Festive fans fuel Flames past Blue Hens in Midnight Mayhem opener

Friday, October 4

Lynchburg, VA

11:59 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

University of Delaware

Liberty freshman forward Brad Barker and senior defenseman Colten Kovich battle two Blue Hens along the boards as the Midnight Mayhem crowd looks on. (Photos by Ryan Anderson)

Festive fans fuel Flames past Blue Hens in Midnight Mayhem opener

10/5/2024 8:57:00 AM | Men's D1 Hockey

Liberty overcame an early 1-0 deficit to win for the 23rd time in the past 24 matchups with Delaware, 8-3, and will look to complete the sweep tonight at 7 in the LIC.

Gallery: (10-5-2024) DI men's hockey vs. Delaware Game 1

A third straight sellout crowd in the LaHaye Ice Center, fired up for the first of three Midnight Mayhem games of the season, sparked Liberty University's ACHA Division I men's hockey team to an 8-3 victory over former ESCHL rival Delaware early Saturday morning.

"It was awesome," said Flames freshman forward Michael DeBrito, who netted his first hat trick at Liberty to overtake the team's scoring lead with nine points on the season. "Getting on the ice, it's just electric right away. It was a great atmosphere and I'm really happy that the guys and I got to be a part of that."

Spurred on by the frenzied fans, action started off at a frenetic pace, with rapid-fire shots and body checks both ways as the teams rotated through line combinations with back-and-forth fast breaks. The Blue Hens finally capitalized on a quick counterattack at the 12:42 mark with Justin Guelph threading a cross-crease assist to fellow forward Ryan Rodrigues for an open-net finish in front past Liberty sophomore goalie Konrad Kausch.

"Up until that point, we had been playing pretty well," Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy said. "Delaware scores that goal and it does kind of set you back for a few minutes, but we responded 3 minutes and 15 seconds later, so that was great to see."

After making a check along the boards on the offensive end, sophomore forward Ryan Finch answered with the equalizer from close range into the top right corner off a beautiful one-timed assist from junior forward head captain Sam Feamster in the neutral zone, following an outlet pass from junior defenseman Nick Pomerleau, with 9:25 left in the first.

"We did a really good job of staying calm when we went down 1-0 pretty early, and I thought we responded well and stuck to our systems really well," DeBrito said.

Then, after battling off a check against the back boards, freshman forward Mac Ratzlaff roamed in front of the cage and deftly deflected senior defenseman Colten Kovich's shot from the top of the left circle into the upper netting past Delaware goalie Jacob Snellenburg at the 5:53 mark.

The Flames opened a 3-1 advantage with 1:45 to go in the first when DeBrito dove over a Delaware defenseman to tuck in the putback of his own blocked shot off a faceoff won by fellow freshman forward Tucker Shields.

But the Blue Hens (4-1) didn't roll over, as Guelph cut the deficit to 3-2 just 30.5 seconds before the first intermission by ripping a fast-break wrist shot past Kausch glove-side into the top-right corner.

Liberty (4-1) doubled its lead to 4-2 at the 16:32 mark of the second period when senior forward and alternate captain Truett Olson tipped senior defenseman Nate Cox's shot from the top of the right circle past Snellenburg.

The Flames then capitalized twice on a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct — assessed to Delaware defenseman William Gould after he grabbed a Liberty player's facemask — to seize control of the contest.

Freshman forward Liam Cox-Smith netted the first goal on a rebound near the right post off assists from Feamster and Finch with 14:25 to go before DeBrito scored on a snipe of a shot from the right circle set up by freshman defenseman Joe Feamster and Ratzlaff with 11:43 to play in the second period.

"That five-minute (major) was really good to swing the momentum in our favor," said DeBrito, who took the puck at the top of the circle and skated in before beating Snellenburg blocker side for his second goal. "We won the special teams battle, for sure. We didn't give up a power-play goal, so it was a great all-around effort from all the guys tonight."

"I liked our game five-on-five, but it really helps when the special teams are able to capitalize," Handy added.

Delaware wasn't done quite yet as Rodrigues beat Kausch top-shelf on a breakaway wrist shot through the slot to trim the gap to 6-3 with 8:58 to go in the second.

"The quick-strike opportunities that we were giving up are something that we're going to need to work on for sure," Handy said. "All three of their goals were scored that way."

However, Sam Feamster stretched the Flames' edge to 7-3 with a shorthanded score at the 7:00 mark, chasing down a loose puck along the right boards before cutting back in front of a Blue Hens defenseman and jamming a backhanded finish through the five hole.

"We had pretty good production on special teams tonight with the power play going 2-for-3 and Sam scoring one shorthanded," Handy said. "There's still room for improvement. It's the beginning of the year and there's still things that we want to consistently do for 60 minutes, (but) Konrad (Kausch) made some saves for us and our guys played well overall."

The Flames outshot the Blue Hens by nearly a 2-to-1 margin (53-27) and their penalty kill finished 3-on-3 on the night.

DeBrito completed his hat trick with a one-timed slapshot from the inside edge of the left circle off an assist across the slot from freshman defenseman Michael Adamek, extending Liberty's lead to 8-3 with 18:22 to go in the third.

"That was a great pass by Adamek," DeBrito said. "He's a really great player, and it's fun to be on the ice with him just because he's so deceptive in the way he moves up the ice. You've always got to be expecting the puck when he's got it."

With the Flames' defensive corps depleted by injuries to juniors Reid Bogenholm, Kevin Bite, and Laz Kaebel, Kovich — who is graduating in December and hadn't planned to play at all this season — returned to the ice to bolster the back end.

"Colten Kovich was kind enough to strap up with us tonight, so big thanks to him," DeBrito said. "He had two assists, so he had a really good night. It was just a great night all around from everybody."

The Flames and Blue Hens will return to the LIC for a 7 p.m. rematch on Saturday when Liberty celebrates its second Tropical Night with beach balls and Hawaiian leis offered to fans upon entry while supplies last.

"It's obviously going to be a grind tomorrow (night), but those guys are going to have to go through the exact same thing as we are," DeBrito said. "Just keeping it simple and using each other, just trying to make plays all around the ice, banging bodies, and sticking to our systems and I think we'll be successful. We've just got to come in with a fresh start mindset and do the exact same thing (Saturday night)."

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