Beavers snap the streak: Lady Flames fall in ACHA Final Four to Minot State in double overtime, 2-1

Since 2017, the Liberty Lady Flames have been the team celebrating center ice with the ACHA National Tournament trophy. The run has been one of the most stellar in Liberty Club Sports history, with pure domination over their field of competitors.  

The streak, however, came to a tortuous end March 16, as the Lady Flames fell to the Minot State Beavers in double overtime, coming just short in nearly 100 minutes of hockey, 2-1.  

“(I’m) just proud of this group,” Lady Flames Head Coach Chris Lowes said. “I got to give a ton of credit to Minot. What a game. They battled so hard, and I think both teams were running on fumes and we knew something would happen.” 

In a rematch of last year’s national championship game, both teams attacked with skill when the puck dropped, forcing turnovers and bringing instant pressure to each goaltender. It wasn’t until the latter half of the first when the Beavers broke through, as Riley Ball put one past Liberty sophomore goalie Alex Keith.  

Five minutes later, Beaver Aspen Cooper provided the Lady Flames with an opportunity to even the score, taking a seat in the box for a roughing penalty. Two of Liberty’s three goals in the tournament thus far had been on the power play, and this one would be no different. Senior forward Carly Glover found her fellow forward graduate Captain Rianna Spanier camped out in the crease, sending it her way for Spanier to tap into the back of the net.  

The score was now even at one, and it would remain such for nearly the next 80 minutes of play. Liberty was forced to adjust in the second when Glover went down with a lower-body injury, taking her off the ice for the remainder of the game.  

With both groups laying everything out for the game-winning goal in regulation, the contest became one of goaltenders. Liberty’s Keith had been in net consistently for the Flames since senior netminder Amanda Story suffered an injury earlier in the season. The young goalie had proven herself in the team’s second-semester surge, standing on her head once again in regulation for Liberty.  

In the other net, however, was Haylie Biever, a Minot goaltender who stepped onto the ice eager to make a statement in front of the No. 1 team in the nation. Biever was a brick wall in net, turning away a career-high 71 shots on the night. As the Flames constantly worked in the O-zone, they needed to find a way to adjust to Biever’s lockdown goaltending.  

“Biever was playing big, and their D were definitely collapsing, so we just had to make sure that we were crashing the net because that’s all she really gave us, those juicy rebounds,” junior forward Haley Battles said. “We’ve got to get our shovels out.” 

As the first overtime period commenced, the penalty kill units came up big for both sides. Liberty entered sudden death on the power play, but Minot came out unscathed with effective clears and mind-boggling saves from Biever. Both Liberty and Minot would kill off a penalty in the remaining minutes of the period, forcing the game to a second overtime.  

“This nationals was very special teams oriented for all teams,” Lowes said. “So if you had a good power play, you had a good chance. And we weren’t able to produce this year.” 

In between overtimes, recovery was a big focus for the Lady Flames. It grew evident that both teams were fizzling out and needed the fuel to push through another 20 minutes.  

“You know, everyone was just getting little oranges, little bananas, Powerade, and we were kind of just saying, let’s go,” Battles said. “Like, we just got to keep our heads up and any shift can be a goal. Any shift can be the end. So just putting in the work, short shifts.” 

In the second sudden death session, Liberty nearly came away with a ticket to the national championship. A Lady Flame sent a pass to the front of the crease, where junior forward Zosia Adamek deflected the puck off her skate and into the back of the net.  

But just as Liberty raised its hands in celebration, the referees waved the goal off, stating that Adamek kicked the puck in. Overtime play resumed, and it seemed that the contest between the two ACHA powerhouses would find no end.  

With under two minutes remaining, Minot’s Makenna Beard placed a cross-ice pass on the stick of Cameron Schmidt, who broke Lady Flames’ hearts as she struck the feed into the back of the net.  

Minot and their strong showing of fans went wild as they knocked off the No. 1 seed and cemented the fact that there would be a new national champion for the first time since 2017.   

“It was a long game and we pushed through and this one definitely hurt. But we know at the end of the day that we’re playing for God and only for him and that’s all that matters,” Battles said. “We’ve gone through a lot of changes this year, but our team is pretty adaptable and I believe that we’re very coachable. So then when we come into these games, we’re as prepared as we can be and we just know that we have to lean on each other and that’s all we can do.” 

The 2023-24 season brought the Lady Flames more adversity than most, and while it didn’t end the same way the previous five have, Lowes still holds this group in high regard — especially his senior class in Glover, Storey, Spanier, Truter, defenseman Aislyn Stretch and forward Priscilla Ziefle.  

“For me, the message would be about our seniors,” Lowes said. “We’re losing some of the cornerstones of our program … I hate it for them. The rest of the team, they’ll have a chance for redemption, but I think to see what they did over their careers and know that that was their last one and they had to go out that way is hard.” 

Cory is the sports editor for the Liberty Champion. Follow her on X