Liberty Flames Men’s hockey loses 5-4 to Bulldogs

Flames fans packed into the LaHaye Ice Center when the reigning national champion Adrian College Bulldogs came to play the Liberty Flames Friday, Feb. 22. The No. 3 ranked Bulldogs rebounded from an early 0-2 deficit to defeat the Flames 5-4. 

Physicality defined the first period, with Liberty denying Adrian of many potential scoring opportunities. Liberty pushed the pace during the period which led to two goals — one from junior wing Brock Thompson on an assist from sophomore center Devin Pierce. The goal was Thompson’s 17th of the season.

“We came out firing,” junior forward Andy Clarke said. “We started with really good intensity, and that’s exactly what we wanted. We started exactly how we wanted to, getting the puck in deep.”

Adrian’s comeback started in the second period when they scored two goals in 30 seconds to tie the game at 2-2. Yet the Flames would remain focused. A few minutes later, freshman forward Josh Fricks scored his first of two goals to regain the lead. 

“Luckily it was quick,” Clarke said. “We almost tried to take it painless. If those are two stretched out goals, then maybe we find it a bit harder to bounce back. We had great lines that were ready to keep the pace up. We’ve got guys that are always going hard no matter whether we’re down or up.”

Fricks scored his second goal of the game early in the third period to give the Flames a 4-3 lead, but Adrian freshman forward Domenic Moore responded with his second goal of the game to tie the game at 4-4 off
a power play.

Liberty relinquished its lead when Adrian freshman defenseman Dante Raposo scored on another power play with 7:16 left in the third period. 

“The difference in the game was that we took too many penalties tonight,” Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy said. “You can’t give them opportunities like that without being burned. Those are things we can control. A lot of things were right tonight — the effort, the competition, the execution — but we can’t put them on the power play five times.”

There were a few opportunities for Liberty to tie the game late in the third period, but the Flames were unable to convert before the final buzzer sounded.

This was the third meeting between these teams this season. Adrian won the first two games last semester by a margin of 14-5. Liberty played them much closer in this game, and Handy saw this as a sign of improvement.   

“It was anyone’s game out there tonight,” Handy said. “We’ve really improved as a team (since the team’s first meetings). It’s encouraging to see out there against a great team. We have a little more refinement to do, though.” 

Liberty lost the rematch against Adrian the following day Feb. 23 4-0, with all four goals coming in the first period for the Bulldogs. The Flames look to bounce back in their final games before nationals when they take on Alabama next weekend March 1-2 in the LaHaye Ice Center.

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