Liberty University Club Sports
Stony Brook University
Power of the putback: Flames clean up around cage to finish sweep of Stony Brook
10/26/2024 10:49:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey
Liberty extended its winning streak against the Seawolves to nine by converting six goals off of rebounds around the net.
Capitalizing on multiple second chances in front of the net, Liberty University's ACHA Division I men's hockey team completed a sweep of former ESCHL rival Stony Brook with an 8-5 victory Saturday night at the LaHaye Ice Center.
"I liked our offense," Head Coach Kirk Handy said after the Flames (9-3) extended their winning streak against the Seawolves (3-4-1) to nine games. "It got a little loose, and kind of turned into a bit of a pond hockey game. We're going to have to do a better job of managing these types of games, but at the end of the day, we got two wins on a weekend. We played well today, and we just keep going from here."
Junior defenseman Kevin Bite got Liberty on the scoreboard first by putting away a putback in the left crease following a shot by freshman forward Michael DeBrito and secondary assist from sophomore forward Mason Smith with 15:43 to go in the first period.
Then at the 13:12 mark, freshman forward Kal Essenmacher chased down a lead pass from junior defenseman Nick Pomerleau along the left boards and cut back through the left circle and across the crease before tucking the puck into the open net past Stony Brook goalie Scott Barnikow.
"Beautiful goal," Handy said. "Kal has been playing very well for us. He's consistent, works hard, does the little things right, and he gets rewarded for it."
"That's what I try to do, get it to the forwards as quickly as possible and let them score because that's their job," Pomerleau added.
The Seawolves struck back on a power play when James Kozicki sniped a shot from the high slot into the top-left corner of the cage, over the blocker of Liberty junior goalie Nicholas Bernstein, to make it a 2-1 contest with 9:58 left in the first period.
Flames freshman forward Liam Cox-Smith, who had taken the penalty for roughing that led to Stony Brook's score, answered by lifting a putback from the right crease top-shelf with 5:40 to play in the period, following a shot by senior forward Jacob Kalandyk.
"We were just keeping it simple and getting pucks to the net, and our forwards banged them home," Pomerleau said.
Then, 53.8 seconds before the first intermission, with the Flames on a power play, graduate forward Jackson Vercellono ripped a shot from the high slot into the upper netting for a 4-1 advantage.
Bernstein made a sequence of three saves of dangerous shots from around the cage before Paul Desaro ripped a shot from the top of the left circle into the upper netting with 11:03 to play in the second period off a faceoff won by William Kormanik in the Flames' defensive zone, trimming the deficit to 4-2.
But after withstanding a flurry of chances by the Seawolves, Liberty went on the offensive and cashed in on another rebound chance. DeBrito had his one-on-one opportunity with Stony Brook replacement goalie Garrett Simpson rejected in front, but Vercellono was right there to punch in the rebound for a 5-2 advantage at the 6:02 mark.
Then, just over a minute later, after an initial shot by freshman forward Joe Feamster, Essenmacher knocked in an uncontested backhanded putback in the right crease.
However, when the Flames failed to clear the puck out of the defensive zone, Kormanik controlled it at the top of the right circle and rifled a wrist shot into the upper netting to make it a 6-3 contest with 3:44 to go in the second.
After Kormanik's wraparound attempt from the right side was repelled by Bernstein, Stony Brook's Alex Scimeca roofed an open putback in the left crease to make it a two-goal game at the 3:10 mark.
" It was back and forth," Pomerleau said. "They'd score, we'd score, they'd score, we'd score. Definitely, we need to clean up the D zone and work on ourselves, our own game and shut down those chances. Just working on our own game and keeping it consistent right from the first puck drop."
Smith followed shots by senior defenseman Nate Cox and Feamster for yet another rebound finish in the left crease 1:59, extending Liberty's edge to 7-4.
"It just got loose," Handy said. "In that second period from the 6:00 mark on, there were five goals in just over four minutes. The encouraging thing is our offense was strong tonight. We've just got to tighten up some areas on the defensive part of our game, especially those two goals off the faceoff. We've got to work on those."
Junior forward Thomas Kayner, a Division II call-up playing in his fourth game over the weekend between the two teams, cut into the left crease and batted the rebound of a shot by Vercellono out of the air into an open net for the Flames' final score with 8:55 to play.
"Hats off to him," Handy said. "He played well for us this weekend. It was awesome to have him up, and it's great to have him score."
Stony Brook capped the scoring with five seconds left on a power play and 2:32 remaining in regulation when defenseman Owen Larson finished an assist from Nick Newman from point-blank range in front.
Liberty will make its third road trip of the season next weekend when it travels to another former ESCHL rival, Niagara University, for games on Friday and Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Dwyer Arena in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
"I really like where our team is," Handy said. "I like where we're heading. Now we're playing some big teams, Niagara and Ohio, and then we go to the (Maryville (Mo.)) showcase before Thanksgiving. We've got some big contests ahead of us here."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video edited by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
