The Chargers got more shots. The Chargers got more goals. But it wasn’t enough for the Chargers to get their first win.
UAH lost to Northern Michigan 5-3 on Friday in Marquette, Mich., dropping the Chargers to 0-7 on the season and 0-3 in WCHA play.
The shots on goal were 32 for each team. For UAH, it was more than double the 15.8 per-game average through its first six games.
NMU, ranked No. 20, improved to 5-1-1 overall and 3-0-0 in the WCHA.
Game two of the series is Saturday at 5 p.m. Central Time.
It didn’t take long for the Chargers to finally get their first lead of the season. Josh Latta centered the puck from the left circle to Jack Jeffers, who buried his second goal of the season just 19 seconds in.
Latta leads the Chargers with four assists.
Rylan Yaremko tied the game for NMU at the 8:08 mark, but UAH got the lead right back just 22 seconds later. Connor Wood was the recipient of a turnover and snapped the puck over goaltender John Hawthorne.
Right then UAH already had its first multi-goal game of the season.
But the Chargers coughed up the lead in the first 2:02 of the second period.
NMU tied the game 2-2 during an abbreviated power play as Griffin Loughran deflected a Philip Beaulieu blast up the middle 57 seconds in.
Then the Wildcats went up 3-2 as Andre Ghantous beat Mark Sinclair from the right circle.
NMU finished a three-goal second period with a Darien Craighead tally with 3:21 remaining.
Being down two to start the third was trouble enough, but UAH also had to kill a major power play after Dayne Finnson checked Drew Newhouse from behind as the second period expired.
The Chargers killed the penalty, with some help from NMU’s Michael Van Unen, who kneed Wood.
UAH then got to work on trimming its deficit. With 13:31 remaining, Daneel Lategan scored his first collegiate goal with a slapper from the right circle to cut NMU’s lead to 4-3.
The Chargers showed some fight in the third, outshooting the Wildcats 15-9 in the period. UAH popped some shots on Hawthorne (29 saves) during two third-period plays.
But UAH didn’t convert, and Philip Beaulieu sealed the NMU victory with :57 remaining with a empty-net goal from near his own goal line.
Sinclair finished with 27 saves.