UAH Athletics | February 28, 2014
UAH's roller-coaster existance
| Scientists and engineers from the north moving to Huntsville quickly brought hockey to the south and a team was formed. Joe Ritch was then named the first head coach in program history. Southern Collegiate Hockey Association (SCHA) was established as UAH joined Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Georgia State and Emory as the first organized hockey conference in the southeastern U.S. | |
| Oct. 26, 1979 | Team defeats Emory 11-4 in first hockey game in school history. |
| 1981 | Team goes 27-1 en route to SCHA Championship defeating Tennessee 7-6 in OT. |
| 1982 | Team wins first National Club Championship with 14-2 win against Southern Methodist in Boulder, Colo. |
| 1982 | Program hires 1976 U.S. Olympian Doug Ross as full-time head coach, UAH goes 26-7-2 in his first season and wins its second consecutive National Club Championship with 5-4 victory against Penn State. |
| 1984 | Program claims third consecutive National Club Championship with 12-1 win against Ohio. |
| 1985 | North Dakota State spoils UAH's attempt at a fourth-consecutive championship and keeps the UAH seniors from winning four titles in four years. |
| Oct. 26, 1985 | UAH goes to NCAA Division II, falls 7-2 to Ferris State in first varsity game. |
| 1986 | UAH officially joins the NCAA. The Chargers finish the 1986-87 season with a 20-10 program record as a Division II school. |
| 1987 | UAH Hockey proclaimed “Hockey Capital of the South” by then Alabama governor George C. Wallace. |
| 1987 | Hockey goes NCAA Division I as NCAA goes away with Division II hockey championship, team goes 11-18-1 in debut season. |
| 1992 | Hockey moves back to NCAA Division II |
| March 12, 1994 | Team falls in DII Championship to Bemidji State in longest night of program history (11:10 p.m.). The 6,451 people in attendance is the largest crowd in NCAA history to watch a Division II event as the Beavers scored the game-winner in sudden-death overtime of the mini-game tiebreaker. |
| Feb. 18, 1995 | UAH sets a home attendance record with 6,645 people watching the Chargers beat Minnesota State 5-2 at the Von Braun Center. |
| March 9, 1996 | UAH goes undefeated at 26-0-3, crushes Bemidji State 7-1 to take home the program's first NCAA championship winning on their home ice in Huntsville. |
| March 15, 1997 | Bemidji State bests UAH in another National Championship meeting between the two, this time in Minnesota. BSU won 3-2 and 4-2 to deny UAH of back-to-back titles. |
| June 30, 1998 | UAH announces the hockey program would return to Division I. The Chargers play the 1998-99 season as an independent. |
| March 14, 1998 | In what would be the fourth and final meeting in Division II between the two clubs, UAH brought the trophy back to Huntsville with two dominating 5-2 and 6-2 victories against the Beavers. |
| June 15, 1999 | Program joins College Hockey America (CHA) as a charter member. |
| March 12, 2000 | Team falls in inaugural CHA Tournament final 3-2 to Niagara. |
| 2001 | Hockey finishes 15-4-1 in CHA, captures regular season title but is upset 4-1 by Wayne State in tournament final. |
| 2003 | Team claims second CHA regular season championship, going 13-5-2, but is again ousted in tournament, this time by Bemidji State in the semifinals in overtime. |
| Jan. 6, 2007 | Doug Ross announces that this season will be his last as head coach of the Chargers. |
| March 11, 2007 | UAH defeats Robert Morris 5-4 for CHA tournament title, after falling behind 4-0 and David Nimmo scoring the short-handed game-winner in overtime. |
| March 23, 2007 | At Grand Rapids, Mich., UAH loses to Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional semifinal 3-2 in double overtime, the longest game in UAH history and the final game for coach Doug Ross. |
| April 30, 2007 | Danton Cole is hired as UAH's third head hockey coach. |
| Aug. 11, 2009 | UAH applies to CCHA but is denied admittance by league officials. |
| 2009 | CHA dissolves, UAH to go independent following 2009-10 season. |
| March 13, 2010 | Keenan Desmet scores the game-winner in overtime to lead UAH to a 3-2 win against Niagara in the CHA tournament final and its second NCAA Division I Tournament berth. |
| March 27, 2010 | Miami beats UAH 2-1 in the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal in Fort Wayne, Ind. |
| June 21, 2010 | Danton Cole steps down to become head coach of the U.S. National Development Team. |
| July 9, 2010 | Assistant Coach Chris Luongo becomes the program's fourth head coach. |
| Oct. 24, 2011 | UAH announces it will relegate the hockey program to club status. |
| Dec. 6, 2011 | After meeting with program boosters, UAH and new president Dr. Robert A. Altenkirch announce the hockey program will stay varsity and NCAA Division I on the condition it joins a conference. |
| June 13, 2012 | Hockey program formally applies to join WCHA and league officials meet in Detroit for summer meetings to discuss new-look league. |
| Sept. 25, 2012 | Kurt Kleinendorst replaces Chris Luongo as head coach. |
| Jan. 17, 2013 | UAH joins WCHA, begins play immediately in 2013-14. |
| May 29, 2013 | Kurt Kleinendorst resigns as head coach of UAH and accepts head coaching position of the Iowa Wild. |
| July 8, 2013 | Team hires Mike Corbett as program's sixth head coach, as he and his staff sign largest freshman class in program history. |
| Oct. 25, 2013 | UAH plays its first WCHA game, losing 6-1 to Bemidji State at the Von Braun Center. |
| Dec. 7, 2013 | Team wins first WCHA game 4-3 against Bowling Green in OT. Frank Misurca scored with four seconds remaining in the OT period. |
