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Chargers top Minutemen in first-ever meeting
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| Kevin Morrison | |
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| Marc Narduzzi |
The Chargers wasted little time getting on the scoreboard in the first-ever meeting between the two clubs as Morrison scored from fellow rookie Cale Tanaka (Stoufville, Ontario) with only 1:28 gone from the opening drop of the puck. The Minutemen took advantage of a Charger power play to even the score at 8:15 of the first when Mark Matheson scored for UMass.
UAH sophomore center Kevin Galerno (Kitchener, Ontario) broke the tie open with an even-strenghted tally from Tom Train (Hurst, Texas) and Dominik Rozman (Wallaceburg, Ontario) at 14:47 of the first. The Charger power play then made the Minutemen pay for a penalty of their own with just over two minutes left in the stanza as senior winger Brett McConnachie (Ajax, Ontario) scored his ninth goal of the year with assists going to seniors Mike Salekin (Castlegar, British Columbia) and David Nimmo (St. Albert, Alberta). The power-play tally at 17:53 of the frame gave the Chargers a 3-1 margin heading into the first intermission after both teams managed 11 shots on goal.
The Chargers found themselves on the penalty kill early in the second period after senior A.J. Larivee (Dublin, Ontario) was whistled for hooking. Morrison had other ideas however and scored a short-handed unassisted lamp lighter at 6:26 of the second giving UAH a three-goal cushion. Senior Steve Canter (St. Louis) pushed it to a four-goal lead later in the period with his eighth of the season from freshman defenseman Davide Nicoletti (Toronto, Ontario). The Minutemen went on to score another power-play tally to make it a three-goal contest again at 1:49 of the third but Narduzzi turned in a 14-save performance in the stanza as part of a 36-save night to earn the win. With the win, the Chargers improve to 6-13-1 while the Minutemen drop to 8-6-3.
The Chargers return to action on Jan. 12-13 hosting CHA foe Robert Morris at the Von Braun Center.
Chargers come up short against top-ranked Minnesota
Giving up three first-period goals to the nation's top-scoring offense, the Alabama-Huntsville hockey squad battled hard against top-ranked Minnesota in the opening round of the 16th annual Dodge Holiday Classic but fell short 3-1 on Saturday night in Minneapolis, Minn.
On the power play for four of the first six minutes of the contest, the Gophers cashed in on a UAH penalty at 5:36 of the opening frame when Ben Gordon scored in front of a crowd of 10,015. Senior netminder Marc Narduzzi (Vancouver, British Columbia) faced a tough task in the first stanza as the Gophers poured 22 shots on net. Narduzzi and the Charger defense held Minnesota to the one-goal margin until 18:44 of the period when Ryan Flynn made it a 2-0 contest. UM's Jim OBrien then pushed it to a three-goal margin just before the period closed at 19:36.
The rest of the contest would see the Chargers play the Gophers well, keeping Minnesota off the scoreboard for the final forty minutes of action. After being outshot 15-7 in the second period, the Chargers won the shot battle in the final frame via a 13-11 margin.
Senior winger Grant Selinger (Regina, Saskatchewan) ended UM's Kellen Briggs' hopes of a shutout with a tally from sophomore Joe Federoff (Pittsburgh, Pa.) with 12 seconds remaining in the contest.
With the loss, the Chargers fall to 5-13-1 overall and 0-4-0 all-time against the Gophers while Minnesota improves to 16-1-3 despite missing five of their top players, who are playing in the World Junior Championships. Narduzzi made a season-high 45 saves in the loss while his counterpart Briggs 25 saves to pick up the win.
The Chargers take on the University of Massachusetts Minutemen in the consolation game on Saturday afternoon 4:05 p.m. in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The championship game features Minnesota against Ferris State, who topped UMass 2-1 via a shootout.
