Friday, Feb. 2 Game
Nathaniel Chambers
Liberty Men’s Hockey notched its 12th straight victory Friday, Feb. 2, against Western Michigan in the first matchup in the program’s history. Liberty also won its 14th of its last 15 games and claimed the ESCHL regular season title last week.
Liberty’s stingy defense and dominant power-play performance were two keys to the victory Friday night. The Flames scored on three of their six power-play opportunities while killing off five of six penalty kills. The team also allowed only 24 shots on goal while getting 35 shots through the Western Michigan defense.
Junior defenseman Zane Schartz tallied his first of three points early in the first period, scoring a power-play goal on the assists from forwards Zechariah Roberts and ESCHL-leading scorer Grant Garvin.
Forward Brock Thompson got the scoring started early in the second, scoring a power-play goal less than two minutes into the period with tic-tac-toe passes from Schartz and Garvin. Western Michigan responded to the early 2-0 deficit by scoring an unassisted goal at the 10:37 mark and a power-play goal less than two minutes later to tie the game at two.
With Western Michigan gaining momentum back and taking the breath out of the home crowd, forwards Devin Pierce and Jordan Bochinski passed to defenseman Garrett Nelson, who scored on the powerplay. Freshman forward Ryan Cox later scored on a feed from Schartz, who had a beautiful deke and pass with less than a minute left in the second period.
Head coach Kirk Handy highlighted this as the turning point in the game, as it brought momentum back to the team.
With a 4-2 lead after two, Liberty just had to play a strong last 20 minutes to notch its 12th win in a row. It was nothing short of excitement, as they had to kill off four powerplays in a 12-minute span. Goalie Cole Burack stopped the first seven shots in the third period, with a goal slipping though the five-hole with less than six seconds left in the game, making the final score 4-3.
While Liberty won the game and had some great special teams play, other aspects in the game were not as strong.
“I didn’t think we played very well,” Handy said. “I thought that we were kind of soft, and I didn’t feel that we brought the effort that we needed there to be successful.”
Since the Flames already clinched their regular season conference title, Handy suggested one of the reasons behind the team’s struggles may have been complacency.
“That’s tough and that was part of our problem tonight,” Handy said.
Liberty also struggled in the faceoff circle early on, especially on their end. Handy said after their early struggles, he feels they challenged the centers to do a better job in the faceoff circle.
“I think we just challenged the centermen,” Handy said. “I think we have great centermen on this team, and we had to challenge them a little bit.”
Despite their early problems with faceoffs, the team was able to have lots of possession times, but they just could not seem to be able to get that extra pass or shot past the defense.
“I think we have to have a little more attitude around the net that we want to make something happen,” Handy said.
Handy also said that while the team struggled to get more pucks to the net, he still has faith in his team. He commends his team.
“Those guys are talented, and we just have to get them open, have some quick puck movement and be able to get them the puck,” Handy said.
While the Flames did manage to get off 35 shots and score four goals, Handy said that was not enough to be content with their effort.
All that aside, the team did play well on both sides of special teams. They had great power-play opportunities and made the most of them.
“Our powerplay was huge for us tonight,” Handy said. “Our powerplay was one of the reasons our team won.”
The penalty kill was also a key contributor to the win. Especially toward the end of the game, it was a key that helped influence the outcome of the game.
Physicality, Handy said, was another huge factor in the Flames win. They were constantly laying players out on the ice, whether they were defending their teammates or defending themselves. It was a very physical game, and Liberty was able to come away with big hits.
After the game, Handy also said the team is going to start preparing for the ESCHL playoffs and beyond “right now.”
“We have a well-balanced team, and we need to be able to score up and down the lineup,” Handy said.
He said he is very confident in his team and believes in the skill his team has. He said the team is very well-balanced and well-rounded, and he is looking forward to the playoffs.
Saturday, Feb. 3 Game
Peter Gooch
Extending their home win streak, the Liberty Flames Division 1 men’s hockey team took to the ice and captured the victory, dominating Western Michigan 4-0 Saturday night, Feb. 3, at the LaHaye Ice Center.
After a squeaking past the Broncos 4-3 Friday, the Flames put on a commanding performance against the same team a night later to extend their home win streak that started Nov. 18, 2017.
“You know what, we challenged our guys a little bit, you know, after last night’s game,” Liberty head coach Kirk Handy said Saturday. “We wanted to be better 5-on-5 and I thought we were tonight. We wanted to be better in our D zone and I thought we were tonight.”
Western Michigan’s offense was overshadowed by the Flames, who outshot the Broncos by 36.
“(We were) definitely working from the defense-first mentality,” Flames defenseman Josh Bergen said. “Taking care of our end…and then whatever happens in the offensive zone happens.”
Liberty started fast, with sophomore forward Victor Blomberg netting his eighth goal of the season a little over seven minutes into the first period after a shot from teammate Matt Cruickshank was tipped toward him.
“I was pretty much behind the goalie and just tapped it in,” Blomberg said.
About two-and-a-half minutes after Blomberg gave the Flames a 1-0 lead, Liberty’s leading scorer, center Grant Garvin, doubled it with a power-play goal. The Flames final score, by defenseman Garrett Nelson late in the third period, was also scored with a man advantage.
Coach Handy credited assistant coach Dan Berthiaume and his players for the execution on special teams, with the team scoring five of their eight goals over the weekend on the power play.
“We wanted to refine our power play and penalty kill and both of them were excellent tonight,” coach Handy said.
Liberty killed six minor penalties and sidestepped a 10-minute misconduct call against freshman forward Jordan Bochinski Saturday.
Bochinski’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was not the only one in the third period in which some players on Western Michigan unraveled. The Broncos Zachary Roberts and Corey Siwula were each sent to the visiting locker room in the last nine minutes of the game.
“I think we did great,” Blomberg said about his team’s ability to remain calm in the third period. “I mean, they were the guys who took the most penalties so…They tried to get us into that, but I think we stayed out of it pretty good tonight.”
Siwula’s early exit, due to a game misconduct, was accompanied by a five-minute major penalty that the Flames capitalized on with Nelson’s goal with 4:04 left to play in the game.
Liberty had a few golden opportunities to add more goals in the third period, but the Flames were denied by Western Michigan goalie Sam Wozniski, who made some impressive saves down the stretch.
“It was frustrating,” Bergen said about the Flames getting only four goals on 52 shots. “It goes that way when you play against good goaltending. Obviously, we would like to have (had) more, but, he’s a good goalie and he proved it.”
Opposite of Wozniski, Liberty goalie Cole Burack earned his fifth shutout of the season as he stopped all 16 shots he faced.
“When you’re not getting that many shots a lot of times you’re letting in easy ones, but he found a way just to stay focused for the whole game and made the saves he needed to make,” Flames freshman Sam Carlson said of Burack. “He’s just been phenomenal for us.”
Liberty was able to give their netminder some breathing room at the end of the second period after a long stretch of exciting back-and-forth play, as senior Tim Bierema scored with exactly one minute left in the second period.
“It was huge,” Handy said of Bierema’s sixth goal of the season. “But it was also the way the goal went in… Tim works his butt off getting up the ice and dives to put the puck in. He’s been a great player for us all year and he’s one of our captains.”
The Flames have not lost since dropping a 5-4 decision at New York University Nov. 17.
“We want to keep the wins going just so that we can move up in our national ranking. (We want) to kind of intimidate other teams as well,” Bergen said.
Liberty next hosts the University of Alabama for back-to-back contests Feb. 9 and 10 at LaHaye Ice Center.