An encouraging start gave way to a disappointing performance this weekend.
Connecticut completed a dominant two-game sweep of the Chargers on Saturday, beating UAH 4-0 at the XL Center in Hartford.
Coupled with its 6-0 win Friday, UConn (2-0-0) outscored the Chargers (2-2-0) by a 10-0 margin on the weekend. It was a big turnaround for UAH after its sweep of Ferris State to start the season last week.
UAH will need to regroup for next week’s road trip to Michigan Tech, where they will resume WCHA play.
Tage Thompson, who scored twice on Friday, struck again early after a UAH turnover at its own blue line. His wrister at 3:50 of the game put UConn up 1-0.
The Chargers did get two power plays in the first and had some of their best puck movement of the weekend, but could not find the net behind UConn goalie Rob Nichols.
However, with 1:08 left in the first, Spencer Naas put in a wide open rebound for a 2-0 Huskies lead.
UAH was in dire need of a goal, but at 8:47 of the second, put itself in a bind after Richard Buri called for a hitting-from-behind major penalty and a game misconduct — the second called against the Chargers on the weekend (Brennan Saulnier was sent off late in Friday’s game).
The Chargers were able to kill the penalties and were able to get some chances into the third period, but only the Huskies were able to convert.
Evan Richardson scored with 6:51 left to make it 3-0, and then Naas scored his second of the match with 3:39 to go.
The Huskies outshot the Chargers 32-23. Matt Larose made 28 saves for UAH, while UConn’s Rob Nichols stopped all 23 shots for his second straight shutout.
UAH’s power play could not help matters, going 0-for-5 on the night and 0-for-9 on the weekend. UConn went 0-for-2 after scoring three power play goals on Friday.
After heading to Michigan Tech next week, the Chargers finally have their home opening series Oct. 21-22 against Lake Superior State.