More changes have been made to UAH’s 2017-18 hockey schedule, the Chargers announced on Friday.

UAH will travel to Ithaca, N.Y., on Oct. 27-28 to play ECAC opponent Cornell. The Big Red finished this season with a 21-9-5 overall record and a 13-4-5 ECAC mark. Cornell lost in the ECAC championship game to Harvard, and lost to UMass Lowell in the NCAA Northeast Regional semifinal.

The Chargers’ home series with Northern Michigan has been moved from Oct. 27-28 to Feb. 3-4. That will be a Saturday-Sunday series with the puck drop for the Sunday game at 3:07 p.m.

UAH’s visit to NMU has been moved from that February wekeend to the first weekend in December.

UAH’s schedule now stands at 34 games, with 14 at the Von Braun Center, all WCHA games. The Chargers will play eight on the road, then six at home, then 12 on the road, then eight at home. The 12-game road swing will tie the longest in UAH history, first set in 2012-13.

UAH confirmed Monday’s announcement by Arizona State that its series with the Sun Devils this season has been moved to Tempe. ASU will visit Huntsville in the 2018-19 season.

The 2017 UAH Hockey Frenchy Open will tee off at 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 24 at Hampton Cove Golf Course.

The golf tournament is the program’s biggest summer fundraising event. The tournament layout will be a four-player scramble with prizes going to the top three teams and individual winners. Raffle and door prizes will be available.

Register online to reserve your spot. Registration per player is $150, which includes 18 holes of golf, a cart, a UAH Hockey souvenir, refreshments, and dinner. Full four-player teams can register for $600.

Sponsorship opportunities are also available. For more information, contact assistant coach Matty Thomas at 256-824-2989 or matthew.thomas@uah.edu.

In addition, there will be an UAH alumni hockey game at the Wilcoxon Municipal Ice Complex in Huntsville on June 24 at 6 p.m.

“The Frenchy Open” is named after Charger left wing Jean-Marc Plante, who died in 2001. Also known as “Frenchy,” the Laval, Quebec, native played for UAH from 1988-92, scoring 16 goals and 19 assists in 94 games. Plante worked at the front office of the Florida Panthers and became the athletic marketing director at UAH. A memorial scholarship is awarded in his honor to the Charger hockey player who demonstrates leadership, sportsmanship, and team spirit, and who participates in community and university volunteer service.

Commitments: Bauer Neudecker of the Fairbanks Ice Dogs (NAHL) announced his commitment to UAH. He is expected to join the Chargers in the 2019-20 season.

Neudecker, 18, is a native of St. Louis Park, Minn. He joined the Ice Dogs after scoring 39 goals in his senior season at St. Louis Park High School. With Fairbanks, he scored five goals in 11 regular-season games and three goals in seven playoff games.

Neudecker was selected in the 12th round by Dubuque in Phase II of the USHL draft last week.

Connor Merkley, who will join the Chargers this fall, is a 20-year-old forward coming from the Carleton Place Canadians of the CCHL, where he played with current UAH forward Jordan Larson.

Merkley had 29 goals and 66 points in 61 games for the Canadians this season.

Cole, Luongo reunited at Michigan State: Former UAH coaches will be trying to bring the Michigan State hockey program back into prominence.

Danton Cole, who helmed the Chargers from 2007-10, was named the Spartans’ head coach on. The Chargers won the CHA Tournament title and earned an NCAA Tournament berth under Cole’s watch in 2010, after which Cole left UAH to coach in the U.S. Hockey National Team Development Program.

Chris Luongo, who was an assistant under Cole at UAH and was the head coach from 2010-12, will assist Cole again at Michigan State. Luongo also worked with Cole at the NTDP.

Both Cole and Luongo are MSU alums, playing from 1985-89. They won the 1986 national championship as freshman and made two more Frozen Four appearances in 1987 and 1989.

What to make of this season?

The Chargers increased their win total (both overall and in the WCHA), but barely, and they failed to make the playoffs for the second straight year. UAH led in more games this season but left many points on the table. One step forward, one step back (or vice versa).

Here’s a look inside some of the numbers.

Record:
2014-15: 8-26-4 (.263) overall, 7-20-1 (.268) WCHA
2015-16: 7-21-6 (.294) overall, 5-17-6 (.286) WCHA
2016-17: 9-22-3 (.309) overall, 9-16-3 (.375) WCHA
Change from 2015-16:+.015 overall, +.089 WCHA

A very slight improvement in the overall record, and a bigger improvement in the WCHA record. Easily the best record UAH has had in its four years in the league, but the 0-6 non-conference slate brought the overall record down (a problem across the WCHA). Odd how the worst of the past three seasons (2014-15) was the one time the Chargers qualified for the playoffs.

Scoring margin:
2014-15: -1.55
2015-16: -0.97
2016-17: -1.35
Change from 2015-16: -0.38

When the Chargers won, it wasn’t a blowout, and half the time it rained, it poured. UAH won by three goals four times, and never by four or more. Meanwhile, UAH lost by three or more 13 times (and six by four or more).

Josh Kestner has 9 goals and 22 points on the season. (UAH Athletics/Doug Eagan)

Offense:
2014-15: 1.63 goals per game
2015-16: 2.15
2016-17: 2.18
Change from 2015-16: +0.08

Not much change here. The Chargers did get a little boost in scoring in conference games (from 2.18 goals per game to 2.43), but they were still near the bottom of the league.

If anything, there was more distribution of points this season. Nine players had 10 or more points, compared to six in 2015-16.

Huntsville native Josh Kestner rose to the top of UAH’s scoring chart this season with 22 points in his junior season compared to just eight the year prior. He was tied for the lead in goals with nine.

The guy Kestner was tied with is Kurt Gosselin, a defenseman. Three of his goals came in one game, at home against Ferris State on December 3, the first hat trick for a UAH player since Cale Tanaka in 2008. He and fellow junior defenseman Brandon Parker (six goals) showed they could be a threat from the blue line.

Sophomore defenseman Cam Knight had 16 assists, the most by a Charger in 10 years.

Jordan Uhelski moved to the top of UAH’s goalie depth chart. (Photo by UAH Athletics)

Defense:
2014-15: 3.18 goals allowed per game
2015-16: 3.12
2016-17: 3.53 
Change: +0.41

The Chargers regressed on defense. UAH allowed five or more goals 10 times out of 34 games this season, double the number in 2015-16.

Junior goaltender Jordan Uhelski, who had saw no action until this season, took the reigns as the Chargers’ No. 1 as the two seniors couldn’t regain their form. Matt Larose was solid in the opening series as UAH swept at Ferris State, but struggled shortly afterward, opening the door for Uhelski. Carmine Guerriero was ineligible for the first 12 games of the season, but when he returned he couldn’t find the consistency that had made him tough to beat.

UAH reduced the number of shots on goal allowed per game further, from 33.18 last year to 31.17 this year.

The Chargers didn’t block as many shots per game as last year at 12.41 per game. Cam Knight and Brandon Parker both lead the Chargers in blocked shots with 56.

Power play efficiency:
2014-15: 19-124 (15.3%)
2015-16: 15-140 (10.7%)
2016-17: 18-167 (10.8%)
Change: +0.1%

Virtually no change here. UAH was again one of the least inefficient power play units in the country (only Alaska Anchorage was worse in the WCHA). A third of the power play goals came from defensemen Gosselin and Parker (each with three). Max McHugh also had three power play goals.

UAH had four games with multiple power play goals, but the season had long stretches where it just wasn’t clicking. The Chargers did not convert on their final 23 opportunities, and had another stretch from Dec. 30 to Jan. 27 where they went 1-for-31.

Penalty killing efficiency:
2014-15: 164-201 (81.6%)
2015-16: 119-145 (82.1%)
2016-17: 128-163 (78.5%)
Change: -3.6%

Coinciding with the regression in defense was the regression in penalty killing, which fell to the bottom of the WCHA. Unlike the 2015-16 season, where the PK unites put together some impressive streaks, this was consistently an issue: Opponents scored on their power play at least once in 22 of 34 games, with only one three-game stretch where the Chargers shut out the opponents’ power play in consecutive games. UAH allowed three or more power play goals in a game four times.