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1st place Chargers extend lead with Warrior sweep
Mike Anderson, UAH Sports Information
It was the marquee match-up for the weekend in College Hockey America, and
it turned out to be a couple of blowouts as the Chargers defeated the Wayne
State University Warriors handily, with scores of 4-0 and 8-2.
Saturday night was a task not only for the players on the ice, but for Von
Braun Center staff, resetting the floor from a minor-league basketball game
which started at 4 pm that night. The Chargers were ready to take the ice
on time though, and didn't disappoint. Scott Munroe would start for the
Chargers in net, while on the other side, the reigning CHA Most Valuable Player , David Guerrera, would backstop the Warriors.
While the Warriors started in early setting up the trap, the Chargers worked
to get the puck out of their zone. It was Mike Funk who was able to make
the first good rush and hit Jason Tinwick right on the tape, who deflected
the puck over the right shoulder of Guerrera at 10:38 for his third goal of
the season. The Chargers would dominate the remainder of the period, but
shots would come out even at nine a piece.
In the second frame the Chargers ran into a bit of trouble in the penalty
box, but that didn't stop Jason Hawes from taking a puck away in neutral
ice, dekeing Warrior defenseman Tyler Kindle out of his skates, and scoring
on Guerrera 5-hole at 7:55 to make it a 2-0 game with his fourth tally of the year. The Chargers would keep themselves in the box, however, with four consecutive penalties in the period, including a five-on-three advantage for the Warriors that they would take into the locker room. The Chargers were able to out-shoot the Warriors in the period 14 to 10.
In the final period the Chargers came on strong early, as Craig Bushey found
the back of the net for his sixth of the season from Karlis Zirnis and Doug
Watkins at 1:28. Steve Charlebois would later add a four-on-four goal, his
15th of the season, at 3:07 from Joel Bresciani and Munroe. The Charger
defense would hold for the remainder of the period, Scott Munroe turned
away all nine shots in the period to earn not only his tenth win of the season
(10-4-1), but also his first collegiate shutout.
Jason Tinwick's game-winning goal earned him the third star. Jason Hawes
captured second-star honors with his short-handed marker. Scott Munroe's
31-save effort in net earned him the first star on the night, as the
Chargers padded their lead in College Hockey America play.
Sunday meant the Chargers had a game-in-hand on the rest of the league, and
they were looking nowhere but up as the game started interestingly. Due to
some electrical problems the night before, the scoreboards at the Von Braun
Center were not working properly, so the first two periods were "played by
ear," as public address announcer Larry Fines informed fans and players of
the time left and other information. Amidst all this, Mark Byrne would see
time between the pipes for the Chargers while it was Guerrera again who
would get the nod for the Warriors.
The scoreboard may have been slow getting up, but the Chargers were ready to go wide open, as Jared Ross would tally the first goal of the evening,
and his 11th of the season, at 18:12 of the first, putting home a Mike Funk
rebound to take the lead for good. There was no more scoring in the period,
but there was an interesting falling apart at the end of the first, as
Karlis Zirnis made a rush on the power play, he would get entangled with a
Warrior defender and go flying into Guerrera. Zirnis tried to catch
himself, but ended up shoving Guerrera hard, erupting the situation into a
brawl, as Guerrera came out to retaliate against Zirnis and both teams would
tie everyone up. All told, 28 penalty minutes would be assessed, including
six double-minors for roughing. Zirnis would sit for six minutes, as he
would also be assessed a penalty for charging the goaltender. After referee
Jon Murphy figured out the situation, the Chargers would be down two men for
four minutes. After a 15-minute delay to figure out the situation, the puck
dropped and the remaining five seconds of the period finished up with each
team only taking six shots on goal.
The second frame started up much the same way the first did, with the
Chargers tallying early. Hawes was able to take advantage of a mental
mistake by Guerrera, picked up a puck off the Wayne State end boards and
fed it to Bresciani, who shot on a wide open net to tally the Chargers'
first three-on-five goal of the year and his 12th of the season at 2:11.
Less than a minute later, Todd Bentley picked the pocket of Warrior forward
Brent Renfrew and fed Bruce Mulherin who put the puck on the glove side post
and past Guerrera for his first collegiate goal, another five-on-three
shorthanded goal for the Chargers, to put them to 11 on the season, leading
the nation. Bresciani tallied again later in the period, knocking home a
Hawes pass at 6:52 on the power play.
At that point, Warrior coach Bill Wilkerson had seen enough, and pulled
Guerrera in favor of freshman netminder Matt Kelly. Kelly would hold on for
the rest of the period, stopping four shots, while watching his Warriors net
a couple as Jack Redwood and Derek MacKay would score within a minute of
each other. Dave Guerrera finished his day with 12 saves. The Chargers got
in penalty trouble again at the end of the second, had to start the third
down five-on-three once again.
In the final period, it was all Chargers, staring with Ross scoring
once again on the power play, as he took a Funk rebound off the
crossbar and buried his 12th of the year to put the Chargers up
5-2 at 3:52 of the period. Tyler Butler got on the score sheet five minutes
later, blistering a hard blue-line wrister past the five-hole of Kelly to score
his fourth of the season. Bentley got a marker of his own just a
minute later from Mulherin and Steve Milosevski. Ryan Brown would put the
nail in the coffin with under three minutes remaining, when his dump pass
into the Wayne State zone knuckled over the right shoulder of Kelly and into
the net for his second of the year, putting a cap on an 8-2 thumping that no
one saw coming.
Kelly would finish the game with 12 saves and no decision, as Guerrera took
the loss for the Warriors. Mark Byrne made 38 stops for the Chargers and
got the win to improve to 6-4-2 on the season. Mulherin's two-point night,
including the short-handed game-winner, earned him the third star. Ross's
two power-play goals earned him second star honors. Bresciani received the
first star with his short-handed and power play goals.
The wins catapulted the Chargers into a six-point conference lead, with an
11-1-2 conference record (16-9-3 overall). The Warriors fell to 7-5-2 in
CHA play (14-14-2 overall) and slipped to third place in the conference
standings behind Niagara, who had a three point weekend against the Findlay
Oilers.
The Chargers will ride their momentum into Bemidji, MN, where the Chargers
will take on the Bemidji State Beavers, who are anxious to avenge a pair of
overtime losses at the Von Braun Center.
The Chargers can lock up a bye in the McLeod cup tournament with a sweep in
Bemidji. If Wayne State can sweep Niagara in the Dwyer Arena along with the
UAH sweep, the Chargers will clench their second Peters Cup, and be a lock
for the first seed at the "Great Faceoff on the Great Plains." The games
will be February 21 and 22. Friday night's game faces off at 7:35, and can
be heard live on ESPN 1450-AM, with pre-game starting at 7:00 pm. Saturday
night's game starts at 7:05 pm, with the pre-game broadcast beginning at
6:30 pm. Saturday's game will be broadcast on ESPN 1450-AM on a tape-delay,
immediately following UAH men's basketball as they take on Lincoln Memorial.
Both games can be heard online live at http://www.eyecentric.com or
http://www.sportsjuice.com/providers/uah.
Next Series: at Bemidji State, Feb. 21-22
Charger hockey broadcasts move to ESPN 1450
Charger Radio is on the air, after a manner of speaking. Charger Radio will be moving the second half of its UAH men’s ice hockey schedule to WTKI-AM, ESPN 1450, where it will broadcast up to 13 of the remaining 18 regular season contests and all post-season play live for the city of Huntsville.
Not only will this affect listeners in the Huntsville area, but internet listeners will be able to listen to a higher quality audio stream at ESPN 1450’s website, http://www.espn1450.com. All games will still be available live via SportsJuice (http://www.sportsjuice.com/providers/uah), as they were in the first half of the season.
“This move will be beneficial for everyone involved,” said play-by-play announcer Mike Anderson. “We are excited to get the games out to the public in an easier to access format, and we’ve had many fans at home games wanting to listen in the arena, so bring your radio to the game!”
UAH hockey broadcasts on ESPN 1450 will begin on January 3 when UAH takes on Fairfield University from the Von Braun Center. Pre-game starts at 6:30 pm, with a face-off at 7:05.
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