Liberty University Club Sports
West Virginia University
Flames forwards go 'Black Friday' goal-mining in 9-0 rout of Mountaineers
12/4/2021 9:41:00 AM | Men's D1 Hockey
Following Friday's "Midnight Mayhem" matchup against Liberty University's ACHA Division I men's hockey team, West Virginia University players may have nightmares of a black Christmas — after being burned repeatedly by the Flames, donning their "Midnight" apparel in front of a sold-out, spirit-filled crowd — and visions of black cotton candy from the LaHaye Ice Center concession stands swirling inside their heads.
Freshman forward Jacob Kalandyk recorded his first hat trick and senior goalie Tyler Myers posted his first shutout of the season, a 9-0 triumph by the fifth-ranked Flames (14-4) over the visiting Mountaineers (8-11).
"It was a great atmosphere and just an awesome night all-around," Kalandyk said. "Even for warm-ups, it was packed, so it's always fun to play in front of a crowd like that where all the fans are going crazy."
"It was a fantastic crowd," Liberty Head Coach Kirk Handy added. "We had good energy and there was a good mixture of stuff (including goals, fights, and intermission entertainment) to keep the fans on their toes."
The Flames capitalized on the game's first power play with 17:36 left in the first period when junior forward Matt Bartel collected the rebound of sophomore forward DJ Schwenke's shot and fired a wide-open wrister from a sharp angle near the left endline.
"Our special teams really clicked tonight with three power-play goals, and our penalty kill was five-for-five," Handy said.
Then, less than two minutes later, WVU defenseman Brendan Bolduc was called for a five-minute major after checking Flames forward Kam Ottenbreit head-first into the back boards. Graduate defenseman Chaydan Lauber made the Mountaineers pay by taking Brett Gammer's pass from behind the cage and pocketing a top-shelf putback of his own blocked shot through the slot for a 2-0 advantage at the 11:20 mark.
"The power play came up huge," Kalandyk said. "We've been working on it a lot this week, so it was nice to capitalize on those early. We've had a lot of games where we've had to come back from a couple goals down, so it was nice to get that lead early and just keep building off of it."
Liberty extended its edge to 3-0 with 17:51 to play in the second stanza when Kalandyk finished a right-to-left-circle, two-on-one fast-break feed from freshman forward Jackson Vercellono with a slapshot into the upper netting.
Midway through the second, Myers made a great glove save of a point-blank shot by WVU after a steal in the Flames' defensive zone. Moments later, senior forward Josh Fricks capped a fast-break counterattack by roofing a wrist shot off assists from Bartel and sophomore forward Jason Foltz with 7:34 remaining in the period.
Exactly three minutes later, seconds after a Liberty penalty kill and a shifty clear by freshman defenseman Matt Berezowski, the Flames executed a perfectly timed putaway on a two-on-none rush, with Ottenbreit drawing WVU goalie Jacob Hough out of position as he skated the puck down the slot before dishing a short pass to Vercellono, who slammed home the puck for a commanding 5-0 Liberty lead.
After Fricks struck a post with his shot on a two-on-one break, he threaded a pass from behind the net to Foltz, who extended the Flames' advantage to 6-0 by skating deep into the right circle and firing a wrist shot past Hough with 16:07 to play in the third.
Less than 30 seconds later, with the Flames on the power play, Schwenke finished feeds from Bartel and Foltz from deep in the crease, chipping the puck over the goalie's glove and stretching Liberty's lead to 7-0.
Kalandyk received a cross-ice pass from Foltz, who had skated up the left wing, and padded the advantage to 8-0 with a laser of a shot from the right circle with 6:56 remaining in regulation. Then, just 42 seconds later, Kalyndyk struck again, capping his first hat trick for Liberty with a spectacular putback of Vercellono's shot from the high slot into the upper netting.
Liberty outshot the Mountaineers, 48-14, and Myers, who was selected as the Flames' first star of the game, made 14 saves.
"Tyler made the saves when he had to tonight," Handy said. "Myers is a great teammate and he hasn't gotten a lot of chances to play the first semester, so it's great to see him come in there and play well."
He was well supported by the Flames' defensemen, including its penalty kill, which has now shut out opposing power plays on 65 out of 70 chances.
"Our defensive game really stepped up this week," Kalandyk said. "We had a really good D-corps today and our offense was doing really well keeping the puck in, so we didn't really give them too much opportunity there."
He anticipates an even chippier rematch when the teams' conclude their series, and the fall semester schedule, back at the LIC on Saturday at 7 p.m.
"Losing a game 9-0 is frustrating for the other team so you never know how they may come out," Kalandyk said. "We need to stay disciplined, just keep playing our game. Hopefully, we'll finish the sweep off tomorrow and then get a nice Christmas break in and come back for the second half and finish off strong."
The Flames hope they can close out the series and the fall semester like they did the last time the two teams played, in 9-1 and 10-1 regular-season-ending maulings of the Mountaineers in February 2018.
"Overall, we're happy with the performance (tonight) and we move forward to (Saturday)," Handy added. "Our goal is to finish strong this semester, so tomorrow's a big game for us and we want to make sure that we're ready to go."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
