Flames Hockey Beats Delaware Blue Hens 8-3, 3-2 In Weekend Sweep

After wiping the Pittsburgh Panthers on their own floor last weekend, the Liberty University Men’s D1 Hockey team claimed another series sweep, this time against the Delaware Blue Hens. The Flames claimed the game one victory 8-3 amid the stadium-shaking crowd during their Midnight Mayhem game, following that victory with a rousing 3-2 overtime win less than 21 hours later. 

“Well, I mean, it’s tough to win two games on a weekend, whoever you’re playing,” Head Coach Kirk Handy said. “And, you know, it’s tough to win two games on a weekend that you play two games in one day.”

Game one of the two-game series began once the clock struck midnight, and after back-and-forth opening minutes, the Hens struck first as their senior forward Ryan Rodrigues found nylon after a defensive miscue by the Flames, giving his team a 1-0 lead. 

Rodrigues’ goal would be the first of five total goals in the first period, but the Flames got the better of the Hens in the high-scoring 20 minutes and entered the breakup 3-2. Liberty would score again just over three minutes into the second period, but they wouldn’t begin to pull away until around a minute later, when the Blue Hens’ senior defenseman William Gould was assessed a five-minute major penalty after grabbing the face mask of a Flame in a scrum. 

After Gould was sent off the ice, the Flames took control of the game, scoring twice during the five-minute window, the second of which came off the stick of freshman forward Michael Debrito for his fourth goal as a Flame and second of the evening.   

The Blue Hens tried to score again, but the Flames’ two insurance goals from junior forward Sam Feamster and Debrito gave him his third goal of the game and his first hat trick at the collegiate level. 

“It means a lot, obviously,” Debrito said. “I mean, just playing in front of this crowd and playing for Liberty, playing for the Lord, playing for all these guys. I mean, I love all these guys. Like, they’re my brothers, so, yeah, I couldn’t have done it without them. And it’s easy to come out flying when we have a crowd like we do.”

While the theme for game one was mayhem, the theme for its successor was all about being systematic and technical, which is how both teams played. The first period ended with both sides scoreless, and it would remain that way until Debrito scored his fourth goal of the weekend just over seven minutes into the second period. 

Senior forward Jacob Kalandyk followed Debrito’s lead, netting his sole goal of the weekend after another Blue Hens penalty put the Flames up a man early in the third period. Kalandyk’s goal was the Flames’ fifth specialty team goal of the series, with the Flames scoring four of their 11 goals on the power play and one shorthanded. 

With the Flames up 2-0 after Kalandyk’s goal, the Blue Hens found life with less than three minutes left to play and then got a miracle, tying the game up as sophomore forward Tanner Mahoney got it to go and sent the game to overtime. Delaware’s top offensive line of Mahoney, Rodrigues and junior forward Justin Guelph was stellar against the Flames, scoring four of the team’s five goals and tallying a combined six assists. 

The rink was rocking as the Flames and the Blue Hens faced off three versus three to start overtime, but the excitement ended almost as quickly as it began. Feamster found a lane on the left side of the Delaware zone and was able to backhand the puck into the cage to cook the Blue Hens and claim the victory just one minute and 43 seconds into overtime.

“Man, it’s so cool for me to come, to even be out there in overtime,” Feamster said. “I think to bury that (goal) is such a blessing for me because I started here playing one shift in my first midnight game ever. I’ll never forget that.”

The Flames emerge from the back-to-back series sweeps with a 5-1 record and a challenge ahead of them as they travel to Adrian, Minnesota, to battle the Adrian College Bulldogs, the team that handed the Flames their exit from the ACHA postseason back in March. Last season, the Flames won just two of their five games against Adrian and scored 13 goals to the Bulldogs’ 16.   

Palsgrove is the sports editor for the Liberty Champion. Follow him on X.