but don’t worry: We’ll send out reminders throughout the summer as anticipation grows.

A look at the 2013-14 schedule: Welcome to the WCHA!

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Today, UAH released its 2013-14 hockey schedule, and it’s a beaut. We’re getting 16 home games to go with a full 28-game WCHA schedule. Here’s some highlights:

  • WCHAlogoWith 38 games scheduled, UAH will set a record for most games played in a season, even if the Chargers do not qualify for the WCHA playoffs. The record is 37 set in the 2001-02 season.
  • What better way is there than to open up the WCHA era at home against rival Bemidji State? UAH has faced BSU 70 times, well more than any other opponent.
  • UAH played the Alaska teams regularly in the late ’80s and early ’90s. The Chargers will visit the 49th state twice, something they did in the 1992-93 season. Anchorage will visit Huntsville for the first time since 1992.
  • Michigan Tech is one of four current Division I programs UAH has never faced. The Huskies will come off that list, leaving Boston University, Dartmouth, and Union.
  • The Chargers will head to South Bend twice: at Notre Dame’s tournament in November and a two-game set against the Irish in January.
  • Nic Dowd’s coming home: The Huntsville native and his St. Cloud State team come down for a non-conference series in November.

Here’s the full schedule in list form. All home games are Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m. (* WCHA series.)

October 11-12 at Northeastern
October 25-26 vs. Bemidji State*
November 1-2 vs. Ferris State*
November 8-9 at Alaska-Anchorage*
November 15-16 vs. St. Cloud State
November 22-23 at Northern Michigan*
November 29-30 at Notre Dame Tournament (UAH, Northeastern, Western Michigan)
December 6-7 at Bowling Green*
December 13-14 vs. Minnesota State*
December 27-28 at Wisconsin
January 3-4 vs. Bowling Green*
January 10-11 at Notre Dame
January 17-18 vs. Alaska-Anchorage*
Jan. 31-Feb. 1 at Alaska*
February 7-8 at Michigan Tech*
February 14-15 at Minnesota State*
February 21-22 vs. Lake Superior State*
Feb. 28-March 1 at Bemidji State*
March 7-8 vs. Northern Michigan*
March 14-16 WCHA first round playoffs (at campus sites)
March 20-22 WCHA championship semifinals and final (TBA)

The top eight teams in the league qualify for the WCHA playoffs. The league will announce post-season tournament sites, dates and details on Saturday, March 23.

Let the countdown begin!