Having seen the College Hockey America tournament title slip through their fingers the past three seasons, the UAH Charger hockey squad faces a schedule in 2002-03 that could earn the school's first NCAA Division I Tournament at-large bid if the blue and white fail to qualify automatically by winning the conference tourney.
The 2001-02 schedule, which was considered the toughest in the 23 years that the Chargers have taken the ice, pales in comparison to the 2002-03 slate which features a daunting non-conference slate on top of the rigorous CHA campaign. The Chargers open the season against three of the toughest teams in the nation including defending national champion Minnesota. With the season getting underway Oct. 18-19, UAH opens on the road at Wisconsin against the Badgers before travelling to face the Denver Pioneers, the number-one seed from last year's NCAA tournament.
The Chargers open up the home slate against long-time rival and conference foe Air Force on Nov. 15-16. After a trip to the Motor City to take on defending champion Wayne State, UAH returns home to host conference rival Niagara on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. The following weekend the Chargers head to Fairfield, Conn., for a meeting against Sacred Heart on Dec. 6-7. After a short break for exams and Christmas, the Chargers head back to the Constitution State for the UCONN Tournament hosted by Connecticut on Dec. 28-29. UAH opens the challenge against Ferris State and faces either Connecticut or fellow CHA member Findlay in round two.
The blue and white open 2003 with the lone home set against a non-conference foe on the schedule as Fairfield University makes their first trip to the Rocket City since 1993 on Jan. 4-5. Following a trip to face the Findlay Oilers on Jan. 10-11, UAH hosts long-time foe Bemidji State on Jan. 17-18 before the Chargers step outside of conference play to take on Northern Michigan in Marquette, Mich., on Jan. 24-25. A trip to Colorado Springs, Colo., awaits UAH after taking on the Wildcats, as the Chargers butt heads with Air Force Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
Valentine's weekend features a showdown between the Chargers and Warriors at the Benton Wilcoxson Iceplex as Wayne State comes to Huntsville. Following a trip to Bemidji State on Feb. 21-22, the Chargers return home to the Von Braun Center as the Oilers come to town on Feb. 28 and Mar. 1. In a final tune-up before the CHA tournament, the Chargers head to Niagara Falls, N.Y., to face the Purple Eagles in the final pair of regular season contests on Mar. 7-8.
A journey to the Mid-West follows the Chargers' trip to the Empire State as Kearny, Neb., plays host to the CHA Tournament in 2003. Labeled "The Great Face-off on the Great Plains", this marks the first time in conference history that the tournament's winner will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament as well as the first time the event will be held at a neutral site.
All in all, with nearly the entire squad returning from last season, the 2002-03 campaign looks to be a tough but exciting journey for Chargers next season.
For the Charger hockey squad the 2001-02 season was certainly one of ups and downs, but heading into the campaign everyone knew they would have a tough road ahead of them in what is likely the toughest schedule in school history.
Outside of the rugged College Hockey America schedule, Alabama-Huntsville also faced off against top-ten opponents St. Cloud State and Cornell on the road along with tough contests at Nebraska-Omaha and Canisius as well as home sets with Minnesota State and Bentley.
Opening up during the heart of October, UAH opened the 2001-02 slate against Bentley College. Things looked really good for the Chargers as they cruised to a weekend sweeping taking Friday night's match 6-1 and Saturday's game 3-2.
The blue and white then hit the road to Buffalo, N.Y., an area to which they would become very familiar with before the season was over, to take on Canisius. The Chargers picked up a hard-fought 5-4 win on Friday night but the Golden Griffs turned the table on Saturday night with a 9-3 win to earn the split.
The Charger returned home to the Von Braun Center the next weekend to take on the Falcons of the Air Force Academy. Having played the Falcons more than any other team in school history, the Chargers opened conference play on a sound note sweeping Air Force 2-0, and 3-1 with sophomore netminder Adam MacLean picking up his first career shutout. The biggest surprise of the weekend came as junior netminder Mark Byrne returned between the pipes in the game on Saturday night. The Nepean, Ontario native had been on the shelf up until that point recovering from a pair of broken wrists from a summer accident. Byrne returned over a month a head of schedule and turned away 35 Air Force scoring attempts to earn CHA Defender of the Week honors.
Following the AFA series, the Chargers headed to New York again, this time to take on Cornell, a team that finished in the nation's top-10. Despite playing hard, the Big Red were just too much to handle for UAH sweeping the blue and white 6-1, and 5-2. The Purple Eagles came calling the next weekend to the Von Braun Center and they were ready to play on Friday night winning 5-2. The Chargers rebounded 5-3 on Saturday night however to earn the split in the key GSC series.
Up next on the slate was a trip to Minn., and a visit to Bemidji and a set with the Beavers. After falling 7-3 on Friday night, UAH earned the split on Saturday with a 6-3 win over BSU. A familiar foe from the Division II days, Sacred Heart came calling over Thanksgiving weekend and gave the Chargers two tough contests but UAH swept the Pioneers 5-3 and 6-3.
The Chargers followed up their sweep of Sacred Heart with their third trip to New York and a date with Niagara this time. On Friday night, UAH jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back winning their first-ever contest in Dwyer Arena 4-1 before losing 8-5 on the first night of December.
The last month of the year would be a grim one for UAH as the Chargers would post a 0-4-1 record in the month including a 0-3-1 record against CHA foe Wayne State. After allowing the Chargers to earn a tie in Detroit, Wayne State came into the VBC and posted the first-ever sweep by a visiting CHA team in school history.
The New Year brought new hope for a quick rebound after UAH took out visiting WCHA opponent Minnesota State on Friday night 2-0 with Byrne picking up his school-record eighth shutout, but the Mavericks rebounded on Saturday to win 5-1.
A pair of tough road matches awaited the Chargers as UAH headed to face top-15 squads Nebraska-Omaha and St. Cloud State. After falling 4-2 at UNO on Friday night, the Chargers nearly squeaked one out on Saturday night 3-2. The trip to face the Huskies would not fare much better as the second-ranked SCSU squad downed UAH 3-0 and 2-7.
Needing to pick up some ground in the CHA race, Findlay came to town and the Chargers were able to pick up four points winning 5-4, 4-2. Things looked good for UAH with a trip to Colorado Springs and a meeting with the Falcons, whom the Chargers had swept easily in October.
Things would be different this time, as a very different Air Force squad was waiting. The Cadets slammed UAH 6-3 on Friday and won Saturday night for their first sweep of the Chargers since the inception of the CHA.
UAH traveled to Findlay needing to pick up ground in the conference standings to avoid playing on Thursday in the CHA tournament. The Charger got the win on Friday evening 5-3 but fell to the Oilers 6-2 in the series finale.
With the regular season drawing to a close, the Chargers hosted Bemidji State in the final series. Although the Beavers had already locked up second place in the conference and a bye in the tournament, BSU came looking for a fight from long-time foe UAH. The Charger offense got back on track netting five goals each night as UAH downed the Beavers 5-2 and 5-2 to finish third in the conference. The BSU series also saw the first hat trick for UAH in 2001-02 with freshman Jared Ross scoring a trio of goals in Saturday night's win.
With the regular-season slate finished, the Chargers headed to N.Y., for the fourth time in the 2001-02 season for the CHA tournament hosted by Niagara. The Chargers would fare well in the Empire State opening up with Findlay in the first round.
The Oilers drew first blood in the opening round a mere :47 into the contest but Byrne then slammed the door shut as UAH scored four unanswered to win 4-1 and setup a meeting with Bemidji State in the semifinals.
Junior Steve Charlebois led the way for the Chargers against the Beavers recording the second hat trick in CHA Tournament history en route to the 5-2 win for UAH. Byrne continued a great tournament saving 34 BSU scoring attempts.
The Charger's win setup a rematch of the 2000-01 title game between UAH and Wayne State. The showdown would be one for the ages as regulation time would not be enough for the two squads to settle the battle. The Warriors would eventually prove too much for UAH scoring a controversial goal at 9:12 of the overtime period to claim their second straight CHA Tournament title. Byrne along with Charlebois and junior defenseman Tyler Butler each landed positions on the all-tournament squad.
The tournament run enabled the Chargers to finish with a .500 record at 18-18-1. Three Chargers earned postseason athletic honors as Butler and Charlebois were named to the All-CHA team and Ross was named to the All-Rookie squad. Nine Chargers grabbed spots on the All-CHA Academic team including Byrne, Joel Bresciani, David Halliwill, Jason Hawes, Adam MacLean, Steve Milosevski, Jessi Otis and Gerald Overton.
Karlis Zirnis and Milosevski garnered CHA Player of the Week honors during the season and Ross and Craig Bushey picked up CHA Rookie of the Week nods during their freshman campaigns with Ross winning three different weeks.
