Liberty University Club Sports
Stony Brook University
Flames shut out for first time in a year at former ESCHL rival Stony Brook
1/22/2022 8:17:00 AM | Men's D1 Hockey
Very little went the way of Liberty University’s ACHA Division I men’s hockey team in Saturday night’s series opener against Stony Brook at The Rinx on Long Island, N.Y., as the eighth-ranked Seawolves exacted a measure of revenge in their rivalry between former ESCHL powers with a 5-0 upset of the No. 3 Flames.
“It wasn’t the way we wanted to open the second half of the season,” said Liberty Head Coach Kirk Handy, whose team outshot Stony Brook, 36-30, but was shut out for the first time since the second game of their series against NCAA Division I Long Island University on Jan. 23, 2021, at the LaHaye Ice Center. “We just didn’t have the jump tonight that’s needed and we wanted to have. We just didn’t play well. Overall, our execution tonight wasn’t there. We know we have the ability to play a lot better.”
Stony Brook (17-4-2) scored two goals in the first five minutes of the first period and two more in the opening seven minutes of the second — the last on a five-on-three power-play opportunity — to seize a commanding 4-0 advantage before adding one more in the final three minutes of the third.
The Seawolves struck first on a two-on-one counterattack with forward Charles Peck taking a pass across the slot from Joseph Slevin and beating Flames goalie Hunter Virostek glove-side with his shot inside the right post just 1:24 after the opening faceoff.
Slevin then sent a pass across the crease to Matthew Minerva slicing through the right circle for a one-timed finish and a 2-0 Stony Brook lead with 15:19 left in the first period.
“Then, we had an opportunity with two power plays in a row and weren’t able to get anything out of those,” Handy said. “Going down in the stretch, our power play and PK have to be operating at a high level. We need to execute better (on Sunday).”
The Flames’ PK killed 5-of-6 chances, but Liberty finished 0-for-5 on the power play.
Just five minutes into the second, Seawolves forward Brandon Avezov deflected a shot from the point by defenseman Matthew McDermitt past Virostek from point-blank range to extend Stony Brook’s lead to 3-0 before forward Michael Conlin scored off a backdoor pass from defenseman Brendan Pepe across the crease, with a secondary assist from Slevin, at the 13:18 mark.
“Our PK overall was solid, but we gave them two 5-on-3s,” Handy said. “We killed off the first one, but the second one they were able to score on it. We gave up six power-play chances, double the amount of chances we want to give them, so that is definitely an area that we need to clean up for (Sunday).”
The Flames and Seawolves will square off again at The Rinx with the puck drop streamed live at 3:30 p.m.
“We have to be disciplined tomorrow,” Handy said. “It comes down to discipline and execution. We have to be able to execute five on five and on the power plays we are given.”
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
