Flames hockey defeats the Seawolves in two-game series at LU

The men’s division one hockey team hosted the Stony Brook Seawolves Friday, Nov. 2 and Saturday, Nov. 3 and dominated the two-game series.

The first of this two-match series was Friday night where the Flames handled business with a final score of 3-1. The game was hard fought throughout, and Head Coach Kirk Handy seemed pleased with the team’s performance.

“Stony Brook is a rival and a tough opponent, and I did not think it was our best night tonight, but we were able to find a way,” Handy said.

The Flames scored first with a goal from junior Jordan Bochinski assisted by sophomore Devin Pierce. This would be the only goal for either team in the period.

The Flames are 9-3 on the season (photo by Ryan Klinker)

“We just did not like the way we played in the first period,” Handy said. “We talked about how we were playing ok, but we did not feel like we were as engaged as we needed to be.”

The second period began with an early goal coming from Stony Brook, junior Nick Belger scored an unassisted goal just 53 seconds into the period. This brought the score to 2-1 in favor of the
Seawolves. 

“The second period really did not start how we wanted it to for us with that early goal, but I thought that Cole Burak played a really good game for us tonight,”
Handy said. 

The Flames would answer back to the Seawolves goal by getting one of their own two minutes later by junior Quinn Ryan and assisted by sophomore Cole Gammer.

“Quinn has been a big part of our team all year, and he made a nice move there,” Handy said. “ … We found a way to get it done tonight. We have to find a way to regroup and get it done again tomorrow.” 

The light would go off just one more time in this close matchup as junior Brock Thompson would score a goal assisted by Ryan with 19:53 left in the second period. 

Junior forward Victor Blomberg attempts a shot (Photo by Ryan Klinker)

“It felt good; I was thinking about my coach yelling at me if I didn’t shoot the puck,” Thompson said. “You have got to get pucks on the net, so I decided to let it fly, and it happened to go in.”

Shots on goal for the game were 34 for Liberty and 25 for Stony Brook. The Flames found a way to maintain control throughout
the contest.

“Again, I think that we played ok,” Handy said. “Sometimes you have to find a way to win the game and I think that is what we did tonight. Hats off to our guys. It was solid goaltending tonight and timely goals for us.” 

This win brings the Flames record to 10-2 they will face Ohio University who has a record of 8-1 at the LaHaye Ice Center on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.

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