Three unanswered goals early in the third period powered Tennessee’s 5-3 victory over UAH on Sunday in Knoxville.
UAH (5-5-1 overall and 4-2-0 in College Hockey South Division 2) and Tennessee (5-5-0 and 2-2-0) split the season series, with the Chargers winning 4-3 in overtime in Huntsville on Sept. 22.
UAH opened the scoring 4:17 into the game. A breakdown in the Tennessee end led to Kolton Watts finding Tyler Trombly at the left doorstep, who buried an open-net shot.
Tennessee came right back to tie the game with 12:02 left in the first as Jason Seaholm scored on a power play.
With 3:18 left in the first, UAH’s Matteo Siciliano mixed it up with UT’s Myles Jackson behind the Charger net, with Siciliano getting an excessive roughing major and Jackson getting a facemasking major. Both resulted in game misconduct penalites.
While there was a lot of back-and-forth action during much of the second period, there was no scoring into late in the frame. After Kyle Stober’s power-play goal gave the Ice Vols their first lead with 2:30 remaining, Trombly scored his second goal of the game, a tic-tac-toe with Kolton and Keaton Watts, 35 seconds later to knot it up at 2-2.
The Vols scored three goals in a 3:19 span early in the third, including their third power-play goal of the game. Tennessee was 3-for-5 in power play opportunities, while UAH was 1-for-7.
Kolton Watts scored his ninth goal of the season with 9:01 remaining in regulation to cut UT’s lead to two, but the Chargers could not rally further.
Tennessee outshot UAH 41-32. Cameron Crawford made 36 saves in net for the Chargers, who have lost three straight games.
UAH finishes up the fall semester portion of the season at home next weekend with the College Hockey South Veteran’s Cup. The Chargers play Alabama on Nov. 10 at 8:30 p.m. at the Huntsville Sports Ice Center.