gfmorris
New member
As I type this message, the Chargers are completing their first official practice for the 2010-11 season. As such, it's time to start the regular season topic.
22 days, 11 until the puck drops at the VBC[1]. Renovation is still in progress, so the season ticket selections had to be re-done, and everyone wasn't exactly thrilled with that process.
The big changes of the summer are obvious: Danton Cole left for USA Hockey less than three months ago, and Chris Luongo has been the head man for just over two months. Stud goaltender Cam Talbot is now playing professionally, leaving the Chargers with three goaltenders without a minute of NCAA ice-time. Oh, and there are 11 freshmen on the team [12 if you count Griggs, who redshirted 2009-10].
But wait, there's more: it's been a year since the CCHA kicked UAH in the teeth, and there's all this talk about Penn State going varsity, perhaps as soon as Friday. That said, UAH's 2010-11 schedule is a fun one:
CCHA tilts: 11 [home-and-home with Ferris State, trips to Michigan State, Ohio State, and Bowing Green, plus a potential tiebreaker against the Falcons in the RPI tournament]
WCHA tilts: 8 [road trips to Wisconsin, Colorado College, and Nebraska-Omaha, and a home series against our beloved rival, Bemidji State]
ECAC tilts: 4/5 [at the fabled Lynah to face Cornell, home against RPI, and a possible matchup against the Engineers in their tournament]
HEA tilts: 4 [at home against Providence, neutral site in Nashville against Merrimack]
MAAC[2] tilts: 4/5 [at home against former CHA foe Robert Morris, at Mercyhurst, and a potential matchup against UConn in the RPI tournament]
That, folks, is a fun schedule. This will be a tough row to hoe, but I feel like the boys get serious at-large consideration if they can go .500. Of course, going .500 will be difficult for a team that's made its hay with defense and goaltending the last few years.
If it sounds like I doubt this group of Chargers, I don't. I get the sense from my interaction with them so far is that they all take the lead of their captain, Ryan Burkholder: a quiet confidence and an understanding that they're the underdogs, that it's the Chargers against the world, that the very future of the program rests on their broad shoulders. Every one of the Chargers knows that there are lots of questions, but they also know that the answers will be found in their efforts in practice and in games: they will learn who they are through the adversity, learning as they go and truly coming together as a team. This is why I feel like the boys have more than a puncher's chance.
The 2010-11 UAH hockey season: it may not be ideal, but it's sure going to be fun.
GFM
[1] Hey, to me, it's still "Rideout Road" and not "Research Park Boulevard". I'm not going to suddenly call it Propst Arena, even though I think that it's great that Bill Propst gave a lot of money to help the VBC renovate things.
[2] I'm going back to calling them the MAAC after they wouldn't guarantee Canisius and Mercyhurst a return engagement if the CHA fell apart even after they came over to help bolster the league. Lots of folks are mad about the CCHA not accepting UAH's bid, but I'm still ticked about this, too. Maybe Bemidji still leaves for the WCHA in this situation---their argument was that the travel costs in the CHA were unsustainable---but a five-team league could still have worked, and RMU and NU certainly would have preferred not to cut scholarships to join a cost-containment league.
22 days, 11 until the puck drops at the VBC[1]. Renovation is still in progress, so the season ticket selections had to be re-done, and everyone wasn't exactly thrilled with that process.
The big changes of the summer are obvious: Danton Cole left for USA Hockey less than three months ago, and Chris Luongo has been the head man for just over two months. Stud goaltender Cam Talbot is now playing professionally, leaving the Chargers with three goaltenders without a minute of NCAA ice-time. Oh, and there are 11 freshmen on the team [12 if you count Griggs, who redshirted 2009-10].
But wait, there's more: it's been a year since the CCHA kicked UAH in the teeth, and there's all this talk about Penn State going varsity, perhaps as soon as Friday. That said, UAH's 2010-11 schedule is a fun one:
CCHA tilts: 11 [home-and-home with Ferris State, trips to Michigan State, Ohio State, and Bowing Green, plus a potential tiebreaker against the Falcons in the RPI tournament]
WCHA tilts: 8 [road trips to Wisconsin, Colorado College, and Nebraska-Omaha, and a home series against our beloved rival, Bemidji State]
ECAC tilts: 4/5 [at the fabled Lynah to face Cornell, home against RPI, and a possible matchup against the Engineers in their tournament]
HEA tilts: 4 [at home against Providence, neutral site in Nashville against Merrimack]
MAAC[2] tilts: 4/5 [at home against former CHA foe Robert Morris, at Mercyhurst, and a potential matchup against UConn in the RPI tournament]
That, folks, is a fun schedule. This will be a tough row to hoe, but I feel like the boys get serious at-large consideration if they can go .500. Of course, going .500 will be difficult for a team that's made its hay with defense and goaltending the last few years.
If it sounds like I doubt this group of Chargers, I don't. I get the sense from my interaction with them so far is that they all take the lead of their captain, Ryan Burkholder: a quiet confidence and an understanding that they're the underdogs, that it's the Chargers against the world, that the very future of the program rests on their broad shoulders. Every one of the Chargers knows that there are lots of questions, but they also know that the answers will be found in their efforts in practice and in games: they will learn who they are through the adversity, learning as they go and truly coming together as a team. This is why I feel like the boys have more than a puncher's chance.
The 2010-11 UAH hockey season: it may not be ideal, but it's sure going to be fun.
GFM
[1] Hey, to me, it's still "Rideout Road" and not "Research Park Boulevard". I'm not going to suddenly call it Propst Arena, even though I think that it's great that Bill Propst gave a lot of money to help the VBC renovate things.
[2] I'm going back to calling them the MAAC after they wouldn't guarantee Canisius and Mercyhurst a return engagement if the CHA fell apart even after they came over to help bolster the league. Lots of folks are mad about the CCHA not accepting UAH's bid, but I'm still ticked about this, too. Maybe Bemidji still leaves for the WCHA in this situation---their argument was that the travel costs in the CHA were unsustainable---but a five-team league could still have worked, and RMU and NU certainly would have preferred not to cut scholarships to join a cost-containment league.
I thought Rideout Road (built about 1969) was named for a Captain Rideout who I thought was a Vietnam casualty. I've thought that the name change was a terrible injustice. However, I've been unable to "Google" any info. on the subject. Plus, the only similar Vietnam casualties I could find were
