1995–96 Alabama–Huntsville Chargers ice hockey season

1995–96 Alabama–Huntsville Chargers men's ice hockey
NCAA Division II National Champions
NCAA Championship Series, W 7-1, 3-0 vs. Bemidji State
Conference Independent
1995–96 record 26–0–3[1][2]
Head coach Doug Ross (13th year)
Home stadium Von Braun Civic Center
Seasons
« 1994–95 1996–97 »

The 1995–96 Alabama–Huntsville Chargers ice hockey team represented the University of Alabama in Huntsville in the 1995–96 NCAA Division II men's hockey season, winning the national championship. It was the school's first NCAA national championship, following club national championships in 1981–82, 1982–83, and 1983–84. The team was coached by Doug Ross and played their home games at the Von Braun Civic Center.

The Chargers completed the regular season with 24 wins, zero losses, and 3 ties. They were then invited to play the Bemidji State Beavers in a two-game series to determine the Division II National Championship at Huntsville's Von Braun Civic Center. The Chargers would dominate in both a 7–1 victory on March 8, followed by 3–0 shutout to clinch the championship the following day.[3]

In the weeks following the championship, speculation on plans for a new 4,000-seat arena near the Benton H. Wilcoxon Municipal Iceplex for the Chargers were later abandoned. Additionally, whether or not to move back to Division I became an issue, but UAH would refrain from the jump until 1998.[4]

Contents

Roster

# Player Pos Class Hometown Previous Team
1 Billequey, CedrickCedrick Billequey G Fr. Montreal, Quebec
3 Usmail, ScottScott Usmail D Jr. New Hartford, New York
4 Borko, SteveSteve Borko D Sr. Schaumburg, Illinois Des Moines (USHL)
5 Sofikitis, TasoTaso Sofikitis D Sr. Vancouver, British Columbia Bellingham (BCJHL)
6 Macera, MarkMark Macera D Sr. London, Ontario
7 Dame, BradBrad Dame D Sr. Windsor, Ontario
8 Wolitski, SheldonSheldon Wolitski D Sr. Calgary, Alberta
9 Provenzano, JoeJoe Provenzano Fr. Des Moines (USHL)
10 Awender, DarrenDarren Awender So.
11 Barrett, JohnJohn Barrett Fr.
12 Wood, RyanRyan Wood LW Sr. Morden, Manitoba
13 Hall, LeviLevi Hall Fr. Wisconsin (USHL)
14 Parker, MattMatt Parker F So. Huntsville, Alabama
15 Schloss, PaulPaul Schloss Fr.
16 Guzzo, TonyTony Guzzo Jr.
17 Tulk, WadeWade Tulk LW Sr. St. Catharines, Ontario
18 Mazzuca, MarioMario Mazzuca Sr.
19 Hamlin, MikeMike Hamlin Fr.
20 Bilyeu, EricEric Bilyeu Jr.
21 Schneider, K. C.K. C. Schneider Jr.
22 Baby, JamieJamie Baby Fr. Parry Sound, Ontario[5] Muskoka (MetJHL)
24 Price, ChrisChris Price Fr. Springfield (NAHL)
25 McCabe, JohnJohn McCabe W Fr. Sudbury, Ontario
27 Stewart, RyanRyan Stewart Fr. Danville (NAHL)
29 Gillespie, RyanRyan Gillespie Fr.
30 Puppa, DerekDerek Puppa G Sr. Kirkland Lake, Ontario
35 Zeller, MikeMike Zeller G So.
[2][6]

Regular season

Schedule

1995–96 Game Log
Game Date Opponent Score Location Decision Overall
1 October 27 St. Norbert 5–4 Von Braun Civic Center • Huntsville, AL 1–0–0
2 October 28 St. Norbert 4–2 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 2–0–0
3 November 3 Windsor 7–1 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 3–0–0
4 November 4 Windsor 6–5 (OT) VBCC • Huntsville, AL 4–0–0
5 November 17 New Hampshire College 13–2 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 5–0–0
6 November 18 New Hampshire College 7–0 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 6–0–0
7 November 25 RIT 7–3 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 7–0–0
8 November 26 RIT 3–0 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 8–0–0
9 December 1 Augsburg 12–1 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 9–0–0
10 December 2 Augsburg 13–2 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 10–0–0
11 December 15 St. Scholastica 6–0 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 11–0–0
12 December 16 St. Scholastica 10–0 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 12–0–0
13 December 29 St. John's (MN) 6–3 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 13–0–0
14 December 30 St. John's (MN) 5–3 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 14–0–0
15 January 5 Salem State 3–2 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 15–0–0
16 January 6 Salem State 3–3 (OT) VBCC • Huntsville, AL 15–0–1
17 January 12 Curry 16–0 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 16–0–1
18 January 13 Curry 20–1 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 17–0–1
19 January 26 at Mercyhurst 2–2 (OT) Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, PA 17–0–2
20 January 27 at Mercyhurst 3–2 Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, PA 18–0–2
21 January 28 @ Elmira 4–2 Murray Athletic Center • Elmira, NY 19–0–2
22 February 10 Minnesota–Crookston 4–2 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 20–0–2
23 February 11 Minnesota–Crookston 2–1 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 21–0–2
24 February 16 Mankato State 4–2 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 22–0–2
25 February 17 Mankato State 3–1 VBCC • Huntsville, AL 23–0–2
26 March 1 at Mankato State 3–3 (OT) Mankato Civic Center • Mankato, MN 23–0–3
27 March 2 at Mankato State 4–3 Mankato Civic Center • Mankato, MN 24–0–3

Sources: [1][2]

Postseason

Division II Championship Series

1996 Postseason
Game Date Opponent Score Location Decision Overall
1 March 8 Bemidji State 7–1 VBCC • Huntsville, AL Puppa 25–0–3
2 March 9 Bemidji State 3–0 VBCC • Huntsville, AL Puppa 26–0–3

Player stats

Skaters

Player GP G A Pts PIM
Mazzuca, MarioMario Mazzuca 29 35 23 58 64
Guzzo, TonyTony Guzzo 29 13 39 52 12
Wood, RyanRyan Wood 28 22 27 49 66
Wolitski, ShledonShledon Wolitski 29 12 29 41 42
Sofikitis, TasoTaso Sofikitis 29 11 30 41 24
Tulk, WadeWade Tulk 28 12 14 26 46
Schneider, K.C.K.C. Schneider 29 16 8 24 6
Baby, JamieJamie Baby 29 8 14 22 18
Bilyeu, EricEric Bilyeu 29 11 10 21 33
Hamiln, MikeMike Hamiln 29 8 11 19 28
Parker, MattMatt Parker 28 7 12 19 22
Awender, DarrenDarren Awender 27 4 11 15 8
McCabe, JohnJohn McCabe 24 8 6 14 20
Dame, BradBrad Dame 29 2 12 14 26
Macera, MarkMark Macera 28 3 9 12 75
Schloss, PaulPaul Schloss 26 6 4 10 12
Usmail, ScottScott Usmail 28 4 5 9 40
Price, ChrisChris Price 3 1 3 4 2
Stewart, RyanRyan Stewart 7 1 3 4 2
Hall, LeviLevi Hall 6 0 3 3 2
Gillespie, RyanRyan Gillespie 3 1 2 2 2
Borko, SteveSteve Borko 5 0 2 2 6
Provenzano, JoeJoe Provenzano 19 0 2 2 10
Puppa, DerekDerek Puppa 27 0 2 2 0
Barrett, JohnJohn Barrett 1 0 0 0 0
Billequey, CedrickCedrick Billequey 4 0 0 0 0
Zeller, MikeMike Zeller 6 0 0 0 12
[6]

Goaltenders

Player GP TOI W L T GA GAA SV% SO
Puppa, DerekDerek Puppa 27 1437 23 0 3 43 1.80 .932 3
Zeller, MikeMike Zeller 6 230 3 0 0 7 1.83 .929 0
Billequey, CedrickCedrick Billequey 4 89 0 0 0 1 0.67 .964 0
[6]

References

  1. ^ a b "UAH Chargers - Hockey Game Results 1995-1996". University of Alabama in Huntsville Athletics. http://www.uahchargers.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=204&Itemid=152#sevt.set. Retrieved 01 December 2009. 
  2. ^ a b c 2007-08 UAH Hockey. Huntsville: University of Alabama in Huntsville Athletics. 2007. http://www.uah.edu/Athletics/mediaguides/hockey/2007-08guide.pdf. 
  3. ^ Times Editorial Staff (March 11, 1996). "Guess who's No. 1?". The Huntsville Times: pp. B4. 
  4. ^ Marshall, Mike (March 11, 1996). "New arena, Division I may be in cards for national champs". The Huntsville Times: pp. B4. 
  5. ^ "Jamie Daniel Baby". The Hockey Humanitarian. http://www.hockeyhumanitarian.org/nominees/nom_baby.html. Retrieved 01 December 2009. 
  6. ^ a b c "1995-96 U. of Alabama-Huntsville (NCAA) roster and player statistics". HockeyDB.com. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0005671996.html. Retrieved 01 December 2009. 
All-time Record
561–333–60 (.619)
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Joe Ritch (1979–82) • Doug Ross (1982–2007) • Danton Cole (2007–10) • Chris Luongo (2010–)
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