HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Though they produced a solid effort, the UAH hockey team fell by a 2-1 score to visiting Lake Superior State on Sunday afternoon at the Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center. With the loss, the Chargers fall to 0-2 on the season while LSSU exits town with a 2-0 mark.
The Chargers received a brilliant performance in goal from
John Griggs as the junior made 33 saves on the afternoon.
For the second straight game, the home team struck first as
Mac Roy tallied his first goal of the season at the 12:53 mark of the opening frame.
Justin Cseter and
Ben Reinhardt picked up helpers on the score. Starting out with a lot of energy, UAH had its best offensive period in the first as it outshot the visitors 12-11 in the stanza before being limited to single digits in the next two frames.
The score remained 1-0 in favor of UAH until late in the second period when the Lakers were finally able to get Griggs to crack. Nick McParland put it past the Barrington, Ill., native at 18:41 as Chris Cotti and Ben Power picked up the assists to create the tie going into the second intermission.
LSSU turned up the heat in the third period, outshooting the Chargers 18-4 in the frame, and Griggs was up to the task, making several strong saves while also picking up help from the defense in front of him as it made many of the shots easy for the goalie to handle.
But McParland would strike for a second time with just over two minutes left in the contest with Cotti and Power assisting again to give LSSU the 2-1 victory.
UAH was outshot on the day 35-21 as Kevin Kapalka stopped 20 of the Charger shots. The Lakers also enjoyed an advantage in power play opportunities as they held the man-advantage four times, but the Blue and White killed off each to finish perfect on the penalty kill on the afternoon.
The Chargers will hit the road next weekend to take on Western Michigan – one of eight teams UAH has on its schedule that made the NCAA tournament a season ago – on Friday and Saturday. The opening faceoff is slated for 6 p.m. CDT on both days.
