Men’s D1 hockey notches two wins over Delaware, getting back in win column
The Liberty men’s D1 hockey team put a heat on the Delaware Blue Hens that proved to be too hot to handle Oct. 6-7, notching its first pair of wins since the season-opener against the NC State Icepack.
The first of the two games was a 9-0 route in favor of Liberty. Four Flames tallied two goals on the night, including forwards senior Kam Ottenbreit, sophomore Sam Feamster, graduate Brett Gammer and senior Jason Foltz. Liberty also outshot Delaware by more than two times, 47-22, which averaged approximately 16 shots per period, while Delaware never found the double-digit mark in a single period.
“We’ve worked on that big time, trying to get our D-zone really locked in, not allowing any goals tonight,” Gammer said.
The Flames’ specialty units also had a good showing, managing to stay out of the box for the most part, while going a perfect 2-of-2 on the penalty kill. Liberty’s power play took advantage of the first and last of Delaware’s four penalties, going a balanced 2-for-4 on the night. This game also tallied as a shutout for graduate goaltender Hunter Virostek, shutting down all 22 of Delaware’s shots on goal.
“Hunter’s our guy, and we know we’ve got a good chance to win with him back there,” Gammer said.
The highlight of Liberty on the offensive seemed to be the line combination of Gammer, senior forward DJ Schwenke and graduate forward and head captain Matt Bartel. Despite Schwenke and Bartel not getting on the stat-sheet throughout the night, this was the line that seemed to generate the most pressure and chances, according to Liberty Head Coach Kirk Handy.
“I thought that line played really well for us tonight,” Handy said. “They had a lot of jump in their game tonight and they were really effective for us.”
The following night, on Saturday, things did not start out as smoothly, however. Delaware struck first after junior forward Kevin Bite got called for interference. This was the first time Delaware found the back of the net during the series, but it would also be its last.
With about a minute to go in the first period, Foltz cashed in on Liberty’s first power play of the night with a wrister from the slot. Senior forward and assistant captain Nate Albers also left the game during the first period and never returned, as he got a tooth knocked out and quickly got treatment.
“He’s fine,” Handy said. “Nate’s a warrior for us. He’ll be back in no time.”
The second period seemed to be a stand-still, as no action was found in the back of the net until freshman forward Ryan Finch scored on yet another power play at the 16:23 mark in to give the Flames their first lead of the night.
Despite recording a whopping 23 shots in the first period, Liberty and Delaware were both limited to 10 shots on goal in the second period during a defensive battle.
“We were hitting a lot of shin pads and they were blocking a lot of shots,” Handy said. “We weren’t getting lanes. They had a great game plan tonight and kept us on our toes. Hats off to them. They played really well tonight. I was proud of our guys for sticking with it for the game.”
Once the third period began, the Flames started to put on the heat. At 3:09, junior defenseman Nate Cox sniped a shot top-shelf high glove side on Griffin Iglesias, the Delaware goaltender, from the right circle to extend the Liberty lead to a 3-1 advantage. Just 15 seconds of play later, Feamster scored yet again to give the Flames a 4-1 advantage.
A mere 39 seconds of play later, Bite netted the final goal of the game and suddenly, the Flames lead became 5-1, in a matter of 54 seconds.
“We just challenged our guys a bit and said, ‘Hey, let’s not get frustrated,'” Handy said, regarding his message to his team before the third period. “Let’s not panic here, but let’s have a sense of urgency … We were a little complacent tonight. Let’s get out of our comfort zone a little bit and play the way that we can play.”
However, a glaring issue was the penalty bug, as the Flames committed five minor penalties in the game, three of them being for interference. The penalty kill was able to compensate, as they were perfect despite the first goal for Delaware. These latest wins extend Liberty’s winning streak to Delaware to 18 games dating back to Nov. 10 of 2017.
“I didn’t even know about that,” Handy said. “We just care about national ranking and doing the best we can.”
The Flames will try to keep this hot streak aflame, heading north to Michigan to visit the Adrian Bulldogs in a weekend series Oct. 13-14.
Gallo is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion