The Chargers have things to shore up following their 5-1 loss Saturday against UMass Lowell.
The River Hawks outshot UAH 34-19 and pulled away from a tight contest with three third-period goals.
UAH will take lessons learned into Sunday’s game two, which starts at 3 p.m. CDT.
UAH (0-1) struggled in the special teams battle, going 0-for-7 on the power play opportunities while also allowing a power play goal and a short handed goal.
If the young Chargers, who had eight freshmen in the lineup, had nerves going in, the River Hawks (1-0) capitalized quickly.
After an opening flurry, Colin O’Neill poked in a rebound between the legs of Mark Sinclair (29 saves) at the 1:21 mark.
UAH settled in for the rest of the period to stay down one at intermission.
Most of the second period was riddled with penalties, mostly against UML to give UAH plenty of chances to tie the game.
However, the River Hawks instead extended their lead to 2-0 on a shorthanded breakaway goal by Kenny Hausinger.
The Chargers finally got on board with 1:47 left in the second. On a 2-on-1, Jack Jeffers on the right wing found Christian Rajic all alone in the left circle. Rajic picked his spot to beat UML goaltender Tyler Wall.
UAH was still in it, but UMass Lowell to pull away in the third period with three goals.
The River Hawks led 3-1 at 6:27 on a quick power-play goal right after a Connor James goaltender interference penalty.
Two minutes later, Zach Kaiser threaded a shot from the slot between two UAH defensemen to make it 4-1.
Andre Lee was left unchecked as he scored UML’s fifth goal with 5:39 to go.