This weekend’s WCHA matchup in the Rocket City included the University of Alabama in Huntsville’s Chargers and the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves. The teams played games on two consecutive nights at the Propst Arena in Huntsville, AL.
Friday night’s game was a fast-paced showcase that ended in a 4-4 tie, with Alaska Anchorage gaining the extra league point in shootout. UAH’s first goal came shortly after the puck drop with Josh Latta scoring from his own rebound only 34 seconds into the first period. UAA’s Drake Glover and Tanner Schacle tallied the following two goals of the game, making the score 2-1 in favor of UAA.
In the second period, Christian Rajic, assisted by Bailey Newton and Austin Beaulieu, scored at the 8:46 mark to tie up the game. In the remainder of the second, UAA charged ahead to take the lead by scoring two goals, from Jared Nash and Taylor Lantz, before the intermission.
Coach Corbett, when asked about the team’s response battling back from the deficit after the second period, said, “We didn’t feel great about ourselves going into the locker room after that. We came out and were able to get that goal early after the power play expired and we had our chances. We had other chances to be able to tie the game and to be able to go ahead, but there was good resilience by our group.”
In the third period, UAH regained their confidence by netting two goals in the third to tie up the game yet again. These goals came from Jack Jeffers and Dayne Finnson. Overall, UAH outshot UAA with a count of 37-32 shots, but they couldn’t convert enough of them to change the outcome. After two 5-minute periods of overtime, the game eventually ended in a shootout in Alaska’s favor. This was the first game this season to not only end in overtime, but a shootout.
With Saturday’s game, came a second chance for both teams to take home a win. Unfortunately for the home team, Alaska Anchorage came out on top with a score of 3-1.
The first period was uneventful, with neither team netting a goal. In the second period, the first goal of the game came from Brandon Salerno’s power play goal, and his first goal of the season, assisted by Tanner Hickey and Connor James, making the score 1-0 in favor of UAH. Shortly after, UAA tied the score with a goal from Trey DeGraff at the 15:14 mark of the second period. This didn’t change until late in the third when DeGraff scored his second goal of the night and Alex Frye was able to get an empty-net goal with only 8 seconds left in regulation. This was more than enough to bring home an Alaska Anchorage win.
Coach Corbett’s overall thoughts about the weekend were, “We didn’t play poorly, I think the team that wanted it more tonight was going to get it. Neither team was really crisp… We had to get a spark, we had to get something going and we didn’t have the energy to get it going.”
After this weekend, UAH’s record stands at 0-9-1 (0-5-1 WCHA) and Alaska Anchorage’s is 2-4-2 (2-1-1 WCHA). UAH has the next weekend off, but will play Bemidji State on November 22nd and 23rd.
