Not-so-fond farewell
Men’s hockey team gets swept by No. 1 Minot State in regular season finale
The Liberty Flames Men’s Division I hockey team took to the ice for the last game of the season against the ACHA No.1 Minot State Beavers. In a hard fought senior night battle, the Flames came up short in overtime in a 4-3 loss Saturday Feb. 20.
Disappointment — The Flames played their final series of the year before a long offseason. Photo credit: Leah Seavers
The Flames started the night honoring the seniors and graduate students on the team. Goaltender Cary Byron, forwards Danny Logan, Bram Erickson, Kyle Garcia and Tyson Street, defenders Peter Shantz, Steven Bellew and Kyle Miller will all be moving on from Flames hockey.
“The seniors were big this year,” Head Coach Kirk Handy said. “They laid everything out on the line and we appreciate that.”
The Beavers found the back of the net less than a minute into the game. The Beavers jumped to a quick 2-0 lead before the Flames answered back.
Logan found Owen Harris skating toward the goaltender from the left side of the ice. Harris sent the puck top shelf on a backhand and put the Flames on the board.
Five minutes into the second period, sophomore forward Paul Lamoureux pushed the puck down the ice and dished it to freshman forward Eric Masters. Masters had a good look on the Beavers net, but instead dumped it off to freshman Raymond Wilson who put the puck in the back of the net and tied the game at 2-2.
The Flames ended the period on a high note and took their first lead of the night. Freshman Jackson Giammona fired a prayer from the blue line through traffic and the puck snuck by everyone including the goaltender and Liberty led 3-2.
The Beavers quickly tied the game up less than 15 seconds into the third period. Each team had opportunities to score throughout the third period, but neither of them could capitalize. A couple big hits and some scuffles got the fans loud but they never heard the horn that would have signified Liberty had taken the lead.
A 3-3 tie at the end of the third period meant another five minutes of hockey. In the overtime period it was all Beavers and forward Jeremy Johnson scored his second goal of the night ending the Flames season with a loss.
“That’s the number one team in the country and we proved against them that we have character in our locker room,” Handy said. “We could not change going to Nationals this year, but we could leave a statement going into next year. Our team is here and we’re here to compete with the nation’s best and we’re going to do that next year.”
DAY is a sports reporter.