The UAH club hockey team ended the fall semester on a high note with a 5-4 victory over Middle Tennessee on Saturday in the third-place game of the College Hockey South Veterans cup at the Huntsville Ice Sports Center.
It was a much-needed win for the Chargers (6-6-1), who rallied from a three-goal deficit to snap a four-game losing streak. UAH went 3-0 against the Blue Raiders (5-7-2) this season.
Keaton Watts had a three-point night, and Cameron Crawford, starting in back-to-back days for this first time this season, made 33 saves. Watts received a gold jersey from College Hockey South for being player of the team for the weekend.
Middle Tennessee opened scoring with a Donovan Yesnach goal just over six minutes into the game, but Kolton Watts, after a flurry of chances in front, got the finisher and tied the game at 1-1 two minutes later.
Robert Settle gave the Blue Raiders a 2-1 lead with just under two minutes left in the frame on a nice deflection in front, and then with 25 seconds remaining, Harvey Rench put MTSU up 3-1 on the power play.
MTSU went up 4-1 on another power play goal 1:51 into the second, but Bradly McDonald cut the Raiders’ lead in half after beating Ethan Roy (48 saves) glove side from the right circle 71 seconds later.
Keaton Watts scored his team-leading 12th goal of the season on the power-play with 1:25 remaining and UAH trailed 4-3 at the second intermission. The Chargers outshot MTSU 22-6 in the period en route to a 53-37 advantage for the game.
The Chargers have been struggling on the penalty kill, allowing seven power-play goals in the last three games, but they were able to the tie the game on a short-handed goal by Josh Corrow with 13:07 left in regulation. It was UAH’s first shorty of the season.
Then UAH finally got its first lead of the game at 5-4 when Tyler Trombly fired in a rebound from the slot with 6:53 to go.
UAH’s penalty kill stepped it up with two MTSU opportunities knocked out in the final 4:40.
UAH will now be on a two-month break for the holidays and finals. The Chargers’ next action is Jan. 19-20 at Vanderbilt. Their next home games would be a the College Hockey South Division 2 Tournament in February should UAH qualify.
It was the final game as Chargers for Zachary Wolfe and Matthew Scott, who graduate in December.