Handy land
Davenport sweeps Liberty
It was a groundbreaking night for the Liberty men’s Division I hockey team, who opened in front of a record home crowd in the LaHaye Ice Center Friday night Oct. 23.
Unfortunately for the Flames, the night did not go as planned, as they fell 4-1 to the Davenport Panthers in the first game of the Blue & Gray Cup. The Blue & Gray Cup is a best-of-three series created four years ago to embrace the rivalry between the two teams.
Stick-work — Flames senior defenseman Steven Bellew carried the puck down the ice in loss to Davenport. Photo credit: Leah Seavers
“The game atmosphere was awesome,” Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy said. “(But) we weren’t able to execute, and them scoring on the second shift of the game set us back on our heels. Then in the second period, we ran into penalty problems and we had four minutes there where they scored three goals.”
It was difficult from the very beginning for the Flames, as Davenport scored just one minute after the game began on a goal from Panthers senior defenseman Winston Hofer. The Flames kept the deficit at one through the remainder of the first period.
Midway through the second period, Panthers senior forward Luke McCarthy scored, giving Davenport a 2-0 lead.
Just a few seconds later, Panthers senior forward Matt Ogden added a goal of his own, increasing Davenport’s lead to 3-0.
Liberty’s rough second period was not over, as Panthers junior defenseman Aaron Beally added what would be Davenport’s final goal of the night, giving the Panthers a commanding 4-0 lead.
At that point the Flames had given up so much momentum, they were never able to recover.
“The second period was tough,” Handy said. “We went down 4-0, and it’s tough to dig yourself out of a hole against a good team.”
The Flames avoided the shutout, however, as Flames freshman defenseman Zane Schartz added a goal at the top of the third period. The goal was the last of the night, bringing the final score to 4-1.
“(Schartz) has been putting the puck in the net and playing well for us,” Handy said. “We came to play in the third period, but you have to play 60 minutes. We didn’t play 60 minutes tonight, and we were unable to get the victory tonight.”
For the Flames, it was not an ideal start in the team’s inaugural game in the new LaHaye Ice Center, but Handy noted how good it felt to be back in front of the home crowd.
“That was a huge positive, a sellout crowd tonight,” Handy said. “It went beyond our expectations. The crowd (and) the atmosphere (were) fantastic. We’re really excited to move forward with this new facility. It’s a world-class facility … we’re really proud of this facility, and we’re going to work hard to keep it one of the best facilities to play in.”
The No. 6 Liberty Flames (3-3-1) Division I men’s hockey team has yet to win a game at its renovated stadium following a 6-3 loss to the No. 5 Davenport Panthers (7-0-1) Oct. 24.
Following the 4-1 loss the previous night, the Flames looked to get the offense going early. The Flames were aggressive in the first few minutes and had some scoring opportunities, but it would be the Panthers who would strike first.
A little under two minutes into the game, a traffic jam formed in front of the net, allowing Ogden to send a rebound into the back of the net for the first goal of the night.
Five minutes later, the Panthers struck again on a power play, this time coming off the stick of forward Kody Pollin.
“We have not had a couple of good starts,” Handy said.
The Flames eventually found themselves in a 5-0 hole late in the second period. Similar to the first game of the series, the deficit was to deep to overcome.
With a little more than a minute and a half left in the second period, the Flames put themselves on the board with a goal from senior forward Bram Erickson.
Scoring continued for the Flames in the third period. Six minutes in, Schwartz sent a shot toward the goal from the point position. The shot deflected off freshman forward Jeff Wilson and gave the Flames their second goal of the day.
“We know we have the ability in the locker room,” Handy said. “I’m confident we can get back on track. It is October, but we have to learn from it, we have to learn from what we’re doing and become better.”
Liberty found the net once again with less than five minutes remaining in the game. Freshman forward Michael Bunn sniped the puck past the goaltender and found twine on the top shelf.
Bunn’s goal brought the score to 5-3, which was the closest the Flames would get. With under a minute left to play, Ogden capitalized on an empty net and sealed the deal for the Panthers 6-3 win.
This game saw no shortage of penalty minutes as both teams combined for 69 minutes of penalties on 25 infractions. The Flames committed 14 of those infractions for a total of 39 penalty minutes.
The Flames ended up hurting dearly by all the penalties after they gave up two power play goals.
“We have to practice better,” junior captain Robert Ward said. “We’re going to come out flying Friday night (Oct. 30).”
The Panthers out shot the Flames 47 to 33 on the evening.
Panthers’ goaltender Clayton Brown, a former Flames hockey player before transferring to Davenport, made 30 saves.
For the Flames, graduate student Cary Brown saved 26 of the 31 shots he faced and junior Matt Pinel stopped all 16 of the shots he saw.
“We had a good (post game) meeting,” Handy said. “I’m confident we can get back on track.”
The Flames will be in action at home again next week as they host the No. 7 Ohio Bobcats.
The first of the two-game series will be Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. and the second will be Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. at the LaHaye Ice Center.
Husker is a sports reporter.
DAY is a sports reporter.