DII Flames complete sweep of Hokies on road, but take step back

Saturday, October 18

Blacksburg, VA

6:30 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Virginia Tech

Senior forward Josh Martin is shrouded by a Virginia Tech player in Friday night's opener at the LaHaye Ice Center. (Photo by Grace Greer)

DII Flames complete sweep of Hokies on road, but take step back

10/18/2025 11:54:00 PM | Men's D2 Hockey

Liberty was called for undisciplined penalties and didn’t play with a sense of urgency against the Hokies, but still came away with a 5-1 win.

While Liberty University's ACHA Division II men's hockey team completed its sweep of rival Virginia Tech with a 5-1 triumph Saturday night at Lancerlot Sports Complex in Vinton, Va., Flames Head Coach Christian Garland was not altogether pleased with the performance.

"I was not impressed with our game tonight. It definitely wasn't as clean as yesterday," Garland said of Friday night's 4-0 win at the LaHaye Ice Center. "We were more dialed in with how we knew we had to play to win. Tonight, we came out really flat. We are happy to win two games, but I am not happy with how we did it tonight. We took undisciplined penalties. We started coasting in the third period and let them hang around. We were content to rest on our laurels and disrespectful of our opponent."

Virginia Tech (4-3-1) outshot Liberty (5-8) by a 37-32 margin and freshman goalie Andrew Young made 36 saves to earn the win in net.
"Andrew played solid again, on back-to-back nights," Garland said. "We should have put a lot more in and not even allowed one. Another shutout would have been really big for us. There are a lot of things we still need to work on."

Sophomore forward Cooper Fredericks scored the only goal of the first period three seconds after the Flames' second power play of the period ended, finishing feeds from senior forward Mark Padgett and freshman defenseman Luke Russell with 7:29 remaining.

"We were lucky to get out of the first period and have a lead," Garland said. "We didn't allow a single power play goal this weekend, even after taking those undisciplined penalties. We did have a couple power-play opportunities in the first period, and we did gain a fair amount of momentum from that because we came out flat."

Fredericks scored his second goal with 18:38 to play in the second period off assists from Russell and sophomore defenseman Nick Attiliis. Freshman forward Drake Perham, who assisted three of the Flames' four goals on Friday night, netted his first goal at Liberty at the 5:56 mark, finishing feeds from Padgett and junior forward Caleb Burchett.

With just 55 seconds left in the period, Attiliis got his first goal for the Flames by putting away passes from freshman defenseman Glen Farmer and sophomore forward Ben Kovac.

Then in the third, Russell capped the scoring at the 8:01 mark off assists from senior forward Josh Martin and sophomore forward Anthony Emme.

"We were up 5-0 with 5:00 left, and we gave up a goal that we shouldn't have allowed," Garland said. "Our emotional maturity is not where it needs to be yet. We need more experience."

Liberty will return to the LaHaye Ice Center for a series against Miami (Ohio) University on Friday at 10:15 p.m. and Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

"Historically, Miami is really skilled," Garland said. "They are always a really good team. Last year at home, we won the first game in a shootout, and they beat us in the second game. We need to come ready to go. We've got a lot to work on."