Playing at home for the first time since early October, Miami (4-5-2) made the hometown fans sweat as it scored three times in the final period to topple visiting Alabama-Huntsville (3-2-0), 4-2, in Goggin Ice Arena on Friday night.
The RedHawks had not won a game when trailing after two periods since a 4-3 victory over Yale on Dec. 29, 2001.
Senior Greg Hogeboom gave the RedHawks an early 1-0 lead at 12:55 in the first period when he found the back of the net for the fourth time this season. (Miami improved to 3-1-2 when scoring first.) Credited with an assist on Hogeboom’s marker was classmate Mike Kompon.
The free spirit in Goggin was quickly killed by the Chargers when Grant Selinger stole the puck from a Miami defender and slipped the puck past the goalie for his second goal of the season. Selinger’s goal knotted the game at one apiece at 16:51 in the first frame, and opened the way for another quick UAH tally.
A mere 1:31 after Selinger’s goal, Craig Bushey netted his fifth goal of the year to give UAH its first lead of the game, 2-1.
Finding himself down on the scoreboard, 2-1, freshman Brandon Crawford-West bore down in the crease and made 11 saves over the final two periods to keep his team only a goal down. For the contest, Crawford-West made 16 saves.
With the clock winding down in the final period, RedHawk sophomore Matt Davis deflected a power-play shot from the point to tie the game, 2-2, at 15:32. Davis netted the marker, his first of the season, when he managed to get his stick on a blast from the point by linemate Ben Tharp. Kompon earned his second assist of the night on the goal.
Miami wasted little time in taking its second lead of the contest, 3-2, when freshman Matt Christie scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season 53 seconds later. Senior Derek Edwardson won the faceoff directly back to Christie, who promptly slipped a wrist shot through the five-hole of UAH goalie Adam MacLean.
Kompon added an empty-net goal for good measure at 19:24.
The power-play unit went 1-for-4 on the night for the RedHawks, while UAH was unsuccessful on four chances.
Miami and UAH wrap up their weekend series Saturday night at 7:35 p.m. in Goggin Ice Arena. The RedHawks enter the game with a four-game winning streak in tow against the Chargers.
