The original UAH club hockey program established a Huntsville tradition of winning in the early 1980s. On Friday, the new program takes a significant step toward bringing that back.
Friday is when the Chargers take on Central Florida to open the Division 2 schedule of the AAU College Hockey national championships at West Chester, Pa.
“The opportunity that making Nationals gives us is huge,” UAH head coach Tim Flynn said. “It legitimizes our program. For those out there kind of looking at the College Hockey South hierarchy, especially in our foot print, I think this helps show that we belong in the discussion of top teams and options for future players. Playing on a stage like this, we’re hopeful from a recruiting standpoint that people take notice.”
It’ll start early, though. Opening faceoff is 9:15 a.m. local time, 8:15 a.m. in Huntsville.
“The guys are ready to get up there and get started,” Flynn said. “Kind of a tough draw playing at 9:15 a.m. (EST), but that’s part of the fun. We’ll just have to hit the ground running. Everyone’s kind of in the same boat when it comes to that side of things.”
“We saw UCF at the CHS playoffs. They’re a good team that’s going to be tough to play against. We’ll have to limit mistakes, and stay disciplined.”
UAH (10-10-1) did not play UCF (16-9-3) in the CHS regular season or playoffs. The Knights finished sixth in the conference tournament.
Friday’s the first of three straight days of games in Pool C. The Chargers play High Point at 11:15 a.m. CST on Saturday, and then Farmingdale State at 1:15 p.m. CDT on Sunday. All games in the AAU College Hockey national championships will be streamed for free on Black Dog Hockey.
High Point, the ACCHL champion, is the third overall seed in the tournament and have an overall record of 23-5-0. Farmingdale State is 20-11-1 and have AAU D2’s leading scorer in Brendan Dixson.
“High Point looks like they can put up points against anyone,” Flynn said. “Some very impressive offensive totals on that team, and as the top seed in the pool, they’re coming in as the team to beat. Farmingdale State is not your standard 18 seed as they come into the tournament with 20 wins and their leading scorer having 85 points, so they’ll present another set of challenges we’ll have to navigate.”
The winners of the five pools and three wild cards will qualify for the Division 2 quarterfinals, which take place Monday. The semifinals are on Tuesday and the championship on Wednesday, meaning its will take winning six games in six days to take the title.
The last club hockey tournament a UAH team participated in was in 1985, the season before the program went varsity and eventually joined the NCAA. Those Chargers lost in the national championship game, just falling short of winning their fourth straight U.S. National Club title.
Flynn says playing in this tournament is big for this UAH club program, which had seen many bumps and bruises since starting up in 2018.
“This just goes to show what UAH club hockey has been and can be. We have 13 kids on this team who came up through the Huntsville youth hockey programs (North Alabama Hockey Association and Total Package Hockey). Getting here validates all the coaching they’ve received in town over the years, and shows that you can play locally and be able to compete for championships at the college level. As a group, we’ve talked about the tradition and expectations for the UAH hockey program, regardless of level, has always been winning championships. It’s on us to keep that alive.”
Keaton Watts, Crawford named All-Stars: Keaton Watts and Cameron Crawford have been selected to represent UAH and College Hockey South at the AAU College Hockey in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. from April 12-14.
The event features top players from all three of AAU’s men’s divisions as a celebration of AAU College Hockey’s fifth anniversary. Each member conference is fielding an all-star team for a competitive showcase.
Watts is the Chargers’ leading scorer with 20 goals and 20 assists for 40 points in 19 games. He will be on Team White representing CHS. Watts also named the conference’s top Division 2 star for February with seven goals and 11 points in five games.
Crawford will be on CHS’ Team Gray after a breakout season in goal. He has a 3.74 goals against and a .910 save percentage this season.