UAH (7-7-1 overall, 5-3-0 CHS) at Ole Miss (5-14-0, 2-8-0)
Where: Mid-South Ice House, Olive Branch, Miss.
When: Friday, 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 4:15 p.m.
Watch: Black Dog Hockey (subscription)
The UAH club hockey team can take a big step toward a season goal of earning a spot in the College Hockey South Division 2 playoffs for the first time against Ole Miss this weekend.
The Chargers’ magic number to clinch a spot in the tournament is four points, meaning two wins in their last four games would lock in the top-four finish in the North Division required to qualify for the tournament.
Two weeks ago, UAH split a pair of one-goal games at Vanderbilt to start the spring semester after a two-month layoff. The Chargers lost 5-4 the first night but rebounded with a 3-2 overtime win in the second.
“I will give the guys credit, we really didn’t show any rust,” UAH head coach Tim Flynn said. “We had good energy. I felt we carried the play for most of the first game, but exactly like what we talked about, we just made too many mistakes and hats off to Vandy they took advantage.
“When you lose a game like that, where you feel you played well enough to win, it’s very easy to hang your head and lose the next day. Again, credit to the guys, we kind of went through the motions for the first half of the game but really flipped the switch in the last five minutes of the second period, ramped up our intensity through the entire third period and overtime, and found a way to get two big points out of that game. With MTSU getting three points on the road at Georgia Tech, those two points for us were huge.”
Kolton Watts scored the OT winner in the victory, part of a four-point series. His brother Keaton had three points on the weekend. Both lead the Chargers with identical lines: 13 goals, 16 assists, 29 points.
Ole Miss is in last place in the CHS D2 North. The Rebels’ last league action saw a series split against Vanderbilt, however, back on Dec. 1-2.
Last weekend, Ole Miss played three games against Alabama AAU squads, losing twice to the Tide’s D1 team before beating their D3 team, 5-4.
“We need to keep that momentum rolling into this weekend’s series against Ole Miss,” Flynn said. “We’ve talked all year about making playoffs and now that’s right in front of us. We just need to be focused and execute our game plan. Ole Miss has a lot of speed and skill and their record doesn’t indicate what they’re capable of, in my opinion. We’re going to have to put together two complete 60-minute efforts, play strong defensively and see what comes out the other side.”
| Pts | CHS | Overall | |
| Tennessee | 17 | 8-2-0 (1) | 13-7-0 |
| Vanderbilt | 15 | 7-3-0 (1) | 8-14-0 |
| Clemson | 10 | 5-3-0 (0) | 10-9-0 |
| UAH | 10 | 5-3-0 (0) | 7-7-1 |
| MTSU | 9 | 4-5-1 (0) | 9-10-3 |
| Georgia Tech | 5 | 2-7-1 (0) | 4-14-1 |
| Ole Miss | 4 | 2-8-0 (0) | 5-14-0 |
AAU Division 2 championships outlook
Not only is the conference playoffs on the horizon, but also the national tournament. The AAU Division 2 tournament will be held in West Chester, Pa., from March 6-13.
Twenty teams qualify based on the national rankings. The top two from each of six conferences (including College Hockey South) in these rankings get automatic bids, along with the top eight remaining. The last ranking period is February 14 at the end of the regular season.
As it stands right now, UAH sits at No. 11. College Hockey South, the largest conference in AAU D2, is also the strongest: Led by No. 1 Florida Atlantic and No. 2 Florida getting in automatically, it would have nine of 14 teams qualify, including seven of the eight at-large bids.