uah hockey

UAH's Alex Allan from a game last season. Supporters of the #FreeUAB movement are attending the Jan. 2, 2014 UAH hockey game dressed in UAB football gear to cheer on the Chargers. (Bob Gathany/bgathany@al.com)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - "They told UAH that they couldn't have a hockey team anymore, but THEY FAILED! They told UAB that we can't have a football team anymore, but THEY WILL FAIL!"

That's the battle cry on a Facebook event page called "UAB Fans Help UAH Hockey Get Its 1st Sellout."

It's connected to #FreeUAB, the grassroots movement that's protesting the recent elimination of the football program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The Facebook event page is urging UAB fans to wear UAB football gear to the UAH hockey game on Jan. 2, when the Chargers play the University of Alaska Anchorage at 7 p.m. at the Von Braun Center.

UAB fans are encouraged to cheer loudly for UAH and bring signs that say #FreeUAH and #FreeUAB, but to only hold up signs during timeouts and the breaks between each period.

Supporters of the #FreeUAB movement have noted similarities between the popular UAH hockey program and the UAB football program. The UAH Division I hockey team was canceled in 2011, but revived a couple of months later.

(Related: Is there hope for UAB football? How UAH saved its canceled hockey program)

This #FreeUAB event is organized by Elliot Brindley, formerly of the UAB Blazer Band, who said via Facebook that this will be his first UAH hockey game since he played in the UAH pep band at the Division 2 Hockey National Championship in Huntsville in March 1998.

Will you be at the Jan. 2 hockey game? Will it help the #FreeUAB cause to show solidarity with UAH Hockey? Share your thoughts in the comments.