Category | Sports

Hockey loses first game at home

Published on October 19, 2009 by Lucas Bigham

KSU went 1-1 (7-2) (3-6) against rival Liberty University this weekend at the IceForum on Oct. 16-17.

“We were not as banged up yesterday,” said freshman Tucker Green. “We came out flat today. ”

The Owls currently sit near the top of the Southeast region behind the likes of the University of Kentucky, Miami of Ohio and Virginia Tech. KSU knew that they needed some wins against Liberty to creep up to the top spot. However, Liberty has given the Owls problems in the past, so they knew winning wouldn’t be easy.

On Friday night, it was evident early on that KSU had set foot on the ice to make a statement, which is exactly what they did. Owl veteran Jerry Holden put his team on the board just seconds after the first puck was dropped.

Liberty did not let that goal affect their momentum, because they would answer back with a tying goal just a few minutes later. The remainder of the first period went back-and-forth until Peter Kacer scored with 30 seconds left, putting KSU in the lead 2-1.

The second period was all Owls as Dylan Morrison, Green and Holden dominated the scoreboards. By the end of the period, the Owls had increased their lead to 6-2. Unlike the second period, the third period was relatively slow in terms of scoring with both teams’ goalies playing strong.

With less than 10 minutes to play, KSU’s Sean Bernhardt scored the last goal of the game before the final horn sounded.

On Saturday, the Owls were looking to put on another strong showing. KSU chose to give starting goalie Ben Powers a rest so they could give their backup Devon Morrison some more ice time. The Owls were also missing two of their top six defenseman, Green said.

From the start of the game, Liberty looked like a different team than the one that played Friday. In the first period, both teams had several scoring opportunities that were cut short by stellar goalkeeping on both sides.  With just over one minute left in the first period, Holden snuck a goal in for the Owls, putting his team up 1-0 by the end of the period.

The second period was back-and-forth with each team giving it their all. Both teams had more than 30 shots combined by the end of the period, but it was the goalies yet again who were keeping the game so close.  By the end of the second period, the game was tied 3-3.

Liberty controlled the third period by scoring three goals while the Owls struggled to find an answer for Liberty’s goalie. KSU was unable to score any more goals, so the game ended in favor of Liberty, 6 - 3. Holden and Ryan Brown scored the only goals for KSU.

“We just let down,” said Owls head coach Ken Honeyman.

On Oct. 30-31 the Owls will travel to take on Kentucky, who is currently ranked first in the region.

“This is a big week for us,” Green said. “We’ve got to start building up again.”