November 7, 2020 Â |Â Lynchburg, Va.Â
The Flames celebrate one of their 10 goals over the weekend against ACCHL Division II opponent Coastal Carolina.
An electric atmosphere at the LaHaye Ice Center helped spark Liberty University’s ACHA Division III men’s hockey team to a season-opening sweep of ACCHL rival Coastal Carolina, late Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
The Flames (2-0) were decided underdogs against the Chanticleers (0-2), who had knocked them out of the ACCHL Tournament decisively last year before moving up to the ACHA Division II level this season. But they made a statement from the start, showing they would not be pushovers, instead playing with plenty of push-back in the back-to-back 5-2 and 5-1 victories.
Junior captain Scott Chisholm started the scoring with 6:16 left in the first period when he trapped an entry pass from junior defenseman Thomas Kazmierczak in the right crease, pivoted, and put the puck past Coastal Carolina senior goalie Griffin Williams.
Sophomore forward Evan Enrich extended Liberty’s lead to 2-0 with 3:26 left in the first by firing a shot past Williams from near the top of the right circle. Sophomore forward Will Fortugno stretched the Flames’ edge to 3-0 five minutes into the second by lifting a shot from deep in the left circle into the upper netting.
Then, in the final seconds of a Flames’ power play, sophomore forward Kenneth Fogarty slipped behind Williams to tap in a puck that trickled behind him off a shot in the slot by Chisholm for a commanding 4-0 advantage with 5:52 left in the second.
Coastal junior center Justin Fowlkes capitalized on a power play with a top-shelf finish past Flames sophomore goalie Benjamin Algatt just over a minute later, trimming Liberty’s lead to 4-1. The Chanticleers added another score with a man advantage in the third period before Enrich took a behind-the-cage assist from sophomore defenseman Andrew Pascarella and followed his own blocked shot by slapping the putback past Williams near the right post off with 5:23 to play for the final score.
As Head Coach Josh Graham did from behind the bench, Algatt won his debut between the pipes for the Flames before freshman Kyle Wesbury was successful in his first start in Saturday’s rematch.
After a scoreless first period of that contest, the Flames overcame a 1-0 deficit early in the second following a goal by Chanticleers forward Kenny Ferrara with five unanswered goals. Freshman forward Ethan Meyer netted the equalizer at the 16:33 mark of the second with a diving putback of a backhanded shot by senior Andrew Dower that glanced off the right post.
Meyer put the Flames ahead to stay by sliding a backhanded putback in the left crease between the pads of Coastal goalie Trent Lebreque for a 2-1 Flames’ lead with 13:20 to go in the second. Just 36 seconds later, Meyer assisted Chisholm on a backhanded shot that trickled past Lebreque for a 3-1 advantage.
Sophomore defenseman Daniel Hauke capitalized on a power play with 6:44 left in the period to make it 4-1. Then in the third, freshman forward William Smiley slipped in a point-blank putback of Andrew Pascarella’s shot from the point to cap the scoring at the 10:52 mark.
Graham is still working on the Flames’ spring semester schedule. Liberty will be playing as an independent this season with most of the rest of the Southeast Region joining the College Hockey Federation (CFL).
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By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Videos by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
