Liberty University Club Sports
Stony Brook University
Flames’ PK stays unscored upon at home in 3-1 series-opening win over Seawolves
11/5/2021 11:36:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey
In a battle between two of the ACHA Division I programs with the best special teams in the nation, Liberty University's DI men's hockey team extended its penalty kill success to 74 minutes without allowing a goal this season at the LaHaye Ice Center by stopping all six of Stony Brook's power play chances in Friday night's 3-1 triumph against its former ESCHL rival.
"Our penalty kill is huge, and we've been practicing that a lot," said junior goalie Hunter Virostek, who made 33 saves and improved to 7-1 as the Flames raised their record to 9-2. "It's good to shut them down when we can."
Liberty's PK unit, which has better than a 95-percent success rate this season and 100 percent at home, survived the first test, snuffing the Seawolves' five-on-three and five-on-four opportunities seven to nine minutes into the first period.
"Hunter (Virostek) played really well in the net for us and he and our PK got the job done," Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy said, noting Stony Brook was four-for-four on its penalty kills, improving to better than 94 percent on the season. "We want our power play to be better (on Saturday). We had some good looks tonight, but we want to capitalize on some of our power plays tomorrow."
With just over six minutes remaining in the first stanza, the Flames netted what proved to be the game-winning goal on a two-on-one break with junior forward Matt Bartel setting up senior forward Josh Fricks with a cross-crease pass for a point-blank finish past Stony Brook goalie Matvei Kazakov near the right post.
"Fricks had a good game for us," Handy said. "He chipped in offensively with a goal and an assist and played really well tonight for us."
Fricks set up the Flames' second goal just 14.6 seconds before the first intermission after sophomore forward Jason Foltz sent him a backwards pass out of the right corner and Fricks found graduate defenseman Chaydan Lauber cutting into the left crease by threading an assist from behind the cage for a one-timed finish past Kazakov.
"Foltz made a good cycle in the corner and I was looking for Bartel out front, but he was covered and Chaydan just found the gap and I was able to find his stick," Fricks said.
Stony Brook cut the deficit to 2-1 with a fast-break, top-shelf finish by Mike Galinski deep in the left crease off a feed from Jesse Edwards on a counterattack with 3:07 remaining in the second period.
"Two goals is nice, but they say it's the worst lead in hockey because it's just one shot and you're back down to a one-goal game," Virostek said. "But it was nice to get up two goals on them, especially in our first game back in a couple of weeks."
After killing a third penalty to start the third period, Liberty stretched its lead to 3-1 at the 18:40 mark by taking advantage of a fluke goal when sophomore Matt Berezowski's shot from the top of the left circle was blocked high into the air and landed beside Kazakov before freshman forward Jackson Vercellono stuck in the rebound of the loose puck in the right crease.
"They pushed back in the second, but we were able to weather the storm a bit and in the third grab one more and put the game away," Fricks said.
Liberty, ranked No. 3 in the ACHA, outshot No. 4 Stony Brook by a 40-34 margin and Kazakov made 37 saves for the Seawolves (9-2).
"Their goalie was really patient on shots, so if he was able to see the puck, if we weren't getting any traffic in front, he was going to stop it," Virostek said.
He said the Flames enjoyed playing at home for the first time in nearly a month.
"We've got great fans, a great student body here, and first game back, we needed to have that energy," Virostek said. "The boys were excited and we needed to keep the pace throughout the game and we can take that rolling into tomorrow."
Handy is looking forward to Saturday's rematch with the Seawolves back at the LIC, with the puck again dropping at 7 p.m.
"We have a great relationship with (Stony Brook)," he said. "It's always been a lot of mutual respect between the two programs and both teams give you their best. Both teams will be better tomorrow night."
"It's going to take another strong start," Fricks added. "We've just got to come out and play our game, not focus on what they're going to do, and stick to the same game plan as tonight."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
