Flames get early-season wake-up call from Eagles in 4-3 upset loss

Friday, September 20

Lynchburg, VA

7:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Florida Gulf Coast University

Freshman forward Michael DeBrito's first goal at Liberty, on a power play with 1:32 remaining in Friday night's game at the LaHaye Ice Center, pulled the Flames within 4-3. (Photos by KJ Jugar)

Flames get early-season wake-up call from Eagles in 4-3 upset loss

9/20/2024 11:15:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey

Liberty lost its first-ever meeting with Florida Gulf Coast University, a four-time ACHA Division II national champion, before a sold-out LaHaye Ice Center crowd.

Gallery: (9-20-2024) DI men's hockey vs. FGCU

Liberty University's No. 5-ranked ACHA Division I men's hockey team allowed ACHA DII Florida Gulf Coast University to capitalize on multiple fast-break chances and emerge with a chippy 4-3 upset in front of a sell-out College For A Weekend (CFAW) and Family Weekend crowd, Friday night at the LaHaye Ice Center.

"It's easy to leave a game tonight disappointed, and I hope everyone is, but there's hope and there's going to be hope next week," Head Coach Kirk Handy said after the Flames slipped to 1-1. "It's a mentality. We think it's going to come easy and it's not. Everyone comes here, whether it's a Division II team or a Division I team, it doesn't matter. That's a really good team over there (but) there's a lot of offensive firepower in there that we didn't get going. That's something that we're going to have to figure out how we can be better."

Freshman forward Kal Essenmacher sparked the Flames' attack in the first period by receiving assists from defensemen Nate Cox and Nick Pomerleau down the center of the ice and skating in for a one-on-one finish into the upper netting past FGCU goalie Keegan Wise for a 1-0 lead at the 11:57 mark.

"Actually, (Essenmacher) didn't play (in last Friday's season opener against North Carolina), but he played very well tonight," Handy said. "He made the most of every minute he played tonight and had a really good Liberty debut."

With 28 seconds remaining on a five-minute major and game misconduct assessed to freshman forward Mac Ratzlaff, the Eagles capitalized on a point-blank finish by Jack Cohen off an assist from Aiden McCarthy, tying the contest at 1-1 with 5:53 to play in the second period. Then, just 52 seconds later, Shane Murphy slammed home a fast-break feed across the crease from Jaiz Barner to put FGCU on top, 2-1.

"We took way too many penalties and the second period was very disappointing," Handy said after the Flames were assessed four infractions for 11 minutes, more than half of the 20-minute period. "That takes away the momentum of the game and we got what we deserved tonight. We deserved to be on the wrong side of this game tonight and hats off to them. They played well. We didn't play well tonight. We have to be better, but we have to be way more disciplined."

While their penalty kill was sharp for a second straight week, the Flames' struggles on the man advantage continued in the first two periods as they were unable to convert on either of their chances despite rotating in multiple power-play units.

Liberty did manage to retie the contest at 2-2 just 1:04 before the second intermission when graduate forward Jackson Vercellono, skating through the slot, deflected Pomerleau's shot from along the left boards past Wise.

But in the third period, the Eagles came out buzzing offensively, maintaining puck possession in Liberty's end for the majority of the first 10 minutes with junior goalie Nicholas Bernstein making several critical saves.

"We didn't play our A, B, C, or D game tonight," Handy said. "I might give us a D, but it was pretty much all Nick Bernstein and Kal Essenmacher, who I thought played great. There were a ton of passengers tonight."

FGCU reclaimed the lead for good with 5:13 remaining in regulation when Cohen chipped a crossing pass from Jordan Comilla up and over the pads of Bernstein with the puck trickling across the goal line. Then, after a powerful check along the right boards sprung the puck loose, the Eagles swooped in for a fast-break finish by Colin Anna off a quick assist from Ryan O'Halloran for a 4-2 advantage with 3:39 to play.

With Liberty on the power play, Handy pulled Bernstein to give the Flames a 6-on-4 advantage, and they got one goal back when Pomerleau skated through the high slot and found freshman forward Michael DeBrito in the right circle where he lifted a top-shelf wrist shot past Wise for his first goal as a Flame with 1:32 remaining in regulation.

After surviving a couple near misses on empty-net chances by the Eagles, Liberty played the final 19 seconds with a two-man edge after a tripping penalty against FGCU, but the Flames were unable to force overtime by netting the equalizer. The Eagles outshot the Flames by a 43-33 margin for the game and Bernstein made 39 saves.

"It's disappointing, but we all got ourselves into this mess tonight and we'll all work through it next week together," Handy said. "It's a team game. I like our team a lot and our team's going to be able to be in a good spot at the end of the year, but right now, we're going to have to work through this little bump in the road."

After FCGU (1-0) challenges Liberty's DII team on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at the LIC, the Flames will travel to former ESCHL rival Pittsburgh for their ACHA DI season-opening series next Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

"You don't want to hit the panic button, and we're not going to hit the panic button, but we're going to hit the reset button," Handy said. "I think for us, let's get back to work next week and let's continue to take our team where we know we we're going to go. A road trip comes at a great time for that. I'm confident in our team and in our leadership group in there and we're going to be in a good spot, so we're just going to have to continue to work to get better."

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