Senior forward Jackson Vercellono gets inside position on Ohio's Jack Glen during a Nov. 11 meeting with the Bobcats at the LaHaye Ice Center. (Photos by Brooke McDuffee)
No. 7 Flames make first of two trips to Ohio this month for series against No. 5 Bobcats
2/8/2024 9:00:00 AM | Men's D1 Hockey
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Liberty will play four of its last six games against its independent rival, including three on Ohio's compact Bird Arena ice that is 10 feet shorter than the rink in the LIC.
Liberty University's ACHA Division I men's hockey team must adjust to playing on a shorter sheet of ice when they battle independent rival Ohio University this weekend at Bird Arena in Athens, Ohio, which is 190 feet by 85 feet rather than the NHL standard 200 feet by 85 feet in the LaHaye Ice Center (LIC).
"It's a smaller rink," Flames senior forward Kris Bladen said. "It has a lower roof (and) the neutral zone's pretty small, and more compact. We know they like to play fast, and they practice on that ice and play on that ice all year, so we've just got to be ready for it. We have to simplify our game … using the wall, getting the puck in deep, and chasing it down."
Liberty will play four of its final six regular-season games against the Bobcats, including three at Bird Arena. The last will be on Feb. 22, ending Ohio's 13-game home stand before the regular-season-ending rematch back at the LIC on Feb. 24 in a rare home-and-home series.
With senior forward Kam Ottenbreit out for this weekend's series after going down with an injury in the first period of Saturday's loss to Adrian College, Liberty Head Coach Kirk Handy has shuffled his offensive lines a bit for this weekend's series.
"Kam's out and other guys will have to step up," Handy said. "Our guys can adjust. (Sophomore forward Sam) Feamster did a great job (last weekend). He competes and he works hard. We just want to be consistent in two games (this weekend). We want to make sure that we have the effort."
They'll need the type of effort that they showed in Friday night's first game against Adrian, a 4-3 win, but lacked in Saturday afternoon's rematch, a 4-2 setback that snapped its 12-game winning streak.
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DJ Schwenke chases down a puck along the boards beside fellow senior forward Brett Gammer on Nov. 11 at the LIC. Â
Flames head captain Matt Bartel and fellow senior forward Jason Foltz will be joined by freshman Ryan Finch on Liberty's second line, behind the top trio of junior Jacob Kalandyk and seniors Jackson Vercellono and Truett Olson and ahead of the third line of seniors Nate Albers, Brett Gammer, and DJ Schwenke. Feamster, meanwhile, will join Bladen and sophomore forward Mason Smith — who dropped back to support the depleted defensive corps last weekend — on the fourth line.
Scouting Preview for Games 26-27: No. 7 Liberty (17-7-1) at No. 5 Ohio University (23-8-3), Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. at Bird Arena in Athens, Ohio. Both games will be streamed live by FloHockey.
 All-time series: Liberty reclaimed a 20-19 edge with its home sweep of Ohio at the LIC. Before that, the Flames had won 14 of the previous 18 matchups, including eight of nine in the COVID-19-plagued 2020-21 season.
 Liberty Scouting Report: Despite splitting its second series against No. 2-ranked Adrian last weekend at the LIC, Liberty slipped two rungs to No. 7 in this week's national rankings. Meanwhile, Ohio moved up a spot to take the Flames' place at No. 5 despite being swept by Liberty in early November at the LIC.
The Flames will be without defensemen Grant Morton, sidelined by injury for the third time this season, and Owen Lugowski, who is out for the rest of the season with a broken bone in his hand. Â
Offensively, Kalandyk (18 goals, 4 game-winning goals, 19 assists) is the Flames' leading scorer followed by Bartel (13G, 9A), Vercellono (6G, 16A), Foltz (9G, 10A), and defenseman Kevin Bite (5G, 13A), a junior from Latvia who returns from injury this weekend.
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Sophomore defenseman Colten Kovich sets to block a shot by Ohio forward Mathieu Ovaert in front of Hunter Virostek.Â
Between the pipes, Liberty is led by graduate goalie Hunter Virostek (13-5-1, 2.69 GAA, 92.1 SP, 1 shutout), who is supported by a solid defensive corps led by juniors Nate Cox and Bite, sophomores Colten Kovich, Laz Kaebel, and Nick Pomerleau, and freshmen Reid Bogenholm and Marty Mocs, also from Latvia.
Ohio Scouting Report: The Bobcats, who have gone 8-1-1 over their last 10 games including a home sweep of Iowa State last weekend, dealt Minot State one of its three losses last season before being knocked out by Adrian in the national semifinals. For the second season in a row, the Bobcats' attack is sparked by sophomore forward Luc Reave (16G, including 5 GWG and 3 shorthanded scores, 28A) — who led the nation in scoring last season (77G, 35A) and was named both ACHA Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year. Mathieu Ovaert (13G, 21A) ranks second on the team followed by fellow forwards Noah Holt (21G, 13A) and Laker Aldridge (19G, 9A) as well as defenseman Samuel Turner (4G, 24A).
On special teams, Ohio has had success on 25.5% of its power play opportunities (26 out of 102), slightly less than Liberty (26 of 97, 26.8%) and killed off 89.5% of its penalties (38 out of 42, slightly more than Liberty (39 of 45, 84.6%).
In goal, Justin Damon (13-4-3, 2.38 GAA, 92.4 SP, 1 SO), has earned the lion's share of minutes followed by Garrett Alderman (5-0, 1.80 GAA, 94.2 SP, 2SO), former Liberty keeper Scott Bird (3-1, 2.61 GAA, 91.4 SP, 1 SO), and Max Karlenzig (1-1, 3.09 GAA, 91.2 SP, 1 SO).
Coaches:Â Handy is in his 24th season as head coach for the Flames, having guided them to seven consecutive ACHA DI National Championship tournaments and posted a career record of 536-218-33. Lionel Mauron, a former ECHL player originally from Switzerland, is in his third season as head coach for the Bobcats and has posted a 69-33-9 record. He was named the ACHA DI Coach of the Year last season after the Bobcats joined the Flames in the national semifinals.
. By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
