The Worst Seasons in the Last 25 Years Part 2: Alabama Huntsville

Welcome to the Worst Season in the Past 25 Years, a series in which r/CollegeHockey reviews the worst season for all 60 Division I teams over the summer to alleviate the crushing boredom known as the off-season and take a horrific tour down memory lane.

If you are interested in writing an entry for your team, please let me know via PM. I’ll be posting entries on weekdays at approximately at 6 pm Eastern time and will be going in alphabetical order. If an entry is not posted at that time, assume that “real life” has gotten in the way and that I am not able to post. If I am aware in advance that I will not post at 6 pm on a particular day, I will announce it in prior posts as a heads up.

And now.../r/CollegeHockey presents the Alabama Huntsville Chargers! The Chargers have been members of Divisions I and II during their history as a varsity ice hockey program. During their time in DII, the Chargers have established a rivalry with Bemidji State, which has moved to DI. UAH enjoyed the majority of their DI success as part of the now-defunct College Hockey America conference in the early 2000s.

Since CHA was disbanded after the ‘09-’10 season, UAH went independent for three years. One of which was their worst season for the Chargers...

2012-2013 Record - 1-1-20 (W-D-L); no conference record due to being independent.

Win: @Lake Superior St.

Draw: MSU-Mankato

Losses: MSU-Mankato, @St. Cloud St. (x2), @Bentley, @American Int’l, @St. Lawerence (x2), @Northeastern (x2), @Lake Superior St., @Nebraska Omaha (x2), @Wisconsin (x2), Boston College*, Air Force*, @Penn State (x2), @Minnesota Duluth (x2)

*played at Mariucci Arena as part of the Mariucci Classic

Biggest Beatdown: UAH 1 - Bentley 9 or UAH 0 - UNO 8

Head Coach: Kurt Kleinendorst

In his only season as head coach, Kleinendorst led the Chargers to a singular win and a singular draw. Senior Jeff Vanderlugt lead the Chargers in scoring with 7 and senior Alex Allan had the most assists, also with 7. In net, John Griggs had a save percentage of .896 and a GAA of 3.96. The 2012-13 season got underway with an exhibition series with the University of Alabama, which went heavily in UAH’s favor. A home series with MSU Mankato was followed by a month-and-a-half road trip to the Midwest and East Coast. Out of this 12 game trip, only one was not a loss. A loss and a tie against the US U-18s followed this lengthy excursion from home.

December started off with another exhibition series, this time with DIII Finlandia. The second half of the month was another trip to the Midwest, this time playing against Wisconsin. Additionally, the Chargers took part in the Mariucci Classic, losing both games to BC and Air Force.

In the new year, January was made up solely of exhibitions with DIII Adrian, Vanderbilt, and Oklahoma. Out of these, UAH lost one to Adrian. Only one weekend in February was played, two losses away in Hockey Valley to Penn State. The Chargers had to wait until the first weekend of March to finish the season, two losses at the hands of Minnesota Duluth.

Since that one win season, UAH has joined the WCHA and hired head coach Mike Corbett. Under Corbett’s guidance, the Chargers have steadily improved. This past season, UAH had 9 wins, the most since 2009-10.

For Week 1 of this series, we will look at the worst seasons in recent memory for the following schools: Alaska Anchorage, Alaska _ (Fairbanks), and American International. Once again, if you are interested in doing the entry for your favorite school, shoot me a PM. Your school, name, and date will be added at the end of each post to serve as a reminder. So far, the following people have inquired about a spot:

School	Username	Tentative Date
Cornell	u/ABigRedWallaby	6/29
LSSU	u/binkelman	7/10
RPI	u/Nicholas1227	8/16
Union	u/azureamor	8/22
Vermont	u/LocksTheFox	8/23

The format for the posts in the series is still being worked on and your input is greatly appreciated. I hope that everyone can get a kick out of their rivals’ misery and learn a little bit about the history of this great sport!