Minot State gets the best of men’s D1 hockey in weekend series, notching two wins

In an attempt at redemption, the Liberty men’s D1 hockey team took on its rivals and defending national champions, the Minot State University Beavers — the team that knocked the Flames out of the ACHA Final Four last season. The ACHA powerhouses met in the LaHaye Ice Center Sept. 22-23 for a two-game series, the first of which was in front of a sold-out Midnight Mayhem crowd. 

The Flames were tasked with overcoming their talented opponents in their first ACHA D1 games of the year. Liberty defeated D2 North Carolina State in their first game of the year with a decisive 7-2 victory Sept. 15. 

Hailing from North Dakota, the Beavers made the long trip down to Liberty Mountain for their ACHA season opener. Minot came off two victories the previous weekend against Canadian University U Sports programs, the Canadian equivalent to the NCAA. 

With Flames fans piling into the arena as soon as the doors opened, the LaHaye Ice Center was filled to the brim for the first Midnight Mayhem of the season. 

“It’s unbelievable,” graduate goaltender Hunter Virostek said of the crowd. “Every year it’s been electric, the fans here are amazing.” 

The Flames came out firing from the first drop of the puck at 11:59 p.m. Friday night. With bodies flying around the ice from both teams, Minot took a couple of early penalties which resulted in a Liberty power play goal by star junior forward Jacob Kalandyk at 4:54 in the first period. With an electrified crowd, the Flames seemed to have control for the time being. 

However, the Beavers settled down and played a fast and physical, but smart game. Generating scoring chances and sending Liberty back on their heels, the Beavers netted two goals in five minutes to take the lead towards the end of the first period. 

Minot carried this momentum into the second, scoring a goal one minute into the period, increasing its lead to 3-1. Liberty junior Kevin Bite responded, scoring to put the Flames within one goal of the Beavers at 5:25 in the second. From there, the teams were evenly matched, and the score remained 3-2 as the period winded down. 

With all eyes wide awake, the teams returned to the ice for the last period of play at 1:49 a.m. The Flames came out of the gate and took a couple of penalties, allowing Minot to control the puck and run the clock down. 

By the end of the night, the Flames took nine penalties, resulting in 18 minutes in the box, nearly one-third of the entire game. 

“We took too many penalties,” Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy noted. “We can’t be in the box as much as we were tonight.”

Despite their penalty troubles, the Flames penalty kill was 100% on the evening, not allowing a single goal while shorthanded. 

As the period continued, Virostek kept Liberty alive, making clutch saves and accumulating a remarkable 46 saves on the night. 

“(Virostek) was fantastic tonight,” Handy said. “He gave us a chance to win the game as he always does.” 

Despite Virostek’s heroics, Minot’s persistence got the best of Liberty as it scored at 14:01 in the third to cushion its lead by two goals. A valiant effort was displayed by the Flames in the last five minutes, but they could not muster up a comeback as Minot pulled off a 4-2 win. 

Although it was a tough loss, the Flames learned a lot about where they need to be to compete with top teams such as Minot. 

“We can’t be taking all those penalties,” Virostek noted. “When we keep it five on five and work hard, we should be able to take it to them.” 

Facing off against Minot for game two, the Flames sought to even the weekend series Saturday evening. 

As the puck dropped, the Beavers set the tone early, opening the scoring four minutes in the first period. This woke the Flames up as Kalandyk and freshman forward Ryan Finch both scored to give Liberty the lead late in the first. Virostek was outstanding again, stopping multiple breakaways and making a potential save-of-the- year candidate in the first period to help give Liberty the lead. 

Going into the second period, Liberty had the crowd behind its back and all of the momentum. However, Minot began to wear away at the Flames with its speed and physicality, leading to two goals in two minutes about halfway through the period to give the Beavers the lead. Both goals were battles in front of the net, which Minot was able to take advantage of going into the final period of the weekend with a 3-2 lead. 

Minot came out in the third period as relentless as ever, scoring 39 seconds into the period to put them up by two goals. Liberty fought hard to get back in the game, putting in the work on offense and defense with Virostek holding up between the pipes, with a 48-save performance. 

“Unreal,” Kalandyk said. “If Hunter isn’t standing on his head, it could have been a totally different game.” 

Liberty was finally able to pot a goal with just under five minutes left to play to put the Flames within one. 

In desperation, the Flames pulled Virostek from the net to add another skater in hopes of scoring a goal to tie the game. However, Minot was able to finish the game by scoring an empty net goal with 28 seconds remaining to wrap up the game for a final score of 5- 3. 

Despite the two losses to Minot, Liberty did show improvement over the course of the weekend. The Flames only took one penalty in game two, giving them many more opportunities to win the game. With Virostek playing incredibly and forwards such as Kalandyk and Finch performing well offensively, Liberty has much to look forward to. 

“We have a lot of potential in this room,” Kalandyk said. “There’s nothing but upside, we just have to fix some little details.” 

The Flames will take on Minot State again next weekend in North Dakota on Sept. 29-30. 

Bessire is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion. Follow him on X