A tale of two games: Chargers win shootout in Pittsburgh

Mike Anderson, UAH Sports Information

	Todd Bentley

It was a tale of two games between Friday and Saturday nights' contests between the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers and the Robert Morris Colonials. Where the teams saw just one goal between them in over 60 shots, it was a goal scoring clinic between the two teams Saturday, with the Chargers coming out on top, 6-5.

The Chargers got the scoring started early when Todd Bentley (Livonia, Mich.) netted his third goal of the season at 4:18 of the first period, with Dominik Rozman (Wallaceburg, Ont.) and Chris Martini (Calgary) tallying the assists. Josh Murray (Terrace, B.C.) added his first collegiate goal just 47 seconds later, picking up a loose puck and putting it home.

The Colonials ended Scott Munroe's (Moose Jaw, Sask.) shutout bid with a goal by Jeff Gilbert from Chris Kaufman . The Chargers regained their two goal advantage on the power play as Grant Selinger (Regina, Sask.) moved the puck out to the blue line where Jeff Winchester (Dalhousie, N.B.) slid the puck over to Jeremy Schreiber (Medicine Hat, Alb.) for a one-timer that beat Boucher for his first goal of the season. The first frame ended with the Chargers ahead by a score of 3-1.

Brett Hopfe found the back of the net just six minutes into the second period from Jace Busek and Margott, registering second assist of the night. The Chargers, however, were not content to let the one-goal lead stand as Rozman got his third goal of the season from Bentley and Mike Salekin (Castlegar, B.C.). The scoring continued back and forth as Jake Sparks picked up a talley for the Colonials from Logan Bittle and Jason Towsley. It took just three minutes for the Colonials to pull it to a tie game when Bittle found the twine from Towsley and Bryan Mills. The Bittle goal held through to the second intermission and the teams went into the break tied at four.

The third period started ominously for the Chargers with David Nimmo (St. Albert, Alb.) going to the penalty box early, however he atoned for his sins by coming out of the box and taking the cherry-pick pass from Matt Sweazey (Toronto) to tally his fifth marker of the year. Steve Canter (St. Louis, Mo.) picked up the second assist on the Nimmo goal, which ended up putting the Chargers up for good. It was a tenuous lead, however, with the Chargers having to kill a Sweazey penalty. However, Canter eased the pressure by netting the his first goal of the night and the team's second shorthanded marker of the year to make it 6-4. Margott pulled it back to within one goal with 16 seconds remaining, but it wasn't enough and the Chargers held on for the 6-5 victory.

In the win, Munroe (3-3-0) had 34 saves on 39 shots faced. Christian Boucher stopped 21 of 27 Charger shots in the loss. The most telling statistic of the game was the penalty record. The Chargers came into the evening as one of the nation's most penalized teams, averaging over 27 penalty minutes a game. Tonight, the Boys in Blue spent only eight minutes in the sin bin.

The Chargers will take the Thanksgiving weekend off before heading to Columbus, Ohio to take on the Ohio State University Dec. 2 and 3.

UAH-Robert Morris Box Score