Frigid split

As Liberty Men’s Hockey Team took the ice Friday, Oct. 12, it was more than just the cold in the air, but rather competition fill the rink as the Flames play Syracuse University.

Liberty lost to Syracuse in overtime by one point, making the end of that first game 4-5.  Through this close game, the Flames kept up with Syracuse.  This made for a tense game through all three periods and even in through the first few minutes of overtime.  

“Once you go into overtime, anything can happen,” Coach Kirk Handy said. “Tonight, we just turned the puck over to them.  But I liked our third period. We kept up with them. We also had a great score at the end of the second with four seconds left.”

Liberty started slower, but Basil Reynolds scored with 10:07 left in the first. Assisting Reynolds was Chaydan Lauber and Cole Gammer. The Flames ended the first tied 1-1 with Syracuse.  

“We scored a few big goals briefly, until they scored again and tied it back up,” Gammer said. “There are many things that we can learn from this game though, like uncontrolled penalties, but all in all we can take a lot from this game.”

The game continued to build in tension, and in the second period, Syracuse scored two more goals. Victor Bloomberg scored another goal for the Flames with four seconds remaining in the second period, bringing the score to 2-3.  Bloomberg’s goal was assisted by Jacob Fricks. With this goal, the Flames were ready to head into the third period.

“We played a good team tonight, so the game moved a lot faster,” Gammer said. “The most frustrating part is that we could not keep up with them fully, but we did what we could.  And now we know where we have to grow.”

In the third, forward Devin Pierce scored a goal with 15:48 left in the period. The team is now pushing as much energy as they can into this game against Syracuse, the game was now tied again.  With 7:18 remaining, Brock Thompson scored for the Flames, and soon after Syracuse tied the game again. Liberty ended the third period tied with 4-4, heading into overtime.  

“In the third period, we played pretty well,” Handy said. “We scored some powerplay goals, and they kept it very close in through all of the periods. We had one of our best nights of the year, as far as powerplay goals are concerned.”

The game went into overtime, but Syracuse took a shot with 4:23 remaining and scored to end the game. 

“Success isn’t always about greatness, it’s about consistency,” Handy said. “I don’t know if we were consistent for 60 minutes as we needed to be, but it is a controllable thing for us, and we will be working on that.”

Despite their tough loss Friday night, the Flames came back Saturday, Oct. 13, to dominate Syracuse 7-1. Liberty’s play was characterized by quick, scrappy play, featuring three different sets of two goals scored a minute apart.

The Flames will return to the LaHaye Ice Center Friday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m.