Men’s hockey tops series 2-0 with IUP

Sophomore forward Josh Fricks earned his first goal of Thursday night’s hat trick when he careened across the ice and chipped the puck above the goalie’s shoulder and into the top of the net. 

Fricks’ goal was the first of 10 for the Flames as they laid down another dominant performance Thursday night in a 10-2 victory over the IUP Crimson Hawks. The Crimson Hawks struggled to keep up as the Flames set a brutal pace and kept the pressure up for the entire game, outshooting
IUP 63-15.

According to Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy, the game was another great step into the season.

“I think overall we’re pretty happy,” Handy said. “We got offensive contributions from all over the place. Anytime you put 10 goals on the board and only give up two, you’re doing something right.”

Fricks led the first period with two goals. He scored just over a minute and 30 seconds into the game, and he scored at the 4:32 mark when Fricks beat the Crimson Hawks goalie and rebounded his own shot after it bounced off of the crossbar. 

The Flames survived a penalty kill shortly after the second goal, holding off the Crimson Hawks and bringing even more aggression once the penalty kill ended. Neither team scored for the rest of the period, going into the first intermission with Liberty leading 2-0. 

But Liberty extended its lead in the second period with an early goal from senior defender Garrett Nelson, followed shortly by a fourth goal from senior forward Brock Thompson. Junior forward and captain Devin Pierce was next to score with 7:42 left in the second period when he popped the puck over the goalie’s leg pad. Transfer sophomore Arturas Laukaitis scored next, earning his first goal of his Flames career and earning Liberty’s sixth goal.

The Flames were interrupted with 2:34 left in the second period when IUP took advantage of a power play and snuck the puck past freshman goalie Cedric Le Sieur, bringing the score to 6-1 to end the second period.

Senior defender Jacob Fricks furthered the scoring two minutes into the third period, slapping the puck into the net off of an assist from senior Jordan Bochinski and extending the Flames lead to 7-1. Senior forward Zechariah Roberts was next to score when he completed defender Chaydan Lauber’s shot as he fell backwards into the goal.

The momentum of the game slid to a halt when one of IUP’s defenders collapsed to the ice with a knee injury. The LaHaye Ice Center was quiet for the first time that night as trainers tended to the fallen player, eventually carrying him off of the ice with the help of two other Crimson Hawks. 

IUP responded to the injury with force, scoring its second goal of the game at the 13:36 mark after capitalizing on a defensive mistake from the Flames. 

The goal was IUP’s last, and Liberty responded with overwhelming power. The Flames scored two more goals before the end of the game, including the third goal of Josh Fricks’s hat trick and a contribution from Bochinski.

The win was a great preparation for Friday’s game, Handy said.

“We’re going to have some lineup changes tomorrow, so that’ll be interesting,” Handy said. “Overall, we’re going to come back and try and reestablish our game. We were able to dictate the pace tonight, and we want to come back and do that tomorrow.”

The Flames rested as much as they could Friday before they hosted IUP in a Midnight Mayhem matchup for the second game of the series.

Game 2

Over 3,600 people filled the LaHaye Ice Center early Saturday morning to watch the Liberty Men’s DI Hockey Team play against Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and when the puck dropped at midnight, the
crowd exploded.

Students and prospective students came to cheer on the Flames during College for a Weekend, and the Flames did not disappoint in their third home game appearance. Liberty came out strong after crushing the Crimson Hawks 10-2 the night before, but this time the Flames shut out IUP, closing the game out at 6-0.

“The energy does two things,” Head Coach Kirk Handy said. “Noise is a positive and a negative – it keeps the guys energized. On the other hand, it can make us take penalties that we don’t want.”

On a power play in the first period, the Flame’s defense pressured the Crimson Hawks and senior Garrett Nelson sliced a shot into the net, with transfer sophomore Arturas Laukaitis assisting the Flames first goal. 

With 43 seconds remaining in the first period, Brock Thompson took his shot on a power play and scored, but just about 25 seconds later, senior Chaydan Lauber struck the puck straight between the Hawks goalie’s legs, leaving the score at 3-0 at the end of the first.  

“We were struggling at first,” Nelson said. “Compared to our last two games in power play we were one-and-seven, but we were at least 60% this time so we did capitalize on a lot tonight.” 

Heading into the second period, senior Basil Reynolds and Laukaitis took advantage of the Crimson Hawks mistakes, bringing the score to 5-0. 

Though the Crimson Hawks put up a good fight throughout the first 40 minutes, the Flames showed their expertise in the last 20 minutes. Freshman Colin Baird made his scoring debut in the first two minutes of the third period, with Nelson and Laukaitis setting up the goal.  

“The shutout is a team goal,” Handy said.  “Our defense this year has been wonderful, but we have to continue to improve. I am proud of them so far.”

The Flames hit the road for their next game Oct. 4 at University of Alabama, before returning home to play University of Rhode Island Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. in the LaHaye Ice Center. 

“We need to tighten up,” Nelson said.  “We gave the puck over a few times, but the crowd continued to cheer us on and that made all the difference.”