Alabama-Huntsville: CHA champion.
It had to happen sooner or later.
But the Chargers didn’t think they would have to wait until the eighth time would be the charm.
Last Sunday in Des Moines, the Chargers completed a remarkable comeback from being down 4-0 to Robert Morris and won in overtime, 5-4. It was their third come-from-behind win of the weekend and the first time UAH captured the tournament title since the inception of the CHA in 1999-2000.
UAH head coach Doug Ross also gets his career prolonged. He announced his retirement earlier this season, effective at the end of the year, but now he has to wait a couple more weeks to get out the proverbial rocking chair.
“We’ve come back a lot of times this year and we know we have the ability to come back,” said Ross. “It’s good to be able to go out like this. I told the team after the first period that we just needed to chip away and get a couple goals. When we got the third one at the end of the second, that was huge. We knew if we tied it, we had a chance as long as we kept them out of our end.”
Alabama-Huntsville became the first team with a losing record (13-19-3) since 1978 to secure a bid in the NCAA tournament. UAH was also the first No. 5 seed to advance to the finals of the CHA tournament and the first last-place team to win the tournament.
David Nimmo was the hero Sunday, as he scored the shorthanded OT winner 12:31 into the extra session.
After Aaron Clarke just missed the net on the RMU power play, the puck came to the UAH blue line. Doug Conley tripped going for the puck and Nimmo scooped it up and went in on a two-on-one with Josh Murray on Colonials’ goalie Christian Boucher. Murray drove back-door, but Nimmo took the shot from the left wing side and backhanded the puck past Boucher, who got his glove on it, and then crashed into Boucher after the puck crossed the goal line. The play was reviewed, but was ultimately a goal.
“Without question the biggest goal I’ve ever scored,” said Nimmo, who also scored Huntsville’s second goal of the game and was named tournament MVP. “I’ve never won a championship before — no conference or league title or anything — so it was good to get this one and to score the OT winner.”
Boucher finished with 45 saves.
RMU got goals from Ryan Cruthers, Dave Cowan (first NCAA goal), Sean Berkstresser and Chris Margott in the first period before UAH came back with three in the second (Kevin Morrison, Nimmo, Grant Selinger) and the tying goal in the third by Scott Kalinchuk.
Marc Narduzzi, with just one save on four shots, was yanked from the UAH goal after the first three Colonials’ goals and Blake MacNicol promptly gave up Margott’s tally. But the freshman played flawless hockey from that point on and earned All-Tournament honors in net.
“Going into overtime, I did think we were going to win,” said MacNicol after playing in just his sixth game with UAH, and making 28 saves, after joining the team in January. “I guess I felt a little pressure personally, but you just need to block that out in a game like this. Things went right for us all weekend and I just knew we were going to win this thing.”
“We found a way to claw back all weekend,” Nimmo said. “We stayed relaxed and calm and kept our composure. In the second and third, we concentrated on just getting the puck deep. We just went out and had fun.”
On the Robert Morris side, head coach Derek Schooley was down, as expected, but said this loss will only motivate his team for next season.
“Calling this a heartbreaker is an understatement,” Schooley said. “I give Huntsville credit. They were down, but were resilient and came back. We had the 4-0 lead, but they actually outplayed us. We just capitalized on our opportunities. I don’t know how you can’t use this game as motivation for next season. This will sting for a long time because, you know, there’s no game next Friday.
“After the game, I just thanked our five seniors (Joe Tuset, Joey Olson, Doug Conley, Bryan Mills and Aaron Clarke), especially Tuset and Olson, who came here a year early before we even had hockey. There isn’t much I can say. Hopefully, this makes us a better team.”
Next up for the Chargers is finding out who they’ll play in regional action. The team plans to gather at Dreamland BBQ in Huntsville this Sunday to watch the selection show on ESPN2 at 2:30. Odds are UAH will face a national powerhouse in their first game. Ross said the game plan for the next week will be how it’s been all season.
“We’re not going to change anything, except maybe coming out faster and getting an early lead,” said Ross. “Maybe that’s something we need to work on a little bit.”
In the quarterfinal win Friday over Wayne State, UAH was down 3-1 in the third period and won, 4-3, in overtime. Then on Saturday against Niagara, the Chargers were down 3-1 midway through the game, but took a 5-3 win.
What will Alabama-Huntsville do if it gains an early lead in regionals?
Stay tuned. And don’t count out UAH just yet.
Semifinals — RMU, UAH Both KO Former Champs
After Alabama-Huntsville knocked out regular-season champ and top-seeded Niagara in the semifinals, 5-3, NU head coach Dave Burkholder was asked how he felt.
“Uh, great?” was Burkholder’s response.
Then a long pause.
“It just wasn’t a very thorough effort on our part,” the downtrodden Burkholder said. “We caught a couple bad breaks. I don’t think that late goal (in the second) was the backbreaker, but it definitely helped their momentum.”
The late goal was scored by Mike Salekin, his second of the game, on his knees in the dying seconds of the period. It proved to be the game-winner.
“Murray blocked a shot in the defensive zone and Nimmo skated the puck up ice and I joined the rush in the middle,” said Salekin. “I drove the net, the puck came across the crease and I tipped it in with the end of my stick. We said, ‘OK, we’re up one,’ but we kept playing our game and when we got the fifth one, there were no doubts.”
The fifth goal was Cale Tanaka’s first collegiate goal. He said he couldn’t have picked a better time to score.
“It took long enough,” said Tanaka of ending his 24-game scoreless drought. “(Tom) Train and I came in on a 2-on-2. He gave me the puck and I went wide, circled back and got a cycle going. Train muscled back towards the net and (Tyler) Hilbert got me the puck and I had a wide-open cage.”
For NU, Vince Rocco, Chris Moran and Egor Mironov scored and goalie Juliano Pagliero made 30 saves. Matt Caruana and Rocco each had a pair of assists. Captain Sean Bentivoglio earned a game misconduct and five-minute major late in the game for blatantly bowling over Narduzzi in the UAH crease.
Narduzzi stopped 35 for UAH, which also got goals from Morrison and Murray.
In the second semifinal Saturday, two-time defending champion Bemidji State fell to Robert Morris, 7-5.
Cruthers netted a pair of goals and Boucher stopped 27 shots in net for the Colonials, who were also 4-for-8 on the power play and added a shorthanded goal by Joel Gasper to boot.
“We’ve been focusing on special teams all year,” said Boucher. “Coach told us before the game that we’re eighth (in the country) in combined special teams and we know that when we play well on special teams, we usually win.”
The Beavers tasted defeat for the first time in the league tournament for the first time since 2004.
“We’re not used to this,” BSU head coach Tom Serratore said. “You knew it would come to an end sometime, but we just hoped it wouldn’t be this year. It’s hard to swallow. That team across the way beat us four times this year and beat us tonight, so kudos to them. Still, it’s tough to end this way. We missed some open nets in the first and you can say if we would have scored, maybe it would be different, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Matt Climie kicked out 19 shots for Bemidji State and Travis Winter and Luke Erickson each scored twice. Ryan Miller added the other, but 28 seconds after his goal made it 4-2 RMU, Cruthers scored to sap the tide of the game in favor of the Colonials.
“It was my first playoff game in a while,” said Cruthers, an Army transfer who sat out last season due to NCAA regulations. “We tried all night to kill any momentum they had and they always say the most important shift is the one after a goal and we went out and got one back.”
Berkstresser, Brett Hopfe, Jason Towsley and Margott scored RMU’s other goals. Berkstresser also had two assists.
Quarterfinals — WSU Leads, Then Fades
Wayne State came into the game tied for the nation’s longest unbeaten streak at seven games (5-0-2), but left Iowa with a 5-1-2 record in their last eight.
The Warriors had a 3-0 lead on Alabama-Huntsville with goals by Jason Baclig and two from Dan Iliakis only to see that lead evaporate as UAH got two goals from Dominik Rozman and a single from Train.
Selinger won it 8:39 into overtime on a power play and with the 4-3 win, the Chargers were rolling.
“(Nimmo) shot the puck from the half wall and it came right to me back-door and I was able to poke it in,” said Selinger. “We haven’t won in OT in a while, so we were due. If you watch our games, you’ll know we always start down, but come out in the third period. We’ve always been a third-period team.”
WSU goalie Will Hooper made 34 saves, while MacNicol and Narduzzi combined for 31 on the Alabama-Huntsville end. MacNicol started, but got the hook after allowing Iliakis’ second goal 7:23 into the second period.
“It’s not like (MacNicol) was playing badly,” UAH assistant coach Lance West said. “Wayne State was winning all the battles, everything. Then we get a goal from our fourth line and I think that got us going. I know how Wayne State feels, because they’ve done this to us, but tonight we just got the breaks.”
Wayne State had chances, but couldn’t mount a rally.
“We had all the momentum and then they changed their goalie,” said WSU head coach Bill Wilkinson. “Then we turned the puck over in the neutral zone and they make it 3-1. Going into the third, we had a 3-1 lead and you hate to see a lead like that dissolve, but it did. We certainly had our opportunities, including a five-on-three in the third period, but what haunted us early in the season haunted us tonight, and that was lack of scoring.”
Thank You!
Special thanks to the five SIDs for arranging phone interviews in Des Moines for me with the coaches and players after each game. It is much appreciated. And also to those same SIDs for sending photos and arranging interviews all season long. Thanks, fellas!
And to the oodles of UAH fans that sent me “I told you so” or “Your predictions were wrong” emails, well, thanks! Just shows you read this column on a weekly basis. I applaud your passionate never-say-die loyalty to your school.
“Guess you need to get a refund on that crystal ball,” one fan wrote.
“Who did you pick to win the tournament again?” wrote another.
“Just wanted to let you know to never to count out the Chargers ever again,” was another one I received.
Passion, I tell ya. Good to see that.
See everyone next season!
Warriors Get In-State Commitment
Alpena IceDiggers defenseman Eric Roman has committed to Wayne State for the 2007-08 season after two seasons in the North American Hockey League.
“I am extremely happy for Eric and his family,” Alpena head coach Kenny Miller said. “He is getting a chance to play at the D-I level in the Detroit area.”
Roman is in his second season with Alpena after spending his high school career at suburban Detroit’s Orchard Lake St. Mary’s prep school and winning a state title in 2005.
“Eric stepped in last year and played a big role with our hockey club and he has improved everyday since he got here,” added Miller. “His hard work has paid off for him.”
The 20-year-old West Bloomfield, Mich., native has played in 55 games this year and has seven goals and 17 assists for 24 points. Roman is also third on the IceDiggers with 103 penalty minutes.
Urban Gives Nod to Hometown RMU
Robert Morris has picked up another recruit for this fall in Ohio Jr. Blue Jackets’ defender Dennis Urban.
Urban, who began the year with the Omaha Lancers, is an 18-year-old Pittsburgh native.
In 32 combined United States Hockey League games this year, Urban has tallied six goals and 14 points.
Niagara Seniors Move On To Pro Ranks
Senior Niagara defenseman Pat Oliveto signed with the ECHL’s Reading Royals this past Tuesday and Bentivoglio inked with the Providence Bruins of the AHL the same day.
Bentivoglio recorded an assist in his debut, a 2-1 win over the Worcester Sharks on Wednesday, and Oliveto had a helper the night before against the Dayton Bombers, a 4-3 loss for Reading.
“We are very proud of both Sean and Pat,” Burkholder said. “This is a great opportunity for both of them, as they are both scheduled to graduate on time, while having the opportunity to further their hockey careers. This speaks volumes for them and our hockey program.”
Wayne State forward Mark Nebus also started his pro career by inking with the UHL’s Muskegon Fury on Wednesday. He made his debut that night in Port Huron.
