Staying alive
Flames still in playoff hunt after sweep
The Liberty Flames men’s Division I hockey team kept playoff hopes alive this weekend with a two-game sweep of the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies Friday Feb. 5 (5-4) and Saturday Feb. 6 (8-4).
Friday, the Flames jumped out to a quick lead but found themselves down 2-4 late in the third period. The team stormed back scoring two goals to force the game into a sudden-death overtime period. With two minutes left in overtime, freshman defenseman Zane Schartz delivered the finishing blow that gave the Flames a 5-4 win.
Speed — Flames freshman Owen Harris moves up the ice during the Flames win. Photo credit: Leah Seavers
The Flames jumped out to another quick lead 30 seconds into Saturday’s game and never surrendered it. Senior forward Kyle Garcia wrapped around the goal and found junior forward Grant Garvin in the slot for the first goal of the night and the first of many connections between the two.
“(It was) a big weekend for Garcia and Garvin,” Head Coach Kirk Handy said. “Those guys play the honest way. They’re hard workers on both ends of the rink and battled hard for us all night.”
Moments later, the Flames struck again. Junior forward Robert Ward received a pass from freshman forward Zach Hayes. Ward finessed his way around the Grizzlies goaltender, leaving him laying on his stomach with the puck in the back of his net and giving the Flames a 2-0 lead.
The Golden Grizzlies had their share of chances in the first period, but graduate goaltender Cary Byron stood strong with glove and blocker saves. Byron also got a layout save from senior defenseman Kyle Miller when Byron’s back was turned on a broken play.
Entering the second period the Flames led 2-1, and that lead received a big boost from Garcia who scored two goals within two minutes of each other to extend the Flames lead to 4-1.
“I really liked our battle all weekend,” Handy said.
Heading into the third period, the Flames had a 4-2 lead, but the offense only got hotter in the third. Garcia started the period with his third goal giving him a hat trick on the night. Garvin followed that up with two more goals of his own, which gave him a hat trick as well.
Garvin’s third goal came with some controversy and took a review to decide if it would count. Seconds after the puck went into the back of the net, players came crashing into the net and knocked it loose. The officials took a few minutes to discuss whether the puck entered the net before it was run into. “GOAL!” chants rained down on the officials before they decided to award Garvin the goal and put the Flames up, 7-4.
With less than a minute left Garcia added one more goal and secured the Flames 8-4 win.
“I’m just more excited about the win,” Garcia said. “We had to win this game to stay alive for playoffs. If we would not have won both of these games this weekend, there is no way we would have been able to make the playoffs. I think we’re building momentum these last couple of games before playoffs.”
The Flames are in action Saturday, Feb. 13 against Arizona State and then return home for the final two games of the regular season the following weekend against Minot State.
Day is a sports reporter.