Alabama-Huntsville forward Andrew Coburn leads the team in scoring with four points in four games.

When Alabama-Huntsville upset nationally ranked Notre Dame on the road in its season opener, some hockey fans pulled out the old “on any given day, any team can beat any other” excuse to explain everything.

After all, the Chargers began last season with a tight 1-0 loss on the road to nationally ranked Colorado College before going on to net a grand total of five victories all season.

So now explain away this start.

After the split in South Bend, the Chargers traveled to Colorado Springs and shocked Air Force, the current king of the Atlantic Hockey heap, not once, but twice.

UAH head coach Danton Cole has a bit of ho-hum in his voice when he said, “We’re working hard and sometimes good things happen to a team when you do that.”

Good things happen once in a while, but not three times in four games. That trend that will be tested on home ice this weekend against Western Michigan, a team that swept UAH in Kalamazoo last season, and next week when they open conference play at home versus Bemidji State.

“Getting more than five wins was definitely not a goal I put down at the start of the season,” said Cole. “Twenty wins is a good start and gives the team a chance a winning the regular season title and advancing to the NCAA [Tournament]—those are the goals the players are striving for.

“We’ve gotten more ownership from the players and I think they now have a decent feel for what we’re trying to do. It’s definitely more fun coaching this way.”

Junior goaltender Cameron Talbot is front and center as one of those players, with Andrew Coburn, Cody Campbell, and freshman James Cseter (pronounced SEE-dar) leading the way offensively.

“We knew we had two tough road trips to start and then it didn’t get any easier with Western, who hosted a first-round [CCHA playoff] series last year, Bemidji State, and then UMass Lowell coming in,” Cole said.

Cole added that he tends to divide the season into five or six six-game segments. The end of the first segment is Saturday and, with the level of competition they were scheduled to face, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone outside of the Chargers locker room who would have given them a shot at four wins in the segment … or a chance for even more.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

· Niagara traveled to Michigan Thursday where, under Red Berenson, the Wolverines improved to 22-1-3 in home openers with a 3-2 win over the Purps.

· Robert Morris junior forward Chris Kushneriuk has netted 17 points over his last 23 games. His Colonials travel to Ferris State after going 1-0-1 against the Bulldogs last season.

· Alabama-Huntsville has scored just one power play marker among their 12 goals this season. On the flip side, the Chargers have allowed six extra-man goals (plus one shortie) among its nine total goals allowed through four games.

· Bemidji State has received contributions from throughout their lineup in the early going with eight different goal scorers accounting for the team’s 10 goals, including three by freshmen.