Liberty University Club Sports
West Virginia University
Flames open Christmas gifts early, cap semester-ending sweep of Mountaineers with 10-0 sleigh ride
12/4/2021 11:52:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey
Liberty University's No. 5-ranked ACHA Division I men's hockey team was able to start celebrating Christmas early in Saturday night's rematch with West Virginia, opening a 5-0 lead by the end of the first period en route to a 10-0 triumph and semester-ending series sweep at the LaHaye Ice Center.
"It was good to come out and have some fun, get up by a few goals and try some things we normally wouldn't try and go into the break on a good high note," said Flames senior forward Josh Fricks, who contributed a goal and two assists. "We have kept the same lines for a few weeks now, so guys are starting to jell pretty good together. Everyone gained a little confidence before the break and can come back and be ready to go for the second half."
Liberty seized a 1-0 lead with 14:24 left in the first period on a one-timed shot by sophomore forward Jason Foltz off a nice dish from Fricks in the left circle, where Foltz beat WVU goalie Jacob Hough top-shelf.
The Flames then added two goals in a span of 12 seconds to pad their lead to 3-0 with 11:20 to go in the first period, with the first coming on the game's first power play. Freshman forward Jacob Kalandyk and Fricks cycled the puck around the perimeter and set up junior forward Matt Bartel's shot from the right circle that slipped through Hough's glove and trickled across the goal line.
"We've had the power play unit together for the past few weeks now so we're starting to figure out what's open and what's not going to be open," Fricks said. "I got the puck up top and gave it to Barty and he made no mistake on the one-timer."
Seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Liberty freshman defenseman Matt Berezowski won a battle for the puck along the left boards up to sophomore forward Kris Bladen, who skated in and cut across the crease before beating Hough high with a wrist shot over his glove.
Then, moments after a successful penalty kill, Liberty extended its lead to 4-0 on a beautiful cross-crease assist from Bladen to freshman forward Joe Clark, skating down the slot for a fluid finish into the upper netting with 6:22 still to play in the period.
The Flames added one more at the 3:01 mark on a perfectly executed fast break sprung by Bartel's clearing pass out of the right corner to Foltz, who skated the puck up the right wing before feeding Berezowski in the left crease where he tucked it inside the top left corner for a 5-0 advantage.
Liberty enlarged its lead to 6-0 just 4:06 into the second period when Foltz sent a fantastic feed out of the right corner to Fricks behind the left post, where he wrapped the puck around Hough like a Christmas present.
"Foltz saw the goalie was out of place and by the time I got it and moved it, he had no chance," Fricks said. "(Foltz) sees the ice really well, he finds us when we're open, and he can put the puck in the net when he needs to."
The Flames tacked on three more in the final 8:34, the first off assists from freshman forwards Aleksandr Charin and Clark, who threaded a pass from out of the right corner across to sophomore forward Truett Olson in the left crease for an open score.
Then, just over two minutes later, sophomore forward DJ Schwenke cleaned up the rebound of graduate defenseman Chaydan Lauber's shot from the top of the left circle from right out in front, making it 8-0 at the 6:33 mark. With Liberty on a penalty kill less than three minutes after that, Schwenke struck again with a shorthanded score off an assist from sophomore forward Kam Ottenbreit, this time capping a spectacular breakaway up the left wing with a backhanded finish in the right crease past Hough in a butterfly spread, stretching the lead to 9-0.
Following a scoreless 17:45 stretch, the Flames reached double figures in scoring for the third time this season on an action-packed sequence sparked by Charin. The freshman from Moscow leveled a Mountaineer with a check at center ice before possessing the puck off the boards and sending a crisp outlet pass to Olson, who skated across the red line and around a WVU defenseman before deftly depositing a backhand past Hough inside the left post.
Liberty outshot the Mountaineers (8-12) by a 44-18 margin, with 11 of the visitors' shots coming in the first period. Flames goalie Cédric Le Sieur made a clutch save of a WVU steal and one-on-one chance through the slot to preserve a 3-0 lead and made 18 stops for the game to improve to 3-1 with his second shutout.
Liberty's 9-0, 10-0 sweep was almost identical to its 2017-18 regular-season-ending 9-1, 10-1 sweep of the Mountaineers the last time the two teams met. That extended the Flames' program-record 19-game winning streak, which ended with a 2-1 loss to Central Oklahoma in the first round of the ACHA DI National Championships. Saturday's win against WVU increased Liberty's all-time series advantage to 16-0.
Fricks said the showcase of offensive firepower was encouraging, though the Flames left many goals unfinished.
"We just need to keep working on burying our chances we get," he said. "I think we definitely could have had more than we had, but it's good to get those chances and learn to keep burying them so when it comes to nationals we're ready to put the puck in the net."
Liberty will open the spring semester with back-to-back road trips — to Drexel on Jan. 14-15 and Stony Brook on Jan. 22-23 — before hosting UNLV at the LIC on Jan. 28-29, with the second game being the Flames' third and final "Midnight Mayhem" matchup of the season.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
