From the 1990-91 Alabama-Huntsville game program/media guide, p.1:
Ice Hockey: A Huntsville Tradition
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You may think Huntsville an unlikely locale for NCAA Division I ice
hockey. Obviously, it did not appear in town overnight. Here's the
rest of the story.
In 1962 youth hockey made its debut in Huntsville as a result of
collaboration between Fred Hudson, former Canadian Junior hockey player;
Ben Wilcoxen, owner of the Ice Palace skating arena; and Lawrence Cross
of the local YMCA. Initially, the program was YMCA sponsored and some
fifty boys signed up to play the "new" sport.
Over the next decade and a half the program expanded to include 300
players aged 5-20; a "house league" and strong travel teams. The
organization became known as the Huntsville Amateur Hockey Association
(H.A.H.A.). H.A.H.A.'s travel teams often surprised their more northern
opponents, captured several regional Silver Stick titles, and sent
respectable numbers of players to hockey programs at the prep school and
collegiate levels.
Many of the young men who played for the first UAH hockey team were
graduates of H.A.H.A., and were coached during their formative hockey
years by Fred Hudson. In fact, Joe Ritch, first UAH hockey coach, was
one of those first fifty enrollees in YMCA hockey.
The jump from age group to collegiate club hockey was made in 1979 when
H.A.H.A. members and the UAH community combined resources to generate the
UAH program. Most importantly, a talented core of H.A.H.A. "graduates"
with Joe Ritch at the helm were available to field a competitive team.
Charger hockey was fortunate then, as it is now, to have "big ice"
available at the Von Braun Civic Center. Opponents from traditional
hockey schools have been surprised at the high quality facility our
University program is able to utilize.
The UAH club program experienced immediate and lasting success by winning
the Southern Collegiate Hockey League and the national tournament for
the next three years.
In 1982, Doug Ross (member of the 1976 U.S. Olympic Team) assumed the
head coach position for Charger hockey. The team continued its winning
tradition by capturing the Central States Collegiate Hockey Championship
and the U.S. National Club Hockey Championship in each of the next three
seasons.
1985 found UAH ice hockey in the NAIA at the varsity level and in the
1986-87 season it moved to the NCAA Division II. Finally, in 1987, the
UAH Charger hockey team began competing at the NCAA Division I level.
Our UAH Chargers now lend support to the youth hockey organization that
was responsible for the inception of Charger hockey by coaching and
officiating in the H.A.H.A. program.
Hockey in Huntsville?
Naturally!
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The 1990-91 UAH roster in the program I have did not list any Huntsville
natives among the Charger players.
Here is UAH's all-time record by year through 1989-90:
1979-80 Joe Ritch 24-1-0
1980-81 Joe Ritch 29-1-0
1981-82 Joe Ritch 32-3-2
1982-83 Doug Ross 27-6-2
1983-84 Doug Ross 27-4-0
1984-85 Doug Ross 21-7-0
1985-86 Doug Ross 15-13-0
1986-87 Doug Ross 20-10-0
1987-88 Doug Ross 12-17-1
1988-89 Doug Ross 15-10-1
1989-90 Doug Ross 10-22-3
The Fall 1990 UAH Magazine also contains an article relevant to hockey:
Paul Brand places a 'conference' call
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Athletic Director Paul Brand is tailoring two special projects for UAH,
worrying about how well they fit - and how well UAH will fit them.
Brand is trying to tailor two athletic linkages for UAH and for like-
minded colleges. One would serve ice hockey, while the other would
include UAH's other varsity sports. The unique nature of UAH's athletic
program "brings with it some problems in trying to put together a
conference, or in becoming part of a conference."
"Ice hockey and crew, for example, are sports that are not common to
southern schools," he explained. "It would never happen that we would
have a sports conference in our area that would include ice hockey."
...
Brand has also committed UAH to an "association" for ice hockey. There
are only six non-conference ice hockey teams in NCAA Division I: UAH,
Alaska-Fairbanks, Alaska-Anchorage, Kent State, Air Force, and Notre Dame.
"We've tried to link these schools together, but it just hasn't worked
out," said Brand. "Notre Dame and Air Force can play whomever they want
whenever they want, so they didn't see any reason to commit to going to
Anchorage or Fairbanks. Or to Huntsville, for that matter."
At the most recent NCAA convention, Brand proposed an association - but
not a conference - to the other independents. The four best of those
six teams would play in a season-ending tournament, with the NCAA
agreeing to invite either the tournament winner or the best regular
season team to the NCAA national championship tournament. If the six
teams agree, the first National Independents' Ice Hockey Tournament
will be in Anchorage.
The other five schools have until Oct. 1 to return signed contracts,
"so we'll know where things stand by then. But we anticipate something
good coming out of that."
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