After putting six on the board against Liberty Thursday night, men's ACHA DII ice hockey scored 11 against the Flames on Friday afternoon, including seven goals in the third period for an 11-2 win and series sweep at the LaHaye Ice Center in Lynchburg, Virginia.
The Lions only needed 96 seconds to get their first goal when
Gage Vierzba sounded the horn for his first of the season off a feed from
Jack Louko. Later in the period,
Gavin Delfosse set up
Ethan Christofferson to make it 2-0 at the 14:54 mark. An interference penalty led to the first Liberty goal at 16:17. That cut the margin, but Lindenwood still carried a 2-1 advantage into the second.
It remained a close game until the Flames started taking penalties. They were called for slashing at 7:54 which led to a Delfosse power play goal at 8:39, assisted by
Nick Jones and Louko. After an interference call on Liberty at the 12:06 mark, Delfosse had another nice assist on Louko's second goal of the season at 13:46 and Lindenwood led 4-1 at the end of two.
The Lions put a barrage on the Flames in the final 20 minutes. Back-to-back cross-checking calls against Liberty gave Lindenwood a five-on-three chance, and the Lions took advantage with a
Brock Hart power play goal at 2:48 with help from Delfosse and
Austin Meers.
Eli Roofe then scored twice in a span of 16 seconds.
Brett Bell earned the only assist on the first of those goals at 3:08 and the secondary assist on the next one at 3:24 with
Gabriel Vijuk getting the primary assist and it was quickly 7-1. After the Flames made a goaltender change, Delfosse earned his eighth helper of the season when he set up
Zac Maupin at 9:23 to make it 8-1 before Liberty answered just 18-seconds later to make it 8-2.
Tempers started to flair as the final period continued. The Flames were called for a major penalty and game misconduct at 13:45 and that led to another two power play goals for Lindenwood.
Zachary Schwartz split the pipes off a pass from Louko and then Maupin added an unassisted effort to make it 10-2.
Nick Jones added the final goal at 16:30, also unassisted.
The Lions outshot Liberty 37 to 18 and
Cole Wheaton made 16 saves on 18 shots. Lindenwood has outscored opponents 25 to 4 through the first three games and outshot opponents 127 to 57.
The Lions will put their 3-0 record on the line when they return home to host the University of Tampa in a two-game series October 18-19. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. that Saturday afternoon and for 1:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri.
