Liberty University Club Sports
Keene State College
DII Flames stay atop regional rankings with 2-1 regular season-ending road swing through New England
2/15/2023 4:35:24 PM | Men's D2 Hockey
Liberty University’s ACHA Division II men’s hockey team concluded regular-season play and remained at No. 1 in the Southeast Region rankings after going 2-1 on its trip through New England over the weekend. The Flames (26-4-3) stayed atop FGCU in the rankings with wins over Keene State (N.H.) College, 4-2 on Friday, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (N.Y.), 9-3 on Sunday, after dropping a 3-1 decision at UMass-Amherst (18-7-1), the No. 1-ranked team in the Northeast Region, on Saturday.
Against Keene State (16-7), a team Liberty swept at the LaHaye Ice Center on Jan. 27-28, Liberty overcame a scoreless first period and trailed twice in the second to score the game’s final three goals, including two on the power play by freshman forward Thomas Kayner and freshman defenseman Nathan Mulder in the third. They assisted freshman forward Richard Indermill on the Flames’ first goal in the second period before sophomore wing David Hauke tied the game at 2 in the final three seconds of the period by finishing a feed from graduate forward Josh Malin.
Liberty outshot Keene State, 24-18, and sophomore goalie Lane Skon made 16 saves to record the victory.
After another scoreless first period, this time against UMass-Amherst at the historic Mullins Center in downtown Boston, Liberty allowed a power play goal to its host before sophomore forward Jared Matley received a pass from freshman defenseman Connor Diem and tied it with 5:23 left in the second stanza. However, the Minutemen shut the Flames out the rest of the way and added two goals in the third, the last an empty-netter with three seconds on the clock.
UMass-Amherst outshot Liberty 42-30, but Skon kept the Flames in the game with 41 saves in the loss.
Finally, in Sunday’s 9-3 triumph at RPI in the Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y., Liberty netted two goals in the first period, three in the second, and four in the third.
After giving up a shorthanded goal five minutes after the opening faceoff, Indermill tied it off assists from Kayner and Mulder at the 7:57 mark and graduate defenseman Alex Norwinski gave them a 2-1 lead off feeds from freshman forward Mike Padgett and Matley 3:39 later.
RPI responded with back-to-back goals, the last on a power play, to seize a 3-2 advantage early in the second period before the Flames netted the game’s final seven scores — by sophomore forward Roman Lamoureux, Kayner on a power play, a natural hat trick by Padgett spanning the second and third periods, and single scores from Malin shorthanded and freshman defenseman Logan Johnson, off an assist from Padgett.
Liberty outshot RPI, 32-30, and senior goalie Stephen Sanders made 27 saves.
No longer affiliated with the Mid-Atlantic College Hockey conference, and with a bye through the Southeast Region tournament, Liberty will await its seeding and pool-play matchups for the March 17-21 ACHA DII National Championships in Marlborough, Mass.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
