No. 6 Flames catch fire late, but can’t complete sweep against No. 9 Saints

Saturday, October 19

Lynchburg, VA

7:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Maryville University

Flames junior forward and head captain Sam Feamster takes a faceoff against the Saints. (Photos by Simon Barbre)

No. 6 Flames catch fire late, but can’t complete sweep against No. 9 Saints

10/19/2024 11:41:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey

Liberty rallied from a 3-0 deficit before allowing Maryville to salvage a split for the third time in as many series after a 3-2 setback.

Gallery: (10-19-2024) DI men's hockey vs. Maryville Game 2

Liberty University's No. 6-ranked ACHA Division I men's hockey team struggled to ignite its offense early in Saturday night's rematch with No. 9 Maryville (Mo.) University before its third-period comeback bid came up short in a 3-2 setback at the LaHaye Ice Center.

"It was a great game between two top teams, two teams that are going to be there at the end of the year, and two teams that play against strong opponents night-in and night-out," Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy said. "I'm proud of our guys the way they pressed at the end."

After being outshot 11-9 in the first period and 10-9 in the second, Liberty's attack finally warmed up in the third, when it outshot the Saints, 20-5.

"We were just flat in the first two periods, and we have to be better," Handy said. "The third period's more who we want to be, and the last two periods (of Friday night's 4-0 victory), but you can't play three out of six periods against a team like this" and expect to come away with a sweep.

The Flames (7-3) did capitalize on their final two power-play opportunities of the weekend series after going zero for their first 10 against Maryville's PK..

"The power play struggled this weekend a bit," Liberty junior forward and head captain Sam Feamster said. "Credit to (the Saints). They blocked a lot of shots, got into a lot of lanes, and they're a hard-working team. In the third period, we pushed pretty hard there, and if we start like that, it's a completely different game."

Maryville forward Chad McIlwain skated from the right circle into the slot and beat Flames junior goalie Nicholas Bernstein with a wrist shot for a 1-0 advantage at the 13:39 mark.

Exactly seven minutes later, the Saints (6-3-1) doubled their advantage to 2-0 when Cameron Ware, who was screening Bernstein in front of the cage, punched the putback of Logan Gallaher's shot from the high slot into an open net.

The Flames started the second period with a successful penalty kill, with Bernstein blocking a shot from the high slot as it expired. However, given a second man advantage, the Saints stretched their lead to 3-0 after leading scorer Max Wagener took the puck from Jackson Zloty on a fast break and skated past a sliding Flames defenseman in the right circle before ripping a shot from deep in the crease past Bernstein at the 9:41 mark.

With 9:46 remaining in regulation, Laz Kaebel received a feed from fellow junior defenseman Nick Pomerleau and rocketed a shot from the top of the left circle into the upper netting, trimming the deficit to 3-1 a split second after the Flames' 5-on-3 expired.

"It was a good call by (Assistant Coach) Dan (Berthiaume) to put Laz out there," Handy said. "He had a great shot and we were able to get some energy and some life in the crowd here."

The goal ended Liberty's power play as its 5-on-4 was negated with 1:56 left on the 2:00 penalty. Still, getting on the scoreboard seemed to light a fire under the Flames as their top line of senior forwards Jacob Kalandyk and Truett Olson and graduate forward Jackson Vercellono unleashed a furious assault on the Maryville net over the next 90 seconds, but couldn't capitalize 5-on-5.

With the Flames back on the power play, they rallied back within a goal with 4:07 to go when Feamster gathered the rebound of Kalandyk's shot from the high slot and lifted a top-shelf putback over the shoulder of Saints goalie Lucas Bain (36 saves) to bring Liberty back to within 3-2.

However, Feamster was called for a crosschecking penalty on a Maryville defenseman in the crease on a stoppage of play just over a minute later, and the Flames had to play a man down until the final 59 seconds.

"Sam's battling, and I don't think he meant to do that. It was kind of instinctual, and it happened," Handy said.

After a successful penalty kill, they pulled Bernstein for a 6-on-5 edge before junior defenseman Kevin Bite lifted a backhanded high on a breakaway, and the Saints survived to salvage the third consecutive split in the series.

While playing without freshman forwards Mac Ratzlaff (injury) and Hayden DeMars and freshman defenseman Joe Feamster — who served game misconducts after engaging in fights on Friday night — may have detracted from the Flames' offensive firepower against the Saints, Handy said "It's no excuse."

"We've got to have every single body who's going here to be going," he added. "We do need to try to find some healthy bodies who can play, and then we just have to play the way we did for two periods (Friday) night and in the third period tonight."

He was happy to see the pushback in the end, though it was too little, too late.

"Our guys threw the kitchen sink at them and that's what I loved," Handy said. "We responded well in the third. We've got life in there. We've got a lot of ability in that locker room, and we're very resilient. We've just got to put it together for 60 minutes."

Feamster said the Flames will get to work in practice on Monday and start the week the way they want to start games the rest of the season.

"We're going to use this game as a learning opportunity moving forward and learn from the mistakes we made this weekend, which primarily is coming ready to play from the drop of the puck in the first, and if we do, we're going to roll," he said.

He is looking forward to a rematch with the Saints in just over a month.

"They always come hungry, wanting to beat us in our own rink," Feamster said. "We see them when we go to St. Louis (Nov. 21We'll be hungry going into that."

That will be the first game of the Maryville Showcase, before the Flames challenge No. 1 Minot State the next day and Arizona State on Nov. 23 Next Friday and Saturday, Liberty will host former ESCHL rival Stony Brook, with the puck dropping at 7 p.m. in the LIC on both nights.

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