Flames D2 hockey sweeps UMass in weekend series

The Liberty Flames D2 men’s hockey team added two more wins to its total this year, getting two victories on home ice over the defending national champions, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst Minutemen.

The Flames improved their record to a total of 7-4 on the season with these two triumphs.

The first victory came on Friday night’s bout 4-0, headlined by graduate goaltender Lane Skon earning a 31-save shutout. Despite having four penalties to UMass’ one, all of which coming in the second and third periods, Liberty managed to take down the defending champs by quite the margin. While they spent more minutes in the penalty box, the Flames were able to generate far more scoring chances, outshooting the Minutemen 45-31 in total (20-8 in the first period). All goals were scored by different players, with junior forward Jared Matley, graduate defenseman Dylan Kent, sophomore forward Thomas Kayner and sophomore forward Richard Indermill all lighting the lamp for the Flames.  

“They’re a good team” Liberty Head Coach Ben Hughes said, referring to UMass after Friday night’s win. “So, winning the way we did last night, (it was) arguably one of our best overall games.” 

Skon, the reigning Southeast Region Player of the Year, made 31 saves, posting his first shutout of the season on Friday before stopping 25 more shots on Saturday. 

“(Skon) made some big saves in both games,” Hughes said after Saturday’s contest. 

Game two of the series, however, did not come as easily. The Minutemen struck first on their initial power play opportunity, showing flashes of the team that hoisted the National Title trophy in Marlborough last spring.  At the start of the second period, Liberty responded with a power play goal from Indermill. Two minutes later, Liberty junior forward Eric Abbate would strike to give his team its first lead of the night. 

It only took the Minutemen merely one minute to return the favor, surging the visiting group ahead of the Flames at 3-2 with two minutes remaining in the period. Just before the closing minute of the second, junior forward Roman Lamoureux once again evened the score for the third time in the period, giving his team life before the final period of play. 

As the third period commenced, all remained quiet and the score remained unchanged, resulting in a sudden death overtime period. Just as Skon stole the show on Friday, UMass goaltender Ryan Dailida was a wall not easy for Liberty to breach. 

As overtime commenced, Dailida continued to stand on his head for UMass, making 43 saves up to that point. After repeatedly peppering the UMass netminder with shots, the Flames’ leading goal scorer Matley finally broke through, notching his eighth goal of the season with a backhanded score to give Liberty the dramatic victory.

“(Josh) Martin came around and left me some space, and it was nice to capitalize on the chance, to bury it and celebrate with my teammates,” Matley said regarding his game-winning goal. He also nodded to Skon as a key factor in both wins. 

“Lane’s a key player. He always comes in and plays well in clutch games. (Skon) shut them out yesterday and battled his way through this one,” Matley said.  

The Flames may have been able to defeat the reigning champions, but the schedule ahead of them does not get easier. Over Homecoming weekend, the Flames will be back in the LaHaye Ice Center hosting Northeastern followed by a three-game-series at the barn of the top dog in the Independent Division — Lindenwood. 

“The rest of our schedule for the rest of our season will be against the top teams in each region. We’ve just got to keep bringing our game every weekend,” Matley said. 

“This weekend was a good step in the right direction that we needed desperately,” Hughes added. “We’re still figuring out our systems. We have a brand new system that we just started running this weekend, just adding some structure to our defense and piecing together little pieces of our game one weekend at a time.” 

Liberty now sits at No. 4 in the Independent Conference with 21 points on the season. 

Gallo is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion