Liberty Hockey Returns After North Dakota Road Trip to Defeat Stony Brook

After nearly a month on the road, Liberty men’s Division I hockey was back in action at LaHaye Ice Center with a fired- up Flames team notching a 3-1 win over Stony Brook Nov. 5.

The first 15 minutes of play were mostly quiet until the first goal of the game came from Josh Fricks on a cross crease pass from Matt Bartel, giving the Flames a 1-0 advantage. Fricks said it was helpful to get the weekend started on a positive note.

“Bartel just hit me with a great pass,” Fricks said. “I just had to whack it into the net, and it just felt good to get going on a strong note.”

Fricks was not done lending a helping hand after his goal, however. Five minutes later with 14 seconds left in the first period, his pass from behind the net found defenseman Chaydan Lauber, who immediately fired it past the Stony Brook goalie to put the Flames up 2-0 going into the first intermission. Fricks gave some insight on how he picked out his pass.

“I was looking for Bartel out front,” Fricks said. “But he was covered, and Chaydan just found the gap, and I was able to find his stick.”

It took Stony Brook most of the second period to find its first tally. Mike Galinski’s top-corner shot cut the lead in half with 3:07 left in the second period, making the game 2-1. 

Jackson Vercellono tallied the insurance goal for the Flames just a couple of minutes into the third period off a weird bounce on Matt Berezowski’s shot from the point, which landed on Vercellono’s stick.

Liberty Head Coach Kirk Handy was happy to see key contributions from freshman like Vercellono at this point in the season.

“It is great to see, especially because we have to rely on them a lot,” Handy said. “I thought they were solid for us tonight.” 

Other highlights of the night included the Flames’ strong penalty kill at home. The team has now gone 74 minutes down a man without allowing a goal. The Flames stopped all six of Stony Brook’s man advantage chances over the course of the game, largely thanks to goalie Hunter Virostek, who was good for 33 saves, expanding his winning record to 7-1 on the season.  

Handy said it was important to focus on defensive pressure with small leads.

“You know we need to sharpen up on our own end for sure,” Handy said. “But Hunter played great for us in net tonight, and he is the reason our penalty kill is so strong.”

Virostek was happy with the team’s overall performance as well. 

“It’s a great start after a couple of weeks off,” Virostek said. “You just make the simple stops and do what you have to do. Maybe save a few that you are not supposed to here and there, but the boys played great in front of me tonight.”

The Flames played Stony Brook again Nov. 6, making an incredible comeback to win the game 4-3 in overtime shootouts. The Flames rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to notch the weekend sweep of Stony Brook. 

Liberty will be back in action Nov. 13-14, taking on Ohio University at the LaHaye Ice Center. 

Zehnder is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter.