ANCHORAGE – The Alabama Huntsville Chargers defeated Alaska Anchorage, 5-2, in the Seawolves' Western Collegiate Hockey Association home opener at the Sullivan Arena on Friday in front of 2,128 spectators. Senior forward Brad Duwe furnished UAA's two tallies in the game.
The Seawolves (1-6-0) fall to 0-3 in league play after allowing a four-goal first period by the Chargers (3-7-1, 3-3-1 WCHA). With the win, UAH breaks an eight-game winless streak after opening the season 2-0 at Ferris State.
Despite the score, Duwe received quite the homecoming, scoring both of UAA's goals in his season debut. A local of Soldotna, Duwe missed the first six games of the season with an injury. With the strikes, Duwe leads all active UAA skaters with 20 career goals.
The Seawolves allowed two goals in just 125 seconds to start the contest, before allowing UAH to make it 3-0 at 6:19. The Chargers received goals from Cam Knight (1:29), Hans Gorowsky (PP, 2:05) and Brennan Saulnier (6:19), chasing senior netminder Rasmus Reijola from the crease.
With junior goaltender Olivier Mantha between the pipes at the next break, Duwe picked up his first at 13:07 with a backhander, top-shelf, ending the shutout. Feeding him the pass was freshman Aleksi Ainali, with the second helper going to junior captain Matt Anholt.
The Chargers finished off the period with their fourth at 18:06.
Following the intermission, the Seawolves came out and outplayed the Chargers in the second, out shooting UAH, 12-5 and scoring the lone goal of the frame. Duwe collected his second multi-goal game of his career, scoring at 6:19 on the power play. Duwe corralled a backdoor pass from sophomore redshirt Jonah Renouf, and went top-shelf once again on Jordan Uhelski.
Ainali furnished the second helper on Duwe's second goal, giving the rookie his first collegiate multi-point game and a team-high-tying three points. Meanwhile, Renouf (1-2—3) also has three points with his helper, while Duwe leads UAA with two goals.
The Chargers used a 13-9 shot advantage in the first and an 11-6 lead in the third to win the battle, 29-27. Mantha (1-5-0) made 19 saves, while Reijola turned aside 5 and picked up the loss. Uhelski (1-3-1) made 25 stops.
UAA was 1-for-6 on the power play, while UAH was 2-for-7.
The teams rematch tomorrow at 7:07 p.m.
