Liberty sophomore forward Josh Martin, shown in an Oct. 13 game against Lindenwood at the LaHaye Ice Center, scored a pivotal goal in Sunday's rematch with the Lions near St. Louis. (Photos by Matt Reynolds)
DII Flames split with Lindenwood over weekend near St. Louis
11/13/2023 1:05:00 PM | Men's D2 Hockey
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Liberty, ranked No. 5 in the Southwest Region, corrected first-game mistakes in Sunday's rematch to pull away for a 4-1 triumph.
Liberty University's ACHA Division II men's hockey team, ranked fifth in last week's first Southeast Region rankings, bounced back from Saturday's 3-0 loss at Lindenwood (Mo.) University to win Sunday's rematch, 4-1, at the Centene Community Ice Center, he St. Louis Blues' practice facility in Maryland Heights, Mo.
The Flames (10-4-1), who previously lost to the Lions, 5-1, in the first game of their showcase at the LaHaye Ice Center (LIC) on Oct. 13 before falling to Florida Gulf Coast University the next night, 6-5, had won five in a row before Saturday's setback.
Liberty was shut out for the first time this season and allowed Lindenwood (14-3, ranked second in the Central Region), to score one goal in each period, the first with just 1:08 left in the first period when Stanley Lucas scored off assists from fellow forward Sean McMahon and defenseman Brett Robinson.
The Lions padded their lead at the 13:49 mark of the second period when Lucas and Adam Rischbeiter assisted Mason Kruger before capping the scoring with an empty netter by McMahon set up by Lucas with 1:44 remaining in regulation.
Lindenwood outshot Liberty, 28-25, and Flames junior goalie Lane Skon made 25 saves in defeat while the Lions' Ethan Paulin-Hatch recorded 25 saves for his second shutout of the season. Both teams finished 0-for-3 on power-play opportunities.
In Sunday's rematch, Liberty turned the tables on Lindenwood by capitalizing in the final 16 seconds of its first man advantage when Thomas Kayner scored his seventh goal of the season off assists from fellow sophomore forward Antonio Vidal and sophomore defenseman Logan Starkey at the 12:31 mark.
The score remained 1-0 until the third period, when sophomore forward Mark Padgett doubled the lead off assists from Vidal and junior forward Jared Matley just 1:48 after the faceoff.
Lindenwood struck back to pull within 2-1 just over four minutes later on Rischbeiter's first goal of the season before the Flames sealed the win with goals by junior center Josh Sherwood unassisted with 4:11 remaining in regulation and sophomore forward Josh Martin on a power play off passes from Kayner and graduate defenseman Dylan Kent with 4 seconds to play.
The win gives the Flames hope to close out the semester on a successful note when they travel to Fort Myers, Fla., to face FGCU, ranked No. 2 in the Southeast Region, in Hertz Arena on Dec. 1-2.
"It was a great weekend," Liberty Head Coach Ben Hughes said. "I would rather go through more adversity now and allow that to sharpen us up for March, and to come away with a split was good. We made a couple mental mistakes in the first game and they're going to take advantage of them, but we made a really good push in the third period, when we hit a couple posts. Going into Sunday's rematch, we focused on limiting mistakes. We watched video and tweaked some things in our systems. We're really looking forward to our trip to Florida and excited to face more adversity and overcome it."
By Ted Allen/Staff WriterFlames junior forward Thomas Kayner netted Liberty's first goal of the weekend at Lindenwood to spark the second-game victory.
