Men’s Beaver Hockey kept the train rolling with two more wins against a ranked opponent this past weekend.
No. 3 ranked Liberty welcomed Minot State into Lynchburg, Virginia on Saturday boasting a 17-8 record looking to better it by two games.
With the hosts starting things off, the Beavers began crawling back on the wings of Reece Henry netting a goal with an assist from Jared Hamm with about two and a half minutes left in the 1st.
The 2nd period belonged to Minot State as they began to build a dam around themselves with the help of Jordan Robertson, scoring with 5:35 left, and Jay Bucholz, scoring with 3:10 left in the period.
Coming out of the locker room in the 3rd down 3-1, the Flames shot right back netting a goal from Josh Fricks. Almost immediately after the goal, Minot Defenseman Wayde Hohannesson went into the penalty box off a boarding call.
The Flames ignited scoring a goal just 19 seconds later to even things at 3.
Tied at 3 late in the period, Minot’s Reid Arnold shot a puck into the goal to give the Beavers the advantage with 9:47 left in regulation. After a couple of penalties on both teams, and time ticking down, Liberty pulled their netminder, Hunter Birostek, in favor of another skater. This move proved fatal as MSU’s Eric Soar hit an unassisted empty netter to seal the game for the Beavers. Jake Anthony was in the net for the Beavers, he finished the night with 24 saves while his opposition took 27 shots.
On Saturday, it was the same matchup, in the same place. Both teams were much less disciplined posting 3 penalties each with only 1 goal. That goal went to MSU’s Landyn Cochran with 14 minutes left in the period. The Beavers headed into the 1st Intermission with a 1-0 lead. They came back out and fortified that lead off the stick of Jordan Robertson with help from Cochrane with 8:54 to go in the 2nd period.
Liberty would not stay silent for much longer as in the waning minutes of the period, Daniel Schwenke netted one for the flames to get them within one. Just as it was in the 1st, the 3rd only featured 1 goal. This time, however, it was Liberty’s turn as Kam Ottenbreit tied it to force overtime.
The 25-2-0-0 Beavers would remain under 3 losses as Jay Bucholz fed it to Drew Carter for the game-winner 3:40 into the extra frame. Riley Wallace was in the net for Minot State posting 21 saves off of 23 shots taken by the Flames. Hunter Birostek was in the net for the Flames, having 32 saves with 35 shots taken by Minot State.
The Beavers will be back at the MAYSA this weekend for a twin bill against the 15-9-1-0 16th ranked Arizona Wildcats with both games at 7:30 p.m. Senior Day is on Saturday, Feb. 12.
