Just two weeks ago the Charger hockey team were in deep trouble. They entered the New Year circling the drain with a 7-game losing. However, what a difference winning can make.
After UAH swept Wayne State on the road last weekend, the Chargers came home to the Von Braun Center and picked up a 5-1 win and a 3-3 tie against the University of Findlay.
The series leaves the Chargers with an 11-8-1 record overall and 6-3-1 in the CHA. Coupled with a Niagara loss to Wayne State on Friday, the Chargers not only steadied their position in second place, but inched a bit closer to the Eagles in the CHA standings.
On Friday, the Chargers overwhelmed the Oilers in the first two periods scoring all five of their goals. Mike Funk put the Chargers on the board first with a goal 10 minutes into the game. Findlay answered 30 seconds later to tie the game at 1-all.
The score remained tied until Darren Curry scored what proved to be the game-winner at 2:19 in the second period. Ian Fletcher, Steve Charlebois and Ron Baker added goals as the Chargers won going away.
On Saturday, all of the scoring once again came in the first two periods. Findlay scored first on a power play goal by Andy Croak at 7:34 in the first period. Funk tied the game at 9:02 with a goal from Curry and Steve Milosevski.
The Chargers took the lead when Funk scored his second goal of the game on the power play at 16:02 in the first. A minute and a half later, the Oilers knotted the score at 2-2 when Croak scored his second goal. Then, with less than a minute left in the period, the Oilers pulled ahead with a goal by Jason Maxwell.
UAH came back to tie the game in the second period when Ryan McCormack scored on the power play. Neither team could break through in the final period or overtime.
Mark Byrne finished the series with 28 saves. Adam MacLean had five saves in nearly 20 minutes of work. Mike Slaton got to see his first action as a UAH Charger, playing a little over four minutes in the Saturday game.
On offense, Funk scored three goals in the series to lead the Chargers. McCormack added a goal and a pair of assists. Meanwhile, Curry moved into the overall lead in scoring with a goal and two assists over the weekend.
The Chargers will be at home next weekend facing Air Force
Game 1 Boxscore
Game 2 Boxscore
Next Series: vs. Air Force at the Von Braun Center on January 19-20...Faceoff on both days is 7:00 p.m. The series will be broadcast live on the Internet via www.liveonthenet.com.
