Liberty University Club Sports
Minot State University
No. 7 Flames bury No. 1 Beavers with five unanswered goals
11/22/2024 8:55:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey
Liberty recorded two power-play goals and two key penalty kills behind sophomore goalie Konrad Kausch's 31 saves and ended Minot State's five-game winning streak in the series.
With its back against the wall, Liberty University's No. 7-ranked ACHA Division I men's hockey team rallied from behind for the second game in a row in the Maryville Showcase, this time rallying from a 2-0 deficit late in the second period to stun No. 1 Minot State, 5-2, Friday afternoon at the Maryville University Hockey Center.
"It was a gutty performance, and I'm proud of our guys," Head Coach Kirk Handy said. "We're down 2-0 and our guys dug in and played hockey tonight, limiting our distractions. Any time we can do that, we are going to put ourselves in a good spot. We were not going to beat ourselves."
The Flames (11-5-2) improved to 4-20 all-time against the three-time ACHA DI National Champion Beavers, winning for the first time in six meetings dating back to Feb. 24, 2023. On that night, Liberty ended an 11-game skid in the series with a 5-1 win over Minot, also ranked No. 1 at that time, at the LaHaye Ice Center.
The Flames were without senior forward and head captain Sam Feamster and sophomore forward Ryan Finch on Friday, with both serving one-game suspensions for fighting at the end of Thursday's 2-1 triumph over Maryville. Freshman forward Michael DeBrito was sidelined by injury.
Liberty netted two power-play goals on three opportunities and stopped two of three power-play chances by the Beavers (14-4-1). Minot did convert on its first man advantage, with defenseman Matthew Yakubowski firing a seeing-eye shot from the point through traffic past Flames sophomore goalie Konrad Kausch into the lower-left corner of the net.
The Beavers built a 2-0 advantage at the 14:00 mark of the second period when Trenton Curtis gathered the rebound of Joey Moffatt's shot from the right circle and converted the putback in the left crease.
With 7:30 remaining in the second and the Beavers on a 5-minute major power play, they nearly padded their 2-0 lead when forward Reid Arnold split the Flames' defensemen as he skated down the slot and hit a post with a point-blank shot in front of Kausch.
Moments later, freshman forward Hayden DeMars intercepted a drop pass in the offensive zone but Minot State goalie Jake Anthony denied his shorthanded chance near the left post. After regaining possession of the puck, the Beavers launched a counterattack, and Kausch made perhaps the best save sequence of the season so far.
Joey Moffatt received a long outlet pass from Anthony and skated the puck along the left boards before sending a crossing pass to defenseman Logan Rands slicing down the slot. Kausch blocked his backhand try at ice level by diving with his outstretched arm before blocking Moffatt's follow in the left crease with his chest and Rands' second putback with his pads as he regained his footing.
Liberty outshot Minot by a 40-37 margin, and Kausch made 35 saves in the win.
"He was fantastic tonight," Handy said. "He played really well, and I thought he was a difference maker tonight. They outplayed us in the first period and he held us in the game and made some incredible saves on the five-minute power play."
Then, after Kausch made a couple more clutch saves to kill off the remainder of the 5-minute major, the Flames struck quickly on the other end to cut the deficit to 2-1 at the 4:25 mark. Freshman forward Kal Essenmacher won a right-circle faceoff to DeMars who sent the puck behind the net to sophomore forward Mason Smith in the left corner. Smith slipped a pass through the left circle to DeMars who tapped it back to Essenmacher, who beat Anthony with his shot from the slot.
The Flames ended the period on a power play and capitalized on the equalizer in spectacular fashion when graduate forward Jackson Vercellono gained control of a loose puck at the red line and got past a defenseman with a dazzling toe drag move across the blue line. Using a defenseman as a screen, he knotted the score at 2 just 3.2 seconds before the second intermission by ripping a right-circle wrist shot inside the left post.
Liberty carried that momentum into the third period and didn't let the Beavers get it back.
The Flames seized the lead with 17:45 remaining in regulation when DeMars followed Essenmacher's shot in the left circle blocked by defenseman Eric Krywy and threaded the putback inside the left post as the injured Krywy slid back into the crease.
Finally, with Liberty back on the power play and freshman forward Tucker Shields providing a screen in the right crease, senior forward and alternate captain Jacob Kalandyk launched a shot from along the right boards that sneaked through the five hole for a 4-2 advantage.
The Beavers tried to force a goal on a power play with just under five minutes to play when Arnold crashed into Kausch and dislodged the cage as he punched the puck across the goal line. The goal was disallowed with no goalie interference called.
Minot pulled Anthony for the final two minutes, and the Flames put the victory on ice with an empty-netter when freshman forward Mac Ratzlaff rifled in a rebound from along the left boards at the 1:32 mark after Vercellono's long clear struck off the left post.
Liberty will conclude the Maryville Shootout by facing No. 16 Arizona on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. EST, streamed live on Maryville Hockey's YouTube channel.
"Two games down and we have a huge game tomorrow," Handy said. "We wanted to approach this like the national tournament. Playing against all quality opponents, for us to be able to play three quality games in a row will be huge for us."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
Jacob Kalandyk, who scored Liberty's fourth goal, pumps his fist in last season's opening Midnight Mayhem loss at the LaHaye Ice Center.
