Hockey’s ‘Cardiac Kids’ Score Three Unanswered Goals to Complete Comeback

After a slow penalty-filled start that saw the Liberty Flames give up two goals, the men’s Division I hockey team stormed back to defeat Michigan-Dearborn 3-2 Oct. 1 at the LaHaye Ice Center.

Slow starts have been a bit of a theme to start the season for the Flames, especially in the last two games. The first period ended with a 2-0 Michigan-Dearborn lead, mimicking NC State’s 3-1 lead over the Flames in their previous game. Both games then saw the Flames fight to come back in the second period, leading Head Coach Kirk Handy to give his team the nickname “the cardiac kids.”

“That’s the cardiac kids, you know,” Handy said. “Hats off to our guys. They came back and stuck with it. I was proud of them.”

Michigan-Dearborn did not waste any time scoring. Billy Brock knocked down a pass with his glove before putting it past Liberty goalie Hunter Virostek for the first goal of the game only 36 seconds into the first period. Fans were still finding their seats as the Wolverines celebrated in the opening minute of the game. 

Penalties would become the theme of the first period, which included some four-on-four hockey. During this time, the Wolverines would double their lead on a goal by Adam Groat. Brock assisted Groat on the goal on a nice pass after Groat slipped behind the defense. 

Handy said that controlling the home stadium’s energy will be something his team will need to work on in the upcoming season.

“I think we’ve got to do a better job of figuring out the energy in the crowd. The young guys get amped up for it, and they will get better as we go,” Handy said. “We again also took way too many penalties at the beginning of the game. We were playing a lot of guys for a lot of minutes, and it showed.”

The Flames did not give up and came out of the first break firing, and, just 35 seconds in, team captain Colin Baird made the shot all the way from the blue line. A previously silent LaHaye Ice Center crowd erupted and kept the energy going the rest of the night. 

“It was fun to find the back of the net and get the period rolling,” Baird said in an interview with Liberty News. “Josh put it at the wall, and I pulled it off the wall, and it just had seeing eyes to the net. It went straight in.”

The Flames would then tie it up a minute and 13 seconds later on a goal by DJ Schwenke. Only moments later, with 17:21 left in the second period, Kam Ottenbreit won a faceoff and tracked down the puck before tapping it in the goal, giving Liberty the lead 3-2.

Throughout a scoreless third period, Michigan-Dearborn did not present much of a challenge due to its own penalty issues. Its best opportunity came after a Liberty penalty early in the period. However, the Flames had more scoring opportunities during the two penalty minutes than the Wolverines. 

The two teams played again Oct. 2 at 11:59 p.m. as part of Midnight Mayhem. It marked the first time LaHaye Ice Center was at full capacity since March 2020. The Flames won 5-2 in a match fraught with penalties. 

Next up for the Liberty Flames is a two-game series against the University of Delaware Oct. 8-9 at the LaHaye Ice Center. 

Harper is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @jharpmedia.