Flames drop weekend series to Delaware
No. 2 Blue Hens led by their goalkeeper, extend winning streak to five
The DI Liberty University men’s hockey team has faced a number of great teams so far this season. Even though they have not always been successful in beating them, the competition is making them a better hockey team in all aspects of the game.
Tripped up — The Flames couldn’t find their footing against the University of Delaware. Photo credit: Ruth Bibby
Despite losing the weekend series to the University of Delaware 3-0 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday, head coach Kirk Handy takes the losses as a learning experience for his squad.
“It’s a good barometer for where we’re at. That’s why we play good teams. You want to try to figure out where you are at, and we’re right there,” Handy said. “Some minor adjustments have to be made, but we have the skills, we have the ability, we have the players. It’s not a matter of those things, it’s tweaking those things. We’ll work on that and continue to refine and continue to make our team better.”
Being able to battle from the first face-off till the last buzzer sounds is also imperative for a hockey team to be successful. When the Flames have jumped out early, whether on offense or in pure momentum, the majority of the time they have been able to rack up a ‘W.’
However, when the Flames allow an untimely goal in the first moments of the game or let the opposing team take control of the game, they usually falter. Unfortunately, the latter was the way the games this weekend went.
“When you start the game on the penalty kill that doesn’t help you and they (the other team) score, which doesn’t help us as well. I think the first period we’d like to do over, but the second and third period we liked what we saw,” Handy said. “The big thing is we have to be more disciplined, especially against better teams. You can only give them chances for so long and then you’re in trouble.”
Goaltending is also a crucial aspect of any hockey team. Sophomore Blair Bennet and freshman Clayton Brown have been all the Flames have asked for between the pipes. They not only have a decent save percentage, but they have also been clutch in keeping their teams in games when their team needed it most.
Bennet played both games this weekend against Delaware and received much praise from Coach Handy.
“Without Blair it would have been a whole lot different,” Handy said. “Blair was steady, made some huge saves and gave us an opportunity tonight (Saturday). He played well.”
The major thing the Flames do not need to tweak in the upcoming week of practice is their ability to score goals. Liberty’s lines from top to bottom are great scorers. The last eight games, going back to the two loses against Davenport, the Flames have averaged nearly three and a half goals per game, including goals this weekend from junior forwards Brent Boschman and Andrew McCombe.
The Flames will look to jump out early this next weekend behind their dependable offense and clutch goalies as they head to Oklahoma to play the Sooners of the University of Oklahoma along with Central Oklahoma.
“We have a lot of opportunities (to win) this weekend with three big games coming up before break, and a great opportunity to move up a couple of spots,” Handy said.