Flames’ upset bid of top-ranked Beavers foiled again; series moves to Minot next week

Saturday, September 23

Lynchburg, Va.

7:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Minot State University

Flames senior forward Brett Gammer clears the puck out of the defensive zone against the Beavers in last season's series at the LaHaye Ice Center. (Photo by Joel Coleman)

Flames’ upset bid of top-ranked Beavers foiled again; series moves to Minot next week

9/23/2023 11:31:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey

Liberty allowed the Beavers to rally from behind for the second straight night and win for the 15th time in the past 16 meetings in the series.

Liberty University's ACHA Division I men's hockey team seemed on the verge of turning the tables on independent rival and reigning national champion Minot State on Saturday night at the LaHaye Ice Center, rallying from an early one-goal deficit to take a one-goal lead into the second period.

However, for the second night in a row, the top-ranked Beavers (4-0) broke open a tight contest with three consecutive goals, before sealing the series sweep of the fourth-ranked Flames (1-2) with an empty-netter in the final minute of a 5-3 victory.

"I was thinking we were going to tie it up there honestly for a second," said Liberty graduate goalie Hunter Virostek, who made 48 saves and faced more than 50 shots for the second time in less than 20 hours after stopping 49 shots in the 4-2 Midnight Mayhem opening loss. "That would have been awesome. I love overtime and then I was hoping it would go to a shootout."

The Beavers, who outshot Liberty by a 2-to-1 ratio (52-26) for the second night in a row, scored first, capitalizing on a scrum around the Flames' cage when Virostek was unable to cover the puck amidst traffic. Jay Buchholz eventually slipped the loose puck across the goal line after an initial flurry of shots from point-blank range by fellow forwards Sheldin Howard and Colby Joseph.

Jacob Kalandyk, who netted the game's first goal in the opener, struck again from about the same spot atop the right circle, blasting another howitzer of a shot past Minot State goalie Jake Anthony off assists from fellow senior forward Jason Foltz and freshman forward Ryan Finch with 8:30 remaining in the first period to even the score.

Finch later put the Flames on top, 2-1, by finishing feeds from graduate forward Jackson Vercellono and senior forward Joe Clark inside the left post, under the blocker of Anthony, on a fast break at the 2:16 mark of the first period.

With 15:07 to play in the second, Virostek saved a one-on-one breakaway opportunity by the Beavers, preserving the one-goal lead.

"Hunter played fantastic," Liberty Head Coach Kirk Handy said. "He faced over 100 shots on goal this weekend and he made a couple unbelievable saves — on a breakaway and one from behind when he's turning around. Hunter's a great goalie and he battles hard every night for us."

However, with 9:15 left in the stanza, Minot made the Flames pay for failing to clear the puck out of the defensive zone when Troy Hamilton sneaked the equalizer through the left crease.

"The first two goals were really weird and scrambly," Virostek said. "I didn't know where the puck ended up at all. Those are just those garbage goals; they're greasy. They just swarmed the net and it was unfortunate, but that's the game. Then the other two were beautiful tips. It was hard to control all of those. Ideally, I would love to be able to stop them all, but sometimes, that's just how the game goes."

The Beavers seized a 3-2 lead 7:26 before the second intermission when Reid Arnold redirected assists from defenseman Logan Rands and forward Reece Henry.

"There's a lot of takeaways that we can have, positively, but there's also a lot of learning opportunities where we need to be a lot stronger in front of our own net," Handy said. "One of the struggles we had was the second period was not a good period at all for us. We looked mentally fatigued, and that showed. We got a little too complacent and got back on our heels a bit there in the second period. Sometimes, you have to create your own opportunities and we didn't do a whole lot of that."

After Finch was called for a roughing in the closing minute of the second period, Flames senior forward Brett Gammer nearly scored shorthanded, but his breakaway opportunity was snuffed under Anthony's pads.

Then, the Beavers capitalized on the power play 37 second into the third when Arnold deflected defenseman Christian Kadolph's shot from the high slot past Virostek inside the right post for a 4-2 advantage.

Liberty and Minot were each only called for one penalty on the night.

"The refs weren't really calling much, kind of just letting us play it out," Virostek said. "As far as the flow goes, it was nice to just be a majority five-on-five for that game as opposed to last night where it was just penalty after penalty."

But Virostek continued to face shot after shot, and he did what he could to keep the Flames in the game.

"It was a grudge match, for sure," he said. "They're good. They pressure hard with lots of shots … and they don't stop. If they're down, they only go harder, so if you're playing them and you're not going as hard they can catch you by surprise, so you've got to make sure you don't go on the back foot."

Virostek made a spectacular backwards sliding kick save of a wraparound shot attempt midway through the third period to keep the Flames in contention.

"I kind of … took the shortest path and the least amount of rotation and I felt it hit me and I heard the crowd and I was like, 'No way I just saved that,'" he said. "I wasn't really expecting it. I was completely turned around (for the follow) and it was behind me and I think I felt it hit me. Sometimes you get lucky."

Jackson-Vercellono — Graduate forward Jackson Vercellono assisted the last two goals for the Flames.

With 4:49 to play, the Flames drew within 4-3 when Vercellono sent a short pass from the left endline into senior forward Truett Olson in the left crease, where he chipped the puck up and over the shoulder of Anthony into the top-left corner of the cage.

"We battled back in the game, and the last 10 minutes we actually looked a little more hungry and a little more desperate to be out there," Handy said. "That line went to the net and was rewarded. Vercellono and Kalandyk were right there with (Olson), right tight around the net and winning battles low. That's something that we didn't do a lot of. That might have been the only goal we scored like that all weekend, in tight around the net. They won the net-front battles this weekend, but that was one that we won and something that we can learn from."

Unfortunately, after pulling Virostek for the final minute of play, Minot took advantage as forward Josh Pederson slipped an empty-netter between the skates and stick of a Flames defenseman with 28 seconds remaining.

The disappointing setback, their 18th in 21 battles with the Beavers, gives the Flames added motivation and incentive as they prepare to fly to Minot, N.D., for next Friday's and Saturday's series rematch in Maysa Arena, where the puck will drop at 8:30 p.m. EST on both nights.

"We're playing these games to learn who we are and continue to build who we are," Handy said. "That's part of the process we're going to go through. For us, it's learning how to compete in these games against the top teams for 60 minutes. It's a different level of focus that you have to have."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media