Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
DII Flames improve to 25-2 with wins at UMBC, Maryland
2/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's D2 Hockey
Seeking to nail down its No. 1 Southeast Region ranking and clinch its first-ever auto bid to the ACHA Division II National Championships, March 18-22 at West Chester, Pa., Liberty University's ACHA DII men's hockey team doubled up host UMBC, 6-3 on Friday night and won its first of two games at Maryland, 9-1 on Saturday night.
The Flames (25-2), coming off their first-ever sweep of Florida Gulf Coast last weekend in their home finales at the LaHaye Ice Center, overcame an early 1-0 deficit against the Retrievers to tie Friday's contest after the first period before netting three more goals in the second and two in the third.
Liberty's top line was extremely productive over the weekend, racking up nine goals in the first two days, as Devon Docksteader had a hat trick and two assists, fellow junior forward Ben Freymond distributed five assists, and senior forward Paul Ingles added four assists and a goal to ignite the attack against UMBC.
"They're all three in top (35) in the country (in ACHA DII) in scoring, so they're a big part of our offensive production, for sure," Flames Head Coach Chris Lowes said of Docksteader (30G, 20A), Freymond (23G, 34A), and Ingles (16G, 30A).
Graduate forward Christian Garland scored off feeds from Freymond and Docksteader and sophomore defenseman Sean Bakker converted assists from senior forward Peter Kazmierczak and junior forward Jordan Barstead to round out the scoring.
Graduate goalie Blair Bennett made 28 saves as the Flames outshot their hosts, 39-31.
Then against the Terrapins, the Flames opened a 4-0 lead after the first period and freshman goalie Blake Scott made 26 saves and didn't give up a goal until the final two minutes as Liberty outshot Maryland 46-27.
Freymond netted a hat trick, Garland and Ingles both scored twice, and Barstead and junior defenseman Ryan Sidun both tallied one goal to pace the attack.
"We jumped all over them," Lowes said. "We showed good depth and had solid minutes from all four lines."
Liberty didn't get any goals from its fourth line, but it allowed Lowes to give the first three lines more rest and avoid injury.
"We're trying to stay healthy this weekend over three games on the road," Lowes said.
The win improved Liberty's record in the Mid-Atlantic Conference to 7-0.
"If we win on Sunday, we'll finish 8-0 so that's our last game to put a good resume together for rankings and retain hopefully the No. 1 seed, which would punch our ticket to nationals," for a third consecutive season, Lowes said.
Scott will likely start between the pipes in Sunday's rematch with the Terrapins, starting at 4 p.m.
By Ted Allen/Staff WriterÂ
