CHA lead cut in half as Chargers fall to Falcons

Mike Anderson, UAH Sports Information

The Alabama-Huntsville hockey team had their tenuous lead in the College Hockey America conference standings chopped in half as they fell to the Air Force Falcons 3-1 in CHA play Friday night.

The Falcons got on the board early in the first period, when Charger netminder Scott Munroe (Moose Jaw, Sask.) made a save on Josh Schaffer's initial save, but Matt Bader was right there to scoop up the rebound and put it home for the 1-0 advantage. The teams would trade shortened power plays with neither team notching another goal before the intermission came.

Air Force struck on the power play in the second period with the Chargers David Nimmo (St. Albert, Alb.) in the box, when the Falcons' Brian Gineo took a pass off the stick of Eric Ehn and buried it past Munroe for the two-goal lead.

The Chargers got on the scoreboard midway through the third period when Brett McConnachie (Ajax, Ont.) took an errant Air Force pass and sent it ahead to Kevin Galerno (Ayr, Ont.). Galerno found Tyler Hilbert (Okotoks, Alb.) who buried the puck high on the glove side for his fifth of the season and cut the lead in half.

The Falcons got the two-goal advantage back when Mike Knaeble drew a penalty on the Chargers. In the confusion, Brian Reese picked up the idle puck and wristed it top shelf on Munroe for the 3-1 lead late in the third. Munroe left the ice in favor of a sixth attacker, but the Chargers failed to score, and fell by the 3-1 score.

Air Force goaltender Peter Foster made 24 saves in the win as the Falcons earned their third win in their last four games, and moved into fifth place in the CHA standings at 5-10. Munroe had 31 saves in defeat as the Chargers fell to 10-4-1 in the CHA and 16-9-2 overall. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak and, with Bemidji State and Niagara each winning their conference tilts Friday night, cut the Chargers' lead in the Peters Cup race to just two points.

The teams will play their final CHA game against each other Saturday night at 8:05 CDT in Colorado Springs.

UAH-Air Force Box Score