Let’s get this out of the way now: yes, there’s a hockey team in Alabama. We know, it’s strange to us too.
The Chargers of Alabama-Huntsville are not laying down. Unfortunately – and I don’t know why – head coach Doug Ross elected to start rookie Blake MacNichol (7 games this season) over senior Marc Narduzzi (25 games), a mistake the Chargers are paying for early.
With ND on the board twice in the first five minutes on goals that were not anything flashy, special or even really skillful, Ross pulled MacNichol for his starter (15:34).
BREAKING NEWS: UMass’s Kevin Jarman scored in overtime to make the No. 4 Minutemen the first upset of the tournament, winning 1-0 over No. 1 Clarkson.
Kevin Deeth just missed two great passes from linemate Ryan Thang that were slamdunk backdoor goals with under a minute to play in the first period…
END 1, 2-0 NOTRE DAME, SHOTS ON GOAL: 12 ND, 7 UAH
Start of the 2nd.
Let’s talk about a POSSIBLE IMPLICATION:
If ND’s Dave Brown, who is one of three goalies up for the Hobey Baker (Goepfert, St. Cloud, and John Curry, BU, the others), holds onto the shutout, he will tie Curry’s national high for shutouts with 7.
That won’t help Curry’s already slim chance at making the Hobey Hat Trick, and it will be tough for Curry to get an 8th shutout tonight against Michigan State.
SCRATCH THAT. The Chargers’ Dominik Rozman just snuck one through Brown’s five-hole to make the game 2-1 with 9:40 left in the middle frame.
The play started out with sophomore Josh Murray taking a shot that was blocked by an ND defenseman. The shot richocheted free into the right faceoff circle where Rozman sent a slapshot toward Brown that hit off the goalie’s leg and through five-hole.
Nice job by the Chargers to stick with it and keep trying, despite a formidable opponent – that goal was far prettier than either of Notre Dame’s scores.
And now, they’ve managed to keep the puck in the Irish zone for quite a while…
Momentum is a dangerous thing. UAH’s Brett McConnachie ripped a puck just wide of the right post with five to play in the second after it bounced around the left circle and off the skate of an ND defenseman. Good opportunity.
SCORE: 16:06 : Cale Tanaka just evened the score for the Chargers on a nice topshelf goal… Could they be this year’s Holy Cross?
Could two top seeds be out on the first night of the tournament, with Clarkson already out at the hands of UMass? I’m willing to bet no, and Notre Dame has already started to step it up offensively, but UAH is playing like they have something to prove.
But maybe it’s ND that has to prove themselves here at the NCAAs. They’ve got a Hobey Baker finalist who faces an average of just 22.85 shots per game. He is forced to make only 21.29 saves on average in a contest.
Tonight, Brown has faced 12 shots through two periods.
They also have the top-ranked team defense.
Curry sees 27.91 shots per contest, making 25.99 stops on average.
BU’s team defense is No. 2 behind the Irish.
It’s the third period, by the way.
The Chargers look like Vermont when in comes to protecting their goalie. They are diving all over the ice to block pucks, to poke them off the sticks of ND forwards, to help Narduzzi any way possible.
They fly out of nowhere to break up a play, and the Irish almost don’t know what hit them. No one expected this even of a game, probably not even UAH.
Did I mention the Chargers finished 5th in College Hockey America with a 7-11-2 record? How about that they finished the season below .500 at a 13-19-3 mark?
There’s 5:46 left in regulation, score still tied 2-2…
With 3:34 to play, ND puts the puck into the back of the UAH net, but the goal is immediately waved off. Thang pretty much wound up and kicked the puck in.
So still 2-2 coming down to the wire, but Notre Dame is certainly picking up momentum. The Chargers could be hard-pressed to keep them out for the next 3:28, much less 20 minutes of overtime.
We’ve got overtime, folks. Narduzzi has pitched a shutout since coming into the game after 4:36… imagine if Ross had started Narduzzi instead of MacNicol?
NOTE: MAINE is up on ST. CLOUD STATE (and other Hobey goalie candidate Bobby Goepfert), 3-1 after 1 in Rochester.
CONCERNS: As much as I love a good overtime game, I’m worried that the prolonged delay of potentially ongoing 20-minute overtimes are going to hurt the Terriers, who are waiting in the wings already geared up to play.
I don’t know how much the two UNH-UMass ovetimes affected BU against Boston College in the Hockey East semifinals, but I hope it won’t have a negative affect on them here.
It’s also interesting to note that a strong game tonight will help Curry immensely in terms of his Hobey candidacy, particularly if Brown and Goepfert both lose.
Five into overtime and it’s all Notre Dame. Still, the Chargers aren’t breaking – yet.
Awesome save by Narduzzi to keep them in it.
5:31 left in the first overtime and Wes O’Neill finds himself in the box on an interference call (that probably should have been boarding). UAH on the power play.
With 4:42 left in double-OT, Thang finally finishes the job on the power play. But what can you say about this Alabama-Huntsville team? The go into the locker room proud, as they should. They almost beat the most complete team in the country.
KIBBLES ‘N’ BITS
Narduzzi finished the game with 52 saves… Brown finished with 30.