From Jamestown Sun
By Maxwell O’Neill
A goal with 26 seconds left spelled doom for the University of Jamestown as they fell 2-1 to Liberty University at Wilson Arena. The loss drops the Jimmies to 3-4-1 on the season. The win improves the Flames to 8-2 on the year.
With 13:10 to go in the first period, the Flames’ Jackson Vercellono got in on goal and Tyson Brouwer had to step up with a big glove save to keep the game scoreless. The Jimmies’ Jason Richter took a shot that was saved by the goalie, Hunter Virostek through traffic who couldn’t see the rebound but his defense bailed him out getting it out of the zone, preventing the Jimmies from going up 1-0.
With 17:24 to go in the second period, the Jimmies went on the first penalty kill of the game when Alex Church got called for the hook. Nine seconds into the power play off the faceoff, Brouwer had to get across his crease and rob the Flames of a chance to get on the board.
The Jimmies’ Andrew Clark stepped up to the top of the faceoff circle after multiple chances on the power play and sniped one through traffic over Virostek’s stick side, giving the Jimmies the 1-0 lead with 12:30 to go in the second period. The Flames’ Chaydan Lauber thought he scored with 8:36 to go in the second frame but it was immediately called off thanks to his teammate Nate Albers laying in the crease in front of Brouwer. Lauber even jumped in excitement before throwing his head back in disbelief.
The Warriors got an odd-man rush with 16:07 to go in the third period and Jason Foltz made the Jimmies pay, tying the game up at 1, with a one-timer, to Brouwer’s glove side. With 15:35 to go the Jimmies went on the power play thanks to a cross-check into the boards by Josh Fricks into the back of Greg Susinski who immediately left the ice with the trainer and went into the training room to get looked at. Fricks was called for a five-minute major for boarding. As Fricks skated past the Jimmies bench on his way to the box, the Jimmies let him know in no certain terms what they thought of the play. After a few minutes, Susinski would make his way back to the bench and jumped back on the ice at the next stoppage. The Jimmies had five chances in a row with 11:11 to go in a frenzy that ultimately resulted in Cole Haukaas going to the box for two minutes for cross-checking. 55 seconds after that, the Flames’ Jacob Kalandyk would get called for slashing, putting the game at a four on four. Neither team would find the net on the special team’s situation.
“The boys battled. They didn’t take care of the five minute power play. That’s why they’re three and we’re going to stay above ten in the rankings. You have a team on the ropes and you get a five minute power play, you gotta put the puck in the back of the net,” Jimmies head coach Dean Stork said. “You gotta work even harder and we didn’t work hard enough on the power play. Trying to be too individual.”
Chaydan Lauber took a shot from the left faceoff dot found its way through Brouwer and to a wide-open Jackson Vercellono who put it into the waining net giving Liberty the 2-1 lead with 26 seconds to go in the game. Immediately after the goal, Jimmies head coach Dean Stork called the team’s timeout.
Vercellono’s thinking was a simple one as he saw the open net in front of him.
“I just had to get to the net and once it came right to me, it was in my wheelhouse,” Vercellono said. “I just had to put it in the four by six.
The Jimmies are back in action at 7 p.m. on Oct. 22 when they host Dakota College at Bottineau. The Flames are back in action at 7 p.m on Nov. 5 when they welcome in Stony Brook University.
(Originally published at https://www.jamestownsun.com/sports/7246151-Jimmies-hockey-falls-2-1-to-Liberty)
