The Charger hockey squad headed into the weekend on a five-game winless skid and staring two daunting road trips ahead in the next month. For the UAH team it was time to right the ship and turn things up a bit against quality WCHA foe Minnesota State.
The Mavericks entered the series desperately looking for a win of their own having dropped their last four contests. Both win hungry squads took the ice Friday night and played well. The Mavericks managed to outshoot the Chargers 37-26 in the matchup but it was UAH netminder Mark Byrne, who stole the show.
The Nepean, Ontario, native turned away each and every scoring chance that Minnesota State was afforded. The shutout was the eighth of his career breaking the former record of seven held by Derek Puppa, who backstopped the Chargers to their first NCAA title.
The Chargers got things rolling offensively at the 5:11 mark of the opening period when junior forward Steve Charlebois on an odd-man rush buried the puck in the back of the net on a backhanded shot after a pass from fellow junior Joel Bresciani. Sophomore forward Steve Milosevski added a UAH insurance measure taking a Tyler Butler pass and putting it past Maverick netminder Jason Jensen.
The Chargers were able to pick up the win without the CHA's and team-leading scorer Karlis Zirnis and fellow linemate Jessi Otis, who were both suspended for a violation of team rules. Both were made available for Saturday night's action.
With a large piece of their offense back on the ice Saturday night, the Charger faithful expected to see more points on the board. MSU's Jensen had a different idea with an outstanding effort between the pipes turning away 32 UAH shots leading the Mav's to a 5-1 win, their first in six outings.
Wasting several quality scoring chances early in the first period seemed to deflate the Charger team that had played so hard on Friday night. A crucial UAH turnover gave the Mavericks a 2-0 lead at 16:32 in the first as B.J. Able put a wrist shot past Byrne after teammate Cole Bassett had opened the scoring at the 8:47 mark.
Scoring his second goal in as many nights, Milosevski tightened the game back up at 2-1 with nine seconds to play in the first. The two squads skated through a scoreless second period with the Chargers power play woes continuing as UAH went 0-for-3 in the second stanza.
The third period belonged to MSU as the Mavericks posted three unanswered goals including two by Shane Joseph that were assisted by Abel, who finished with a three-point night. Byrne took the loss for the Chargers making 22 saves in defeat.
UAH-Minnesota State Game 1 Boxscore
UAH-Minnesota Game 2 Boxscore
