The preseason CHA co-Player of the Year, Zirnis contributed on seven of Alabama-Huntsville's 12 goals over the weekend. The Latvian followed up a pair of assists on Friday night with a two goal three assist performance on Saturday night. Zirnis leads the Chargers in points, scoring 17 in 13 games.
Picking up his third CHA Rookie nomination in seven weeks, Ross scored a pair of goals and added two assists over the weekend. The Huntsville native's power-play goal on Friday night proved to be the game winner. Ross is currently tied for the team lead in goals with five.
It was not the 23-4 pounding that UAH handed the Pioneers the last time the two squads met, but the Chargers scored a pair of goals in the first three minutes to take control of the game and cruise to a 5-2 win over Sacred Heart.
Junior Jason Hawes got things rolling for UAH a mere 45 seconds into play knocking down a Karlis Zirnis rebound to put UAH ahead 1-0. Joel Bresciani, who came alive for the Chargers last weekend, netted his third goal of the season at the 17:22 mark of the first period.
Freshman left-winger Keith Rowe pushed the Chargers lead to 3-0 just over 15 minutes into the period before the Pioneers finally tallied a goal with 3:55 remaining in the first.
Just as they have done for much of the season, the freshman connected again 6:12 into the second period as native Huntsvillian Jared Ross scored his fourth goal of the year to extend the UAH lead to 4-1. Sacred Hearts' Martin Paquet tightened things up a bit with an even-strength netter with under three minutes remaining in the period.
Senior Captain Kevin Ridgeway would add a power-play insurance measure for Alabama-Huntsville at 9:41 in the third before the Pioneers would add a late goal to end the match at 5-3.
Junior goaltender Mark Byrne turned away 30 Pioneer shots to improve to 4-1 on the season and snap a three-game Friday-night game losing streak for the Chargers.
For the first time this season since his summer injury, Byrne returned for a second night between the pipes for Saturday night's matchup. The junior showed no signs of fatigue turning away 27 Pioneer shots to improve his record to 5-1 as the Chargers triumphed 6-3.
Having a spectacular night on the ice, Zirnis scored two goals and added a trio of assists to help the Chargers keep an unblemished 4-0 record against the Pioneers.
Ross opened up the scoring for the Chargers six minutes into the match just after a Pioneer power play came to an end. The Pioneers evened things up at 1-1 early in the second before Steve Charlebois found the back of the net on the power play to put UAH back on top 2-1. Zirnis extended the lead to 3-1 eight minutes into the second with assists from Steve Milosevski and Jackson Harren. Sacred Heart's Martin Paquet shaved the Charger's lead back to one at 15:39 of the second period.
The Chargers got the special teams going again in the third period as junior defenseman Tyler Butler took advantage of the power play rebounding a Karlis Zirnis shot into the back of the net to push the lead back to two. Senior Jessi Otis incresed the lead to 5-2 with his fifth goal of the season just past the 14 minute mark of the third. Sacred Heart narrowed the lead back to 5-3 late in the period before Zirnis slammed home an empty-netter from past the blue line to seal the win for UAH.
UAH-Sacred Heart Game 1 Boxscore
UAH-Sacred Heart Game 2 Boxscore
