Flames earn sweep of Seawolves
Coming off back-to-back weekends of hard fought games against Davenport University and Adrian College, a stretch in which the Flames went 1-3, Liberty swept Big South rival Stony Brook, winning 8-5 on Friday and 5-3 on Saturday.
Twice as nice — Liberty earned two victories against Stony Brook. Photo credit: Ruth Bibby
Junior forward Andrew McCombe was invaluable to the success of the team this weekend, scoring four goals, including a hat trick on Saturday, and dishing out two assists. Handy attributes McCombe’s breakout weekend with a slight tweak in practice this past week.
“‘Comber’ has had to battle this year with some health issues and stuff like that. One thing we did with (McCombe) this weekend was move him,” Handy said. “He has been playing center and we moved him to the wing, and that really helped him out and freed him up. The move ended up being key for us too.”
Junior forward Brent Boschman netted two goals and assisted on four goals, while sophomore forward Rick Turner continued his home rampage scoring two goals and dishing out an assist.
Goaltending was crucial, especially on Saturday night. According to Handy, the goaltending is getting better because the team as a whole is getting better.
“Goaltending is a team effort,” Handy said. “It’s the defensive men, who for the most part this year, have played pretty strong and our forwards, who have played better two-way hockey this year.”
Freshman goalie Clayton Brown allowed only three goals Saturday night in 60 minutes of action.
“The goalie is obviously back there stopping them and (Brown) made some big saves. On the penalty kill — the first one, when we were on it for five minutes — he made some big saves and stopped a break away. He was definitely solid for us,” Handy said.
Handy also touched on his team’s ability to kill power plays and keep the puck out of their net.
“Here’s the deal on the penalty kill, we have some guys willing to block shots. We have guys who are willing to make big plays that help out big time for us,” Handy said. “It is not always the guys that put the puck in the net, it’s other guys who are strong role players for us who get their body in front of the puck and limit shots that could get through.”
The Flames focus on another top ACHA team that will enter The Cube this weekend in the University of Delaware.
“They are a strong team, I believe No. 5. We have to come out and play good hockey,” Handy said. “We need to have the same effort we had here this weekend and increase that a little bit.”
Liberty will take on the University of Delaware this Friday and Saturday night inside LaHaye at 7:30 p.m.