Liberty University Club Sports
Minot State University
No. 4 Beavers defend home ice, complete sweep of No. 3 Flames
10/17/2021 1:09:00 AM | Men's D1 Hockey
Penalties and untimely turnovers put Liberty University’s ACHA Division I men’s hockey team on its heels in Saturday night’s series finale against Minot State, which completed a sweep of the Flames with a 5-2 upset at Maysa Arena.
In a showdown between the Nos. 3- and 4-ranked teams in the nation and a rematch of last season’s national championship semifinal won by the Beavers, Minot overcame an early 1-0 deficit at the end of the first period by scoring the first three goals of the second to seize control.
“I thought we had a good start, and had some good jump, led by the guys on the line of Devin Melice and Zak and Nate Albers, who had a solid game for us tonight,” Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy said. “What ended up hurting us was the turnovers that we had and not getting pucks in deep. We turned the puck over in the neutral zone, and they transitioned back on us and scored a couple times. Playing good teams, when you turn the puck over, it’s going to end up in the back of your net. That is something we need to learn from.”
Liberty freshman defenseman Matt Berezowski scored the game’s first goal, slipping the puck past Minot goalie Jake Anthony off assists from both Albers brothers with 8:57 left on the first period.
“That line had a wonderful shift, and (Berezowski) had a beautiful low shot that beat the goalie,” Handy said.
But the Beavers (4-0) netted the equalizer with 13:58 left in the second period when Jordan Robertson finished a feed from defenseman Eric Soar past Liberty junior goalie Hunter Virostek (25 saves). Less than three minutes later, forward Carter Barley recorded the game-winner for Minot unassisted, and 4:37 after that, Jared Hamm put away passes from forward linemates Reece Henry and Landyn Cochrane to give the Beavers a 3-1 advantage.
The Flames (6-2) showed some life, drawing within 3-2 on a goal by junior forward Brett Gammer at the 3:50 mark off an assist from senior defenseman Colin Baird.
“That was a nice transition pass from Baird in the neutral zone, and Gammer went in and scored a nice goal on a shot between the defenseman’s legs that went in under the goalie’s arm,” Handy said.
Then, after surviving having three players in the penalty box at the same time early in the first period, Liberty allowed the game’s only power-play goal with 1:59 left in the second when forward Davis Sheldon doubled the Beavers’ lead to 4-2 by putting away assists from Cochrane and Robertson.
“It was one of those games, it was a frustrating game to play,” Handy said, noting that Liberty was whistled for 11 penalties compared to just five for Minot. “We weren’t getting the calls I thought we deserved, and we had to battle all night. We gave up four goals in the second period, which is not the standard we want. We made it 3-2 and were coming back, and they score less than two minutes later and we’re fighting it again. It was a disappointing night for us.”
Minot forward Jake Bestul capped the scoring off assists from linemate Josh Pederson and Soar with 16:08 remaining in regulation. For the second straight night, following Friday’s 6-4 win, the Beavers had different players score each of their goals. Minot, the 2018-19 national champion and 2020-21 runner-up, improved to 10-2 against Liberty in their all-time series that started in 2012.
The Flames will conclude their week-long road trip with a first-ever series with the Jimmies at Wilson Arena in Jamestown, N.D., with games set for 8 p.m. EST on Monday and Tuesday.
“We believe in our players, believe in the guys in our locker room,” Handy said. “We have to make some adjustments here as we go into Monday’s game (at Jamestown). We have to focus on our team and how we execute. We’ve got to fine-tune the machine.”
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
