Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
DII Flames heat up in third period, scorch Va. Tech, Louisville
1/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's D2 Hockey
Explosive third-period surges allowed Liberty University's ACHA Division II men's hockey team to break open 2-2 ties for back-to-back victories over Virginia Tech on Friday night and Louisville on Saturday afternoon in the Flames' first two games of the Liberty DII Showcase.
Liberty scored three unanswered goals in the final 20 minutes to upend the Hokies, 5-2, and clinch the best-of-three "Battle of the Blue Ridge" in two games before netting six more scores in the last stanza against the Cardlinals, breaking open a tie contest for an 8-2 triumph.
"Last night, it was kind of a hot goalie we were trying to solve," Flames Head Coach Chris Lowes said of Virginia Tech's Tanner Jones. "Tonight, it was just us trying to break through and finish our chances. Our goalie played well, our defense played well. Fortunately, our offense pulled through."
After getting single scores by senior forward Devon Docksteader and graduate forward Danny Logan in the first two periods against Virginia Tech, senior forward Ben Freymond capitalized twice in the third period and senior forward Jordan Barstead cashed in once to clinch the three-goal victory.
On Saturday, Liberty jumped out to an early 1-0 advantage against Louisville when Jackson Roy sent a shot from the top of the right circle through traffic past goalie Nick Nuss into the top left corner of the cage.
With Louisville on a power play with 14:15 left in the first period, Tyler Bradford one-timed a slap shot set up by Yannis Soukas past Flames goalie Jordan Epp into the top netting. Bradford put the Cardinals up 2-1 on a two-on-one fast break with Soukas, finishing a backhanded putback of his own shot from close range in the left crease 2:15 before the first intermission.
Epp kept the Cardinals from extending their lead to 3-1 by shutting down a three-on-one break before the Flames netted the equalizer on a power play. After an initial shot by Freymond, Paul Lamoureux finished a wide-open shot off a short assist backhanded in front of Nuss from fellow junior forward Tim Bierema with 8:50 left in the second.
"That's just what our team's made of, guys that are willing to take the hits to make the plays," Bierema said. "We're all willing to take the battle and that's what it takes to win."
With 15:01 remaining in regulation, senior defenseman Kaleb Shannon sent a beautiful shot from beyond the top of the left circle off a faceoff won by Bierema past the stick of Nuss into the top left corner of the netting. Just 10 seconds later, junior forward Robert Ward intercepted a puck in the defensive end and netted a backhander five-hole on a one-on-one with Nuss in the left crease.
"That's Ward, he's one of the most skilled players in the league. You get him in the right spot, he's going to bury it every time," Bierema said.
Two minutes after that, Ward stretched the Flames' lead to 5-2 before Logan, Docksteader, and Lamoureux broke it wide open with three goals in the final three minutes.
"We were able to roll three lines in the third period," Bierema said. "That's just attributed to our depth. We peppered the goalie all game and were just kind of snake-bitten the first two periods and then in the third period the floodgates finally opened up and we were able to bury quite a few."
Liberty's third and final game of the Showcase at LaHaye will be a 1 p.m. Sunday showdown with North Carolina State, which edged Louisville 8-7 in an early Saturday morning shootout before doubling up Virginia Tech, 8-4, in Saturday's first game.
"NC State's kind of an unknown," Lowes said. "They play in their league almost exclusively. It should be a good one. We need to go on a run here. We're holding onto the No. 2 spot (in the Southeast Region rankings) and it's a pretty big drop to No. 3."
The top two teams receive autobids to the March 15-19 ACHA DI National Championships in Columbus, Ohio, with the third through eighth seeds needing two win both regional playoff games to advance.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
