The search for a win incredibly continues.
Alaska Anchorage scored with 3:05 remaining in the third period, then added an empty-netter to defeat UAH 3-1 at the Von Braun Center on Saturday.
Alaska Anchorage (2-4-2 overall, 2-1-1 WCHA) came to Huntsville and took five of six points in the WCHA series, which seemed to be the best chance so far for the Chargers to finally taste victory. The teams tied 4-4 on Friday with the Seawolves taking the shootout.
This loss will fester for a bit. UAH (0-9-1, 0-5-1) is off next week before heading to Bemidji State on November 22-23.
“We’ve got to get our game crisper,” UAH head coach Mike Corbett said. “We’ve got to get more consistent. We’ve got to be able to move pucks and let pucks do the work, especially on nights like tonight when maybe we don’t have our best legs.”
The Chargers almost started the game with a bang just like Friday night when Peyton Francis had a breakaway in the first 17 seconds, but he was stopped by UAA goaltender Kristian Stead.
There wasn’t that much action after that until Tanner Schachle committed a major boarding penalty with a game misconduct, ending his night 12:34 in. UAH then had a short two-man advantage after an Alex Frye slashing penalty.
UAH failed to score with the over six minutes of power play time, but not without peppering Stead with pucks. The Chargers finished the first period with a 16-2 shots on goal advantage, but the game remained scoreless.
The first half of the second period saw the Seawolves get the first nine shots on goal, but it was the Chargers who got the first goal.
On a power play, Brandon Salerno backhanded a rebound at the Stead’s doorstep to put UAH up 1-0 with 6:12 remaining in the second. Tanner Hickey and Connor James had the assists.
However, the Chargers did not pick up Trey DeGraaf, who 86 seconds later tied the game at 1-1, also on a rebound in the slot.
The Seawolves continued to dominate the share of scoring opportunities into the third period. From the second period on, UAA outshot the Chargers 26-10.
“We had to get a spark,” Corbett said. “We had to get something going, and we didn’t have the energy to get it going.
“They pressured us a lot. We knew what they were going to do. We just have to be able to handle that pressure. You’ve got to be in shape and you’ve got to be able to play 60-plus minutes to be able to handle that pressure consistently.”
Anchorage’s game-winning goal came off the stick of DeGraaf, who deflected Carmine Buono’s blast from the left point. The puck somehow found its way past UAH goalie David Fessenden to make it 2-1.
Fessenden, who was making his third start, finished with 25 saves.
“I thought he was solid,” Corbett said of Fessenden’s effort. “All you want your goalie to do is give you a chance to win and I think he gave us a chance to win. He played hard and competed in his first home start.”
With Fessenden pulled for the extra attacker, Alex Frye sealed the Chargers’ fate with 8.8 second remaining with an empty-net goal.