Round one complete: Liberty fends off Marauders with 2-1 victory to move on to ACHA Quarterfinal

The 2023 ACHA National Tournament left a bitter taste in the mouth of the Liberty Flames. Minot State roared back in the third period of the semifinal contest before cementing a national title game berth in overtime and leaving Liberty stunned. 

March 9, 2024, however, sparked the start of a potential path to redemption. With the Flames once again entering nationals with lofty expectations, the team’s tournament run kicked off with a clash against the University of Mary Marauders, the No. 10 seed in the tournament. While Mary tested the Flames, playing stout defense and nearly launching a late-game comeback, Liberty held on in the tournament’s first round, walking out of the Centene Ice Center in St. Louis with a 2-1 victory.    

“I was proud of our guys,” Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy said. “I didn’t think we had a great start in the first period, you know, and then there’s a lot of special teams, which isn’t always beneficial. But I thought in the second period we played pretty well, and as we continued, I thought our team played pretty well overall.” 

The first period was a penalty-infested one. As Liberty hit postseason ice for the first time, the energy that comes along with it was clearly on display. Senior forward Nate Albers was the first Flame sent to the penalty box, followed shortly after by two Mary skaters. Soon after, the teams were playing 4-on-4 hockey due to coincidental minors from sophomore forward Sam Feamster and Mary forward Andrew Huber.  

While the special teams units fought to give their teams the opening goal, neither group could pull its team ahead. Liberty went on to have a 5-on-3 advantage, but couldn’t capitalize, leaving the first period scoreless and 0-for-4 on the power play.  

“Special teams need to be better,” Handy said. “I think just settling in and continuing our forecheck and keeping that rolling is what we need to do.” 

The barrage of penalties dissipated in the second frame, as both teams battled 5-on-5 for the entirety of the period. The majority of the second was spent in Liberty’s offensive zone, with the Flames’ aggressive forecheck making it strenuous for Mary to possess the puck with any kind of consistency.  

Liberty’s top lines were rolling, specifically the team’s primary unit of junior forward Jacob Kalandyk, senior forward Truett Olson and the line’s newest addition, freshman forward Ryan Finch. Finch recently stepped into a winger role on the line after a solid rookie regular season, and the speedy freshman has settled into his new spot very quickly.  

“Me and (Kalandyk) live together, so we have really good chemistry there,” Finch said. “We just know how to talk to each other. And then Truett, he just knows the game. He’s so smart, so it’s so easy to play with him.” 

But despite the clear offensive dominance from Liberty’s lines, no puck could trickle through past the herd of Mary defenders in front of the net. With 30 seconds left in a period packed with scrums and physicality, Liberty found itself generating another chance by the Marauder’s net. This time, however, a cross-crease pass from senior forward Jason Foltz found the stick of graduate forward Captain Matt Bartel, who shoved the puck forward as it slowly glided into the net, giving Liberty the 1-0 lead heading into the third. Bartel’s goal was his 14th on the season, and the captain’s effort in the score was just a fragment of the labor he put out in his 60 minutes on the ice.  

Heading into the third period, Liberty’s defense was locked down, knowing that any breakdown could be the difference in suiting up tomorrow or being sent home. The team continued forcing Mary turnovers and utilizing its effective forecheck, frustrating a Marauders team that was desperate to mount the comeback.  

Mary’s Tanner Eskro was awarded a cross-checking penalty with just six minutes on the clock, setting up the Flames’ power play unit with the opportunity to improve its less-than-stellar performance on the night. This time, Liberty’s power play found life, with Kalandyk netting a pass dished out by junior forward Kevin Bite to increase the Flames’ lead to 2-0.  

The energy pouring out from Liberty following Kalandyk’s goal, however, was smothered less than a minute later when Mary forward Isaiah Thomas managed to get a puck past Liberty’s trusted netminder Hunter Virostek. The Flames’ lead was cut to one goal, and the final minutes of the contest consisted of Liberty fending off a Mary team fighting for its life.  

Virostek sent shot after shot the other way, adding another stellar postseason performance to the many in his career. As time drained from the clock, the Flames basked in the joy of the round one win, living to survive another day in the arduous path to the Murdoch Cup.  

The win punched Liberty’s ticket to the quarterfinal round of the tournament, where they’ll have a meeting with the Adrian Bulldogs — a team they’ve gone 2-2 against this season.  

“We were in the O-zone most of that game (against Mary),” Finch said. “So tomorrow, we just got to make sure we bury the chances because we’re getting the chances. We just got to make sure they go in now.”  

With the first game of the tournament under their belts, Finch and the other freshmen on the team recognize the need to settle down in the high-intensity gauntlet that is the national tournament.   

“I think we just need to be less urgent to score,” Finch said. “We need to be urgent to score, but we need to calm down sometimes, because sometimes when we’re getting chances, we try to jump the gun, and then that’s when the F3 would be missing (on the forecheck), and then they would have the line rush.” 

Liberty will meet the Bulldogs for the fifth time this season March 10 at 4:45 p.m. CST, fighting with Adrian for the chance to reach their second consecutive Final Four contest after playing in the semifinal for the first time in program history last year.

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