Chargers end road trip dropping third straight

Mike Anderson, UAH Sports Information

The Chargers gave up their second hat trick in as many nights, and ended their eight-game road trip on a sour note, dropping their third straight game as they fell to the Minnesota State Mavericks by a score of 6-2.

The Mavericks got on the board early, as fresh off a power play opportunity, Travis Morin let a shot rip low and beat Charger netminder Scott Munroe (Moose Jaw, Sask.) for the early one-goal lead. Another man-advantage resulted in a goal for Minnesota State, as Joel Hanson picked up and rebound and put it past Munroe to extend the lead to two.

The Chargers broke into the scoring column midway through the second period when Brett McConnachie (Ajax, Ont.) picked up a Chris Martini (Calgary) rebound immediately following the conclusion of a power play and slammed it home for his third of the year, with Bruce Mulherin (Red Deer, Alb.) also helping on the tally. Dominik Rozman (Wallaceburg, Ont.) very nearly evened it up on a later short handed opportunity, taking a steal on an aggressive forecheck. His shot beat Maverick goaltender Dan Tormey, however it came off the crossbar and was no goal. Morin picked up his second goal of the night on a power play, beating Munroe high just under the crossbar. Things fell apart late in the second when the Chargers, while on a four-on-three power play, turned the puck over to Ryan Carter, who fed Kyle Peto to make it a three-goal lead.

Matt Sweazey (Toronto) cut the deficit down to two goals early in the third period with a shot right off an offensive zone faceoff, taking a tip from Jeremy Schreiber (Medicine Hat, Alb.) on the assist, with David Nimmo (St. Albert, Alb.) getting the second assist. Morin made it a hat trick five minutes later with his 11th of the year for the Mavericks. Ryan McKelvie added his first goal of the year two minutes later and the rout was on at 6-2. At that point head coach Doug Ross had seen enough, and called on the services of junior Marc Narduzzi (Vancouver) to close out the game in relief.

Munroe stopped 33 of 39 shots in the loss, while Narduzzi did not see a shot in his eight minutes of work. Tormey made 19 saves for Minnesota State in winning their second straight.

The Chargers return to the Von Braun Center and to conference play when they host Air Force next weekend. Faceoffs are Friday night at 7:05 and Saturday night at 4:05.

UAH-Minnesota State Box Score