Flames junior forward Jacob Kalandyk and graduate forward Jackson Vercellono start a breakout against Adrian. (Photos by Meg Davis)
No. 5 Flames allow No. 2 Bulldogs to avenge Friday night’s loss, salvage series split
2/3/2024 6:15:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey
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Liberty dug itself into a 3-0 hole in the third period before battling back to make it a game, but leaving plenty of room for improvement before the March 7-12 ACHA DI National Championships.
The buzz around the LaHaye Ice Center over the weekend reverberated around campus with No. 2-ranked Adrian College in town for a late-season clash with Liberty University's No. 5-ranked ACHA Division I men's hockey team.
Both the Bulldogs and the Flames had extended winning streaks snapped as Liberty ended Adrian's 18-game run of success in Friday night's series opener before the Bulldogs doused the Flames' streak at 12 on Saturday afternoon with a 4-2 victory that salvaged the second series split between the two teams this season.
Freshman defenseman Nick Pomerleau transitions the puck out of the defensive zone.
Following Friday's sellout crowd on hand for the annual Star Wars Night, Liberty's spirit-filled fans came out in droves for the early-afternoon rematch on CFA Youth Day, but they couldn't kindle another barn-burning upset for the home team.
"I felt we came out a little flat," Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy said. "We just got caught on our heels. We played well last night, we played OK today. There's all kinds of things we can use as excuses, we're banged up. But at the end of the day, we need to learn how to win these games. It's figuring out on those back-to-back days like we're going to have at nationals, you might not have a 24-hour rest period. You might have a 16-hour rest period and we've got to figure out a way (to win)."
The Bulldogs turned the tables on the Flames after Friday night's opening loss, seizing a 3-0 second-period lead on Liberty, replicating the lead the Flames held against Adrian in the second period on Friday night.
"We knew from past times playing them that after we beat them, they're going to come out flying," Liberty senior forward Kris Bladen said after the Bulldogs outshot the Flames 48-26 for the game.
With 12:30 left in the first period, the Bulldogs (28-3-1) struck first when second-leading scorer Sam Spaedt tipped in defenseman Ethan McLaughlin's shot from the left point past Liberty graduate goalie Hunter Virostek to give Adrian a 1-0 lead.
The Flames took their first penalty 25 seconds later on a high-sticking by junior forward Jacob Kalandyk but the Bulldogs, who converted two of their four chances in Friday night's 5-4 loss, couldn't capitalize.
However, when Liberty went on its first power play moments later, Adrian generated more shorthanded scoring opportunities off of it than the Flames did with the man advantage.
"Good teams you can't keep putting on the power play," Handy said. "It's a good lesson for us to learn before nationals. The other lesson to learn is you might only get one or two power plays per game."
Back-to-back elbows to the head of two Bulldogs by sophomore defenseman Laz Kaebel around the red line resulted in a five-minute non-releasable penalty with 30 seconds left in the first period.
The Flames nearly escaped the extended penalty unscathed until, with just 1:02 remaining on the five-minute major, Matthew DeCesare skated in from the left side and slipped a backhand past Virostek through the five hole for a 2-0 advantage with 16:31.
"We thought we did our best to weather the storm, but they got a nice tip in front that kind of broke it open and the power play goal on the five-minute call set us back a little more than we wanted," Bladen said. "They've got some skilled guys over there. We had really good penalty kill structure and they weren't entering our zone, but then they got one off the rush."
Spaedt hit a post with a wrist shot from point-blank range seconds later and the Flames extinguished the remainder of the penalty.
At the 10:06 mark, just before the midpoint of the match, Bulldogs forward Hunter Allen skated through the left crease and backhanded the rebound of his own blocked shot from the slot past Virostek to boost the Bulldogs' lead to 3-0.
The Flames celebrate the first of their two goals on the afternoon against Adrian.
At the 3:00 mark, the Flames cashed in on a power-play chance to trim the deficit to 3-1 when senior forward Truett Olson backhand batted a short pass from graduate forward Jackson Vercellono from the left endline into the back of the net from close range.
"It was a great goal by Truett," Handy said. "That's something you expect from a baseball player."
Four minutes into the third period, Liberty unleashed a rally of shots around the cage, but Bulldogs goalie Noah DeCottognies repelled them all and Adrian countered with a goal by Sebastian Smith on a rebound of a shot by Matteo DiGiulio at the 13:51 mark that padded its lead to 4-1.
Bladen intercepted an outlet pass along the left boards and skated into the left circle before beating DeCottognies over his pad, blocker-side to cut the Bulldogs' advantage back to two goals, 4-2, at the 13:21 mark.
"I just tried to start the third period not stopping moving my feet and got rewarded and thought we got some good momentum for the rest of the boys moving forward," Bladen said. "It's tough to go down 3-0, but the third period we came out flying and we didn't give up the whole game. Unfortunately, it fell a little bit short. That's a great team with a lot of structure, so there's not a ton of negatives to take from this weekend."
The Flames (17-7-1) travel to Ohio for the first of two road trips to play the No. 6-ranked Bobcats in Athens, Ohio, with a home-and-home series set for the regular-season finale on Feb. 22 at Ohio and Feb. 24 back in the LIC.
"The national championship is won in March, and we play quality opponents the rest of this semester," Handy said. "That's why we do what we do; we want to consistently play the best so that we learn. There are some things we've got to refine and get better to work on the goal that we've had since the beginning of the year … things that I believe are controllable, that we can fix as we kind of move forward here, and I think we'll be in a good spot in March."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
