Liberty Flames Men’s hockey defeats Delaware in two-game weekend series 7-5 and 4-1

When the Liberty Flames men’s hockey team got onto the ice, the crowd roared with excitement. On Friday and Saturday night Feb. 15-16, the Flames played against the University of Delaware in games filled with nonstop anticipation.

Liberty has played Delaware before this season, and the previous games were close, so before this game started, the Flames knew they needed a tight defense and to be their best on the ice. As the first period started, it was filled with tight defense on both teams, neither giving up a goal easily.

“Emotions were running high,” Head Coach Kirk Handy said.  “We have to find a way to channel those in a better direction so we can challenge them.”

Along with emotion running high on both teams, there were about 13 separate penalties given out just to the Flames over the course of the game. Handy said this is where his team let Delaware back in the game by using them to their advantage.  

Junior Brock Thompson played a good game Friday night, scoring three goals and multiple assists. He did not let Delaware win without a strong fight, and he finished with the last shot in the third period bringing the score to 7-5 in Liberty’s favor.

“Josh Hamilton and Quinn Ryan put me in a good spot and helped me get those goals,” Thompson said. “They always set it up and I was just in the right spot. …We needed on at the end, and Quinn put it in a good spot, and it was a good play.”

The second period was where things in the game got dicey keeping not only the fans, but the players on their toes as well. The vuvuzelas helped keep things loud and kept pushing the Flames to make this a good game for the fans.  

Throughout the multiple penalties in the second, the tensions stayed high as many players got 10 minutes in the box for misconduct. The team finished strong and did what they could to score and to keep the game in the Flame’s hands. 

“Brock had a really strong game for us,” Handy said.  “Brock’s a goal scorer and he’s shooting a lot, and that usually makes it a positive thing for us. Bochinski’s been a consistent player for us, and we need those guys to play well.” 

The Flames brought home the win, even through the high tensions and all the penalties given out on both teams, but the Flames were missing many players due to injury. Cole Gammer, Josh Fricks, Sam Carlson and Zechariah Roberts were all missing in action on Friday night on the ice due to different injuries.  

“There were parts of our game that were sloppy,” Handy said when discussing the smaller team. “We just have to tighten it back up.”

The Flames will play again on Feb. 22 and 23 against Adrian College.