Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
ACHA DII Flames travel to Pittsburgh, sweep DI Slippery Rock
10/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's D2 Hockey
Facing its first ACHA Division I opponent in several seasons, Liberty University's ACHA Division II men's hockey team improved to 7-0 on the season with a two-game sweep of Slippery Rock, late Friday and Saturday nights at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, north of Pittsburgh.
"It was a good road trip, another step in the right direction," Liberty Head Coach Chris Lowes said. "We were very happy to go on the road and get two wins against a good team and keep things rolling. We weren't very happy with our performance on Friday night. There was a lack of flow and it wasn't a very clean game for us. Saturday night, we were a completely different team. We took control early, looked confident, and played with a lot of poise."
In Friday night's opener, it took the Flames a couple periods to warm up after a seven-hour road trip, but Liberty still managed to outshoot The Rock by a 43-39 margin. Liberty battled back from a 2-1 deficit at the end of the first period by scoring three unanswered goals in the second before breaking open a 4-4 tie in the third to emerge with a 7-5 victory.
"When you can face adversity and still get the results you're looking for, that's great," Lowes said.
The Flames seized a 4-2 lead in the second period by sandwiching power-play goals by graduate forward Tyson Street and senior forward Devon Docksteader around an even-strength score by junior forward Jordan Barstead, assisted by senior defenseman Ryan Sidun and junior forward Paul Lamoureux.
Slippery Rock scored the first two goals of the third period to tie the match at 4-4 before Liberty responded with two of its own as Docksteader netted his second goal before senior linemate Ben Freymond finished an assist from senior defenseman Kaleb Shannon for a 6-4 advantage.
Slippery Rock made it a one-goal game with 1:50 left in regulation before Lamoureux iced the win with an empty-netter with 50 seconds remaining, finishing assists from Barstead and Shannon.
Liberty dominated Slippery Rock in the rematch, outshooting its host by a 52-21 count in a 9-2 triumph.
"Saturday night was a very satisfying win," Lowes said. "It was the same opponent, but a night-and-day difference. The first night looked like the first game of the season. We were really rusty. The second game looked like a team we'd want going to into the playoffs."
The Flames got balanced scoring in Saturday's rematch, which also started around 10 p.m., netting three goals in each period.
"We had goals from all four lines on Saturday," Lowes said. "We were able to run a deep bench and get good production. Our fourth line had two goals and we started to see a little more production from our top line of (Danny) Logan, Freymond, and Docksteader. They had a breakout weekend and got us a couple goals when we really needed them in the middle of Friday's game."
Junior forward Tim Bierema and senior forward Ben Freymond scored twice in the second game while Lamoureux and graduate forward Peter Kazmierczak, who started the Flames' scoring on Friday, both netted their second goals of the weekend before Docksteader capped the scoring with his third goal of the series.
Freshman goalies Clayton Pierce and Jarrett Epp earned the wins in net, with Pierce making 34 saves in the opener and Epp stopping 19 shots in the second game.
Liberty will travel to Reisterstown, Md., on Friday to play one game against Stevenson, an NCAA Division III school, before returning to the LaHaye Ice Center to host Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey (MACH) North Division opponent Rider on Sunday. The puck will drop for both games at 2 p.m.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
