Michigan Tech 10, UAH 4

If you’d told me at 2:00 p.m. today that UAH would score two power-play goals and four overall, I’d have felt pretty good about the boys’ chances of winning.  Instead, the Michigan Tech Huskies (12-14-6, 10-8-4 WCHA) potted seven second-period goals, which set the UAH school record for most goals allowed in a period.  In all, the teams combined for a modern D-I record 14 goals, with ten of them going to the Huskies (tying the UAH season high for goals allowed) while the boys in Blue and White (1-28-1, 1-18-1 WCHA) scored just four, also a season high.

Let’s just not discuss the goals allowed.  It’s better that way.

The UAH goals were scored by:

  1. Regan Soquila (Maple Ridge, B.C., 2nd goal), who took a feed from Jack Prince (Leicester, England, 3rd assist) low in the slot that gave him an open net for a hot wrister just :44 after the Huskies’ first marker.  Chad Brears (Cold Lake, Alta., 2nd assist) also picked up an assist.
  2. Prince (4th goal), who picked up a feed from Steven Koshey (Trail, B.C., 6th assist) behind the net, skating just along the top of the crease while waiting for Pheonix Copley (19 sv, 8-8-5) to open up; when he did, the Prince of Huntsville back-handed the puck along the ice and into the Tech net.
  3. Prince again (5th goal) on the power play early in the third, tipping a Brears (3rd assist) shot from the point set up by a feed from Koshey (7th assist).  The boys thought that Chad had scored this one, but it was credited to Jack on the video review.
  4. Brears (5th goal) scored a power-play goal on a rebound of a Prince (4th assist) shot.  Alex Allan (Calgary, Alta., 2nd assist) picked up the other assist.

But otherwise, it was a nightmare.  Matt Larose (Nanaimo, B.C., 0-14-1) picked up 35 saves on 42 shots on before leaving the ice in favor of Carmine Guerriero (Montréal, Québec, 12 sv on 15 shots).  Larose was visibly upset as he left the ice, and that’s understandable.

This one was ugly.

Michigan Tech 4, UAH 1

Blake Pietila and Tanner Kero each scored two goals to lead the host Michigan Tech Huskies (11-14-6 overall, 9-8-4 WCHA) over UAH (1-27-1 overall, 1-17-1 WCHA) by a 4-1 score at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton, Mich.

The Chargers’ lone goal came at 9:28 of the third period just as a Husky penalty expired.  A shot into the pads of MTU netminder Pheonix Copley (20 sv, 7-8-5) settled at the feet of senior winger Alex Allan (Calgary, Alb.), who skated right-to-left across the goal mouth to beat Copley to the left-wing post to net his team-leading fifth goal of the season.  Jack Prince (Leicester, England) and Doug Reid (Innisfil, Ont.) picked up the assists, their third and fifth, respectively.

Carmine Guerriero (Montréal, QC, 38 sv, 1-14-0) got the start in net for the Chargers, leaving for an apparent groin injury with 11:05 left in regulation.  Matt Larose (Nainaimo, B.C., 9 sv) came in to relieve his fellow freshman, allowing Pietila’s second marker.

In all, the Chargers killed four of their five power plays, including a checking-from-behind major on Chad Brears just 0:40 into the second period.

The Chargers face the Huskies at 4:07 p.m. Huntsville time on Saturday afternoon.

UAH 4, BGSU 3, OT

Somewhere under there, Frank Misuraca cries for everyone to get off of him because he can't breathe.  (Credit: Todd Pavlack)

Somewhere under there, Frank Misuraca cries for everyone to get off of him because he can’t breathe. (Credit: Todd Pavlack)

Oh, you want to see the man of the hour? Okay.

(Credit: Todd Pavlack)

Wow.  What a game.  That would be an exhilarating game even if it wasn’t that first win all of our young men have been working and working and working to get.  But to have all of the frustration of this season to be decided on a last-second overtime goal?  COME ON.

So how did we get here?  I mean, it was tied at three after regulation time expired.  So there was some fun, yeah?

Yeah.

Sean Walker started off the scoring in the first for the Falcons, flinging a puck through traffic that I’m not sure Carmine Guerriero ever saw.  But after a few minutes, it was a Charger power play and …

… tic-tac-GOAL for Cody Marooney, his first collegiate marker.

The Chargers couldn’t pull ahead even with 1:06 of 5×3 late in the first when Brett Mohler (hooking) and Connor Kucera (boarding) took minor penalties.  Guerriero was still sharp after not a lot of pressure, and he stopped a couple of chances to end the frame.

Unfortunately for partisans in blue and white, the Falcons struck early in the 2nd, with Brent Tate slipping the defense to find a Cam Wojtala pass in the slot for a goal.

A couple of penalties on Marooney left the Chargers scrambling to cover Falcons, but the Chargers were crashing the point pretty hard.  BG countered by taking the puck wide to the boards while looking for cross-ice passes to the bottoms of the circle.  But they took their eyes off the puck for a second, and …

… it’s Matt Salhany time!

Who cares that the Falcons scored 52 seconds later?  Okay, we should all care, but the key thing is that the home side didn’t go up 3-1 late in the 2nd.  Instead, the margin was just one, and the boys knew that they had a very good chance at winning this one.

I will let these two tweets stand to vent my frustration with a broadcaster that was … sub-par but has a career that should have him be better.

Sorry, you mess with my alma mater and I’m gonna say something about it.  Back to hockey!

There were a lot of times where I could’ve tweeted this:

We're calling him CG35, and we're hope that he's okay with that.  (Credit: Todd Pavlack)

We’re calling him CG35, and we’re hope that he’s okay with that. (Credit: Todd Pavlack)

Then at the 12:30 mark of the third, Jack Prince had the puck just outside of the slot.

After that point, the boys were flying all over the ice.  There was a puck that ended up in the net before being taken back out and flipped in the air, but no amount of Prince arguments got the referees to change their mind, even with a review.  Presumably Jack tried a Cockney accent while he was at it.

A late tripping penalty on Brent Fletcher led to a BG power play with just 2:49.  Did the boys quit?  Hell no they didn’t.  Have you seen these guys quit?  Every WCHA coach praises their intensity.  Intensity is what made the PK happen.  The boys were again pressuring the D and looking for breakaways, and Joakim Broberg was tripped up.  4×4 for :31, and the penalty carried into overtime.

Overtime is a bit of a haze for me, but that’s mainly because it was just wide-open, end-to-end hockey, great goaltending at both ends, solid back-checking, strong passes through neutral ice, and good shots.  In other words:

But nothing, nothing, nothing replaces what Frank Misuraca did.

Oh, wait, yeah, this:

That “charge the hashes” stuff was pure Tim Thomas.  Steve Koshey helped out just enough to make sure that the puck was fluttering and rolling past BG sticks.  That the puck didn’t go in told you that this just might be the night.

MisuROCKET.

Good night, everybody.

UAH 10, UAT 0

It was more than a little bit “same song, second verse” on Sunday afternoon at the VBC. After a 12-1 rout on Saturday night, the Chargers came out and shut out the Frozen Tide, 10-0.

It took the boys a little while to get started on the goal column, even though they were working Coach K2‘s system pretty hard. Jack Prince (London, England) kicked the scoring off with an unassisted goal, leading a barrage of five goals in 3:13. Following Prince were Doug Reid (Innisfill, Ont.) from Craig Pierce (Roswell, Ga.) and Stephen Hickey (Ancaster, Ont.), Pierce from Reid and Mat Hagen (Ottawa, Ont.), Prince unassisted, and Tyler Kotlarz (Hudsonville, Mich.) unassisted. Reid and Pierce’s goals came in such quick succession that PA announcer Taylor Flatt was unable to get Reid announced before Pierce scored.

The second period was another slow start for goal scoring before Hickey scored at 12:47 on an assist from Pierce. Prince picked up his hat trick at 14:55 on assists from Kotlarz and Michael Webley (Stittsville, Ont.). The Frozen Tide held the Chargers to just nine shots on goal while making five of their own count. Junior netminder CJ Groh (Cincinnati, Ohio), having not seen a shot in the first frame, stopped all five.

Scoring in the third was a little more spread out. Hickey scored at 7:14 on assists from Chad Brears (Cold Lake, Alta.) and Reid. The final Charger goals came 18 seconds apart: Kotlarz from Prince at 12:45, then Webley from Hagen at 13:03. Freshman goaltender Gregg Gruehl (Dublin, Ohio) saw just one shot in the final frame. On the weekend, the Chargers outshot the Frozen Tide 108-11.

Coach Ken Kleinendorst was happy after the game. “We tried to work on some things that will help us move forward.” When asked how the team is progressing, Kleinendorst, said, “I think so. I think that we definitely have the bodies to put together to put a pretty solid lineup on Friday night [against Mankato]. I’m getting a good feel for the guys, but I still need a better feel.”

When asked about the start to his career, Prince said, “It’s been a long wait. It’s hard to watch junior teams get ready to play and have to wait longer.” He was happy to have the opportunity to get to know his teammates’ tendencies on the ice, saying, “It was nice for us freshman. We got to see what everyone else was going to be doing. It helped us play along. We sorta know where to be based on watching video, but when you get into a game situation, it’s different. It was nice to have two games where to figure out where to be at the right time.” Asked about the speed of the college game, he said, “It’s a big step up from juniors. I’m looking forward to the challenge.

The Chargers have four days of rest and practice before facing Minnesota State University, Mankato on Friday night at Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center. Tickets at all levels of the arena are FREE, so please come out and support your Chargers and bring all of your friends (and some of your enemies).

Quick Hits

Have a great rest of the week, and be sure to come out to the game on Friday night! It’s free, you know.