SPEAKER_03 0:23

And welcome back to the Rocky Big Podcast. Guys, exciting weekend across the board for all Liberty hockey. Teams did extremely well winning all but one game. So almost a perfect sweep on the weekend for all five teams. And they're going to start with our one of our Road Warriors, Liberty, Men's D1, went up to Bird Arena, which looked like to be the juggernaut, taking on number two, lose game one, but then a huge split winning game two, three-one, giving Ohio their first loss in Bird Arena of the season. And uh yeah, giving now Liberty also to not only winning four of its last five, but more importantly, the last three wins, they've come back in all three. Huge.

SPEAKER_04 1:12

Yeah, no, it's super exciting, right? That's a great road win and a really tough barn, apparently, right? You said they're 20 and one or 21 and one.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

They were 21 and one.

SPEAKER_04 1:19

21 and one, yeah. So like to, I'm assuming it's their last home game. Yep, right. It was to insult them that way is huge for Liberty. Uh, and like you said, they scored Ohio went up early in the second game, and then Liberty wins the rest of that game 3-0. Yeah. Right. So as a coaching staff, you'd be extremely pleased with the playing in a really tough building against a number two team in Ohio. Uh, I think as a coaching staff and team, like you're very positive and you can't really ask for much more.

SPEAKER_05 1:47

No, definitely. I fully agree with everything there. And it's a newly renovated bird arena, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:52

It's got newly renovated uh first season back in, I think. First full season, so they spent all of spring last year in it. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_04 2:00

Yeah, because I remember when they came to Liberty, they were like saying, like, oh, they only practice once a week, like national on the road.

SPEAKER_05 2:08

Yeah, really far away. Yeah, it reminds you of old Roanoke days. Uh fellas, I'm super excited from this weekend. And uh, you know, we've kind of been saying it around the locker room and the coaches' room and stuff like that of we're really starting to play our best hockey at the right time, right? We're really kind of peaking at the right time. And, you know, the unfortunate thing of kind of the whole year is we've never really had consistent forward lines and D lines. But then again, I guess the kind of fortunate thing of the year is no matter who you're on the ice with, guys seem to be able to make the right plays in the big moments of the big games, right? We're definitely going to be like a battle-tested uh team, uh ready for some adversity. And just with the weekend, you know, a couple guys sit, a couple bumps and bruises, but able to come out with a split and a definite huge win there in game two. It was very exciting.

SPEAKER_04 3:00

Yeah, definitely. And uh, and somebody on your list of players talking about depth, and somebody from me who's playing good hockey right now is Conrad Kaush. Yeah. Yeah, and and that's what you kind of expect from that guy, and that's what you want to see. So it's really nice to see him doing what he does best and stopping 31 of 33 in game one, and then 36 of 37 in game two. So um, boys are rolling.

SPEAKER_03 3:23

Yeah, and I think that's the biggest thing, right? Like obviously, game one, they were also outshot almost two to one. And this is a team that was down some key bodies too, and a lot of guys, it's that time of year, everyone's getting sick. You can hear it in my voice right now. Yeah, yeah. Uh so um, yeah, so him having to really kind of step up big in those games was huge. Also, too, another thing that's kind of rolling red hot, uh, the PK. Yes. Right? Like we've kind of talked about it throughout the year, like to get it above 80%, but really you look at uh the last four wins uh for Liberty, it has been rolling more than 85%, and they've been able to score multiple short annet goals during that time period, too. So like the special teams are starting to really get their legs too now.

SPEAKER_04 4:05

Yeah, how about 85%? How about perfect this weekend, right? Like you said, 13 for 13, killing all those penalties, that's huge against a really talented, star-studded um Ohio team, right? So uh I think both teams are gonna be looking this upcoming weekend to tweak power play because I think they both are frustrated with their power play, right? Liberty went, you made notes of they went one for nine on the weekend. It's all right, not good enough, right? That's not gonna get you to that next level, come nationals time. So a little bit of tweak here, uh, maybe simplify in some areas, but yeah, overall PK is super encouraging. So good weekend.

SPEAKER_05 4:40

Couple guys to just kind of note as we're talking about this upcoming weekend, though, Aiden Carney stays red hot, right? Kind of uh touched on that in one of our last podcasts there of like, man, you saw at the beginning of the year really like the the opportunity, the talent there, and as of late, he's really coming on, which is awesome and exciting. And then uh for me just personally, I've had tons of conversations this last kind of two weeks of what about this, what about that, how can I continue to get better uh with Fisher there on the team. So for him to go up, uh pot a big goal is awesome. Moving towards this weekend, something I want to see a lot less of, even though the PK was great and it turned into a an offensive weapon for us, less penalties. Yes, right? Game two, uh, I understand you know it's it's a heated game, top teams playing, but we cannot go up. Uh you can't go down nine times and then not expect to pay for it postseason. Like it just sort of is what it is. We got to clean that up and it has to start with this weekend.

SPEAKER_04 5:42

Yeah, that's a great point, right? Like, touching on that, you you want to win the special teams battle, but you also want to set the tone of like, hey, make teams come to you and be the team that they know that you are not gonna be penalized easily. Yeah. Like these guys are gonna have to do something, say something about your mother to really, you know, initiate a penalty taken, right? So like try to to change that a little bit, but you're right, try to win that um, you know, essentially nine penalties, an entire period you're playing down a man.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_05 6:11

Yeah, I mean and again, I don't know uh all the details of the game if they were, you know, uh also taking some penalties there for for Ohio, and it looks like they did, right? Five uh power play opportunities there in game two for us, but a little bit more discipline or emotional intelligence or just situational awareness have to have that.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

Yeah, completely agree. And you guys kind of teed it up, but yeah. Moving forward, Liberty has to have a short memory, as good as that victory was. You gotta think Ohio's looking for some payback themselves, right? Like, so they are gonna be looking to try to uh one up you as well and try to get that payback, ruin your senior weekend, which we have this upcoming weekend, as these two teams are gonna meet again. Um one thing for Ohio, unfortunately, they haven't been that great on the road as of late. Uh currently they started out four and oh, they've gone one and five since then. All five losses happen to the current top ten. So they have had some road struggles too. For Liberty, you're hoping that plays into your favor, especially like we touched on down some bodies last week. We'll have more bodies back in the lineup. So hopefully you can get things rolling because this is your last set of games prior to nationals.

SPEAKER_05 7:21

Yeah, I mean, dear, just touching on there kind of what I said before of like I can't tell you one consistent forward line or one consistent like deep pairing that we've had. So what an advantage that all of our guys could just play with all of our guys. Um, but then at the same time, uh somewhat of a disadvantage where like, hey, we we don't have that same type of I could read your body language, chemistry, or whatever else. But I guess at the end of the day, no matter what, you have to come away with a victory. Um, and we're really, really as of late, figuring out how to do that against top teams in this league. So it's encouraging at the same time.

SPEAKER_04 7:58

Yeah, and with the addition of uh three new bodies to you, like that's a bit of a wrench in there, right? You're trying to figure out who the Hunt brothers play well with. Is it you you leave them together because they know each other, or does one of them spark something with another group and also with Burns on the back end? Like who who does his game suit best? Yeah. So that the all top six of those defensemen are best suited when you play these top teams. So again, kudos to Kirk uh and the coaching staff of putting together a really great schedule. Yes. Finding out playing this playoff hockey second semester to best prepare yourself for the tournament.

SPEAKER_05 8:34

And for the coaches too, of you know, uh week after week being able to field the best team to have the success that we've had, setting up your practice plans when again we're we're not no one's dying here, but a couple guys are sick, it just is what it is, right? So to still be able to run quality practices, have quality game plans, go in and win quality games, that's exciting. Like that gets me fired up as uh you know, we'll have multiple days, weekends without games, be full health. Uh, what's the thing for Friday night? Full, full, full clear eyes, full hearts. Yeah, clear eyes, full hearts.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

Yeah, that's right. Well, it should be an exciting matchup, obviously. These two teams do battle again. Potentially, we could see a top five matchup this weekend as uh we're recording prior to the rankings coming out. But nonetheless, both teams will do battle this Friday and Saturday at the LIC at 7 p.m. Friday night fan appreciation night, Saturday night senior night. So make sure to tune in or be here in person. Moving on, we talked about senior night coming up for one group. Another team sent their seniors out on a high note. Lady Flames did what they needed to do to beat rival Adrian. Back-to-back games 2-0 for both scores and basically outshot the Bulldogs 2-1. We've always talked about Coach Slows, big puck possession guy. Hey, and you can see that with the shot accumulation of how they were able to dictate things. Very defensive, heavy team, too. Again, another team, fortunately, playing shorthanded. A couple key bodies were out of the lineup, but it's good to see them get things done, especially Adrian, who probably is still gonna come in potentially in that six to five range heading into the national tournament.

SPEAKER_05 10:13

For sure. And I uh when I think of this weekend for the ladies, it's uh defense wins championships. It's just they are they are playing unbelievably. Uh whoever's in goal, I'm sure we're gonna talk about uh one particular goalie a little bit today, and then uh just you know, in the offensive end there as well. Uh girls getting the job done, uh, which is huge. I mean, a massive blast from the the blue line again uh for Sammy Peebles this weekend. But uh man, when you think about this senior group, it's just crazy that they're seniors and they're moving on and they're graduating. And uh for each of those three ladies to four just Oh, four, excuse me. Yeah, sorry. For I can't we uh we had uh some transfers uh also in this game. I'm I'm all thrown off. Just think of the original three. We're just gonna work it that way. So my apologies there, Victoria. Um yeah, when you think of this group and uh just the off-ice growth that they've had as well, right? Some of them emerging as, you know, uh wearing a letter for us where maybe freshman year, ah, you can kind of see it, but then just slowly uh they they just buy into the culture of this team, they become a leader on this team and uh some really big pieces that we're gonna miss if they are moving on or if they come back for a super senior year. Love it. Hopefully.

SPEAKER_04 11:33

Yeah, I think I think Coach Lowe's does a good job of uh like you just kind of talked about, that super senior year. I think he's developed a program and a culture where girls want to be a part of. Yeah. And for as long as they can, right? If you get five years, they want to be here. I think Liberty as a school does a good job of trying to foster these young women um to be better people and obviously followers of Christ. So kudos to that program and what they're doing. But yeah, it's it's a great weekend. Um, you'd like to see a little more offense, realistically. I think that's kind of the maybe the only downfall, right? You outshoot somebody, you'd like you said, double up 93 to 41 on the weekend. You'd like to see more than you know, four total go in.

SPEAKER_05 12:13

But um and for Adrian, I I believe her last name is Jesse Garelli. There you go. She was on real. She played unreal, right? She made some incredible saves. Come nationals time, come playoffs for them. Like, she's gonna break some teams' hearts. Like, she was on fire. She she played great, and that's where like I agree, like, man, we had that many shots. I'd like a few more goals. Like, dude, it was hard. She she was either seeing everything or just saying so positionally sound.

SPEAKER_04 12:38

Yep, no, so it's obviously that's good to see run into a hot goalie that happens, and obviously to persevere and and win those games. That's great. Um, somebody stand out to me as just Emma McDonald getting that shut out. Yeah. Huge, right? Right. So, like, she's you know, she's got to be the future part of the future of your goaltending tandem, right? So for her to get one of those, uh, I think that's huge. Yeah. And just be able to trust her to get the job done.

SPEAKER_05 13:04

I think there's uh like either one or two, like two on oh situations where she was able to make a big save for us. Um so yeah, great, great weekend for Emma. I had to ask the team today is do we call her Emma or Emma Jane? It's Emma, just a heads up there for everyone. The uh the announcers, uh it says it online, so I can't blame them from this weekend. But yeah, it's Emma. Just uh heads up for all the boys there. Um but yeah, uh a huge weekend, and then uh sending her out, uh Pat, what what record was broken this year? Uh if you just want to dive into that a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 13:40

Yeah, I mean, obviously, big record that was shattered this weekend. Alex Keith uh sets the record for most shutouts in a career. It's crazy, right? 21 uh after recording her tenth shutout of the season, too, which currently leads all goaltenders in the ACH. Tenth of the year. So she has been on a monster tear. Uh great to see Alex. Uh you talked about her the uh other week on our previous pod how like probably will be the standard for years to come. And like he can see that too, right? Like obviously the kind of season she's having, and then more importantly, too, the kind of journey she's had too. You look at her four years here at Liberty, like dealt with some adversity early in her career, and then really worked hard to get past it, and like, yeah, she's become now I don't think the gold standard for just Liberty, but for the ACHA when it comes to goaltending.

SPEAKER_05 14:28

Yeah, I I I fully agree. Uh everything you said there, just the the development on ice, off ice, and I'll tee you up here, one coach fourth. If you could go back, you were on the bench there for Alex's freshman year, and were you able to see it fall freshman year? It seemed like she really started, you know, a shutout streak and started a kind of a win streak there for herself. But when you're looking at a freshman goaltender fall semester, are you able to project out uh what could be and what could come of that? Um, did she continue to grow, develop? Um, was it always there and you know it just got brought out? What are your kind of thoughts there?

SPEAKER_04 15:05

Yeah, I think obviously um Coach Lowe's during the recruiting process, she she was the best goalie on the worst team in you know in in Ontario. So it's like if you see a goalie that you know maybe their goals against average is four, yeah, but her save percentage is nine-five, like she's stopping a lot of packs. Yeah. Right. So statistically, and you if you go and watch, you can tell how a goalie moves and the details in that. But yeah, as far as a teammate and like the first few years that she was here, like she was let's say behind a great goalie in Amanda's story. Yeah. Um so I thought they did a good job being teammates and you know, mentoring each other, so to speak. Um and any opportunity that Alex got early on in her career, she did a good job. Right. There's maybe one like as a team, like they didn't play great in front of her. She has uh the one loss, isn't this crazy that I can one loss uh against McKindry when you know they played out of their minds and you know they upset the the beast there to to kill a huge win streak. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, I think I think she's been first class all the way through. Um somebody, you know, as a as a coaching staff, like those are the types of kids that you want to bring in. Exactly. Right? Like comes to practice, goes to work, zero drama. Um, and her dad's a pretty cool dude too. Oh yeah. Big shout out from Orangeville. Yeah. Um, we we try to go golfing. Unfortunately, there was still a little bit too much ice this past weekend over senior weekend. Yes. Um, but yeah, no, Alex can't say enough good things, and and you think about that shut up streak and what she's done for this program, and like you said, set the standard for the league and this program. Super special time for her, and and it's well deserved.

SPEAKER_05 16:43

Absolutely. I d I can't remember because it was you know a little bit of time ago and not a fun time, but I think we sat next to each other on the plane ride to Finland, right? Like if you go alphabetically by last name, Keith and Ker would be right next to each other. Chantel was pregnant at the time, so I think I was hyper focused on that. Uh but yeah, if she sat next to me, I think I remember getting off the plane and I was like, nah, she's not gonna be it. And she'd proved me wrong. You know, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Uh I I can speak just from an off-ice perspective of she came in good athlete, but just took it to another level. Um, she'll go down as like someone who worked incredibly hard across four years and just turned herself into just a monster. It's it's really incredible what she's been able to do uh in her time. Just on ice, office, uh on our leadership team. Lowe's broke his rule, put a letter on her in in net. So things like that is awesome.

SPEAKER_04 17:40

He's gotten so soft over the years.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

Well, we won't talk about the girls are getting older himself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:47

He started to see it a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 17:48

Um but yeah, obviously we've talked about one senior, a lot of seniors at uh multiple girls playing their last game in the LIC, which is kind of crazy. Some pretty big names. Hailey Bows, Bureau Fussy, Zasha Adamak, Sammy, Bam Bam Peebles, Allison Shautishaw, and Isabel Petemshang. Uh they will be the last games in the LIC were this past weekend, and then you talked about your seniors, Fantastic Four and Brooklyn Beauchamp, Tori Ku, Emerson Oaks, and we've already touched on Alex Key. So very special group of ladies that I think uh really have cemented their legacy here on the mountain.

SPEAKER_05 18:21

Yeah, I uh I fully agree. And I there was an Instagram post and I joked with Tristan Craig of like, hey, are you crying this weekend? She's like, Yes, did you see that? She's like, I got sniped on something. Um, and just like this is uh a group of girls that are just so loved, right? Uh every now and then it is what it is when you have a team of over 20 people, men or women, sometimes someone you're like, man, I'm glad they're leaving. Uh but you know, with with this group and then with this women's team, it's like, man, they are all good people, right? There's no headaches, there's no uh crazy dramas that will happen. And it's it's hard to do that. It's hard to have any group of people in on a team in a workplace that are together all the time, and for people to just get along for the large duration of a season that it is. Um, so definitely gonna miss you know, those girls that are absolutely moving on, all of our super seniors there, and uh hopefully a couple of these uh girls graduating would love to get a master's degree. Yeah that's the dream.

SPEAKER_04 19:19

Yeah, I mean Emerson Oaks, like as again uh as a coach, it's it's someone who comes in and she's not even like highly touted. She played in the good Alberta league. She comes in as a defenseman, and you have hopes. Yeah. So she sticks out to me as like an Ace Lin stretch. Yep. Stretchers actually came in as a forward, right? She would have been, I think, a good centerman for us, but we're gonna have to. But a great shot, according to Chantel. Yeah, for her recruiting physics. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So I think you know, Oaks comes in, like, okay, what where's she gonna fit in the lineup? But I think she's someone who just plays the right way, has really adopted um the systems that Coach Rose in that coaching staff has put forth, and she's really excelled, and then all of a sudden turns into a power play specialist. Like you look at it. Yeah, it's crazy. It's like hey, power play goal. It's either um Sophia Adamek or uh Emerson Oaks. It's who's got the goal. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_05 20:10

Her goal this weekend was unreal. Right, yeah, that rebounds.

SPEAKER_04 20:16

So it's it's really cool to see someone like her to come in. I don't know if there were a ton of expectations, so to speak, on ice, uh, but like just like a great kid, super literature beyond her years, uh, and just comes in and and just does a great job. Um, but I mean, and a Brooklyn Beauchamp, she's somebody like a Rihanna Spanier over the years, like one of two or three to four girls that stand out of like hey, freshman year, you know, the championship game. Yeah. That's you you played a minute to 23, right? Like you played one minute, yeah, right. So and then that that transition from year one to two, huge leaps, two to three, yeah, even bigger. Uh, and then now she's a huge piece of that pie, unfortunately. Um dealing with some health issues right now. Yeah. But um, yeah, what a great, great person, great, great person to have in the locker room, and then somebody who you really depend on on the ice too. So for sure, and then got by all the seniors.

SPEAKER_05 21:13

And then uh for Victoria Q coming in on crutches like years ago. Like, all right, how's this gonna turn out and make a transition from uh D to forward? She's just been like a utility player, yeah, kind of like plug and play wherever the team sort of needs her, and in a a close fought weekend, getting the Apple there as well in senior weekends, massive. Yeah, and just yeah, hard hard work.

SPEAKER_04 21:34

Those hybrid players are so few and far between in extreme. Ones that can do both, right? And so I think that's hard sometimes for those players, like, well, I might not want like no, like it would be great to be like, Hey, we need you on D. Hey, we need you up up front, right? So I think to be able to come in and fill a role that's needed, I think that's that's huge.

SPEAKER_05 21:52

And just understand the coaching staff trusts you enough to be able to fill those roles and positions is massive. Huge.

SPEAKER_03 21:59

Oh Very exciting time. Now, ladies, turn their time attention to the WMCH conference championships at Midland. It's already here. That's right. They have hold on real quick before I talk more about this. They did renovate their rink, right? Yep. And it's not Olympic ice. It is not. It's Tyler. And it's in game now. But regardless, obviously, yeah, Midland hoping to get their title back that they had two three years ago, sorry. And LU's looking to make it their third consecutive conference championship. So yeah, big tournament coming up here for the ladies. Last bit of momentum because they're really going to be off for a month before the national tournament then. Yeah. Going to be fast and healthy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:42

It's going to be good. Obviously, like the schedule is set up. They haven't had a ton of rest in this last few weeks, but I mean they should be should be battle tested and ready to go, right? I'm I've looked at the schedule. I was a little bit surprised that it was this weekend. Right? Yeah. Like, you know, seeing the schedule come out like, oh, they're leaving Wednesday. All right, might as well.

SPEAKER_03 22:59

Yeah. It makes sense because I think the final ranking comes out next week for them as well. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:05

So obviously that's a tough trip, but they get to hop on a plane and and go there and and really kind of showcase what they have. And it'll be interesting to see how who they end up playing and how the seeds work out. Because again, like everybody's throws their best at Liberty. And we've seen that all season with an Adrian team who's lost to arguably bad teams. Yeah. Right? Their records may be 14 and 10. Like, how does a team that plays Liberty to 2-0 have 10 losses? And even even Maryville is the one that is baffling to me. Right. Like the inconsistency of like they have 10 losses on the season. They could beat Liberty at any given night. And so I think that it'll be interesting to see how those other games go. Like it could be a Liberty Maryville final, it could be a Liberty Midland. And heck, Minots, you could never count them out. And McKendry's playing good hockey. Yeah. Right. So it's like I'm really excited to see what happens this weekend and see if they can close out and get another conference.

SPEAKER_05 23:59

Probably going to be a team with an L and a team with an M.

SPEAKER_04 24:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:03

Maryville, Minot McKendry. Lindenwood. Oh yeah. There we go. Yeah. Minnesota.

SPEAKER_04 24:09

Nope. They got kicked out, but we won't talk about that on the club.

SPEAKER_05 24:12

Oh, all right. I got textual evidence that might say different. I thought. All right. Maybe next year.

SPEAKER_04 24:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

Oh, man. Regardless. Yeah. Should be an excited tournament for these ladies. And yeah, uh Alaska Gira before they head into the national tournament. Moving on, another senior night that happened this past weekend. Men's Division II took on the Rowan Profs right before they both head off to the regional tournament. Flames came away with two big wins, winning 5-2 and 4-2. Big weekend on or sorry, big big sweep to close out senior weekend for them. As I said, heading before they head to the regional tournament. And yeah, I mean, some big games happen, especially between Kovac and senior Corey Owens. He really put on a show in his last weekend wearing a Liberty sweater.

SPEAKER_04 25:00

Yeah, Owens just decided, like, hey guys, I'm a goal scorer. Like you got one and two or two and three on the weekend.

SPEAKER_05 25:06

All the prayers working, boys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:09

Turn your life over to Jesus.

SPEAKER_05 25:11

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 25:12

No, that's it's obviously it's a good weekend, right? They took care of business against a, I don't know, are they tenth or eleventh?

SPEAKER_03 25:17

Uh they are tenth, I think.

SPEAKER_04 25:19

10th. Um in this Rowan team. And so obviously, like even watching this, like I think Liberty is a team that is better than a lot of the teams in front of them. Yep. So like chatting with Coach Graham just about like, hey, Florida Golf, um Ohio, Liberty, like maybe Tampa, I haven't really seen them much, but like those I think are the top four in this in this region. And then there's a bit of a drop. Yeah. You know, there's the rest of them. But um heading into this um regional tournament this weekend, you're gonna really find out where you're at in the season and if if you can handle the business. Uh looking at the game sheet, it seemed to be like an emotional weekend. I don't know if that had to do with the senior weekend or what, maybe families being in town. That always surprisingly throws a huge wrench in and how people play, uh, unfortunately. But you know, there's a handful of 10-minute misconducts and crash. Like, so it seemed like a very emotional weekend, and you can't have that happen at regionals, otherwise, you're not gonna get very far. Yeah. But you know, you might get past that first game, right, against South Carolina, but then you're gonna get pumped by Florida. Right? So you have to dial it in, go back to the things that you've been working on these last few weekends, and then and then really go from there.

SPEAKER_03 26:33

Wait, are you saying UNC Wilmington doesn't have a chance versus Florida Gold?

SPEAKER_04 26:36

Uh, I'm not saying that it ought to be ever in your favor.

SPEAKER_05 26:42

Maybe Jordan's gonna give him a pump up speech. That's right. Home city.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

Yeah, UNC, but I'm gonna hook him up. Yeah, well, still chapter.

SPEAKER_05 26:53

Uh he's from Wilmington, North Carolina. But he played at Chapter. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Laney High School. I've been there.

SPEAKER_03 27:00

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:01

It's a school.

SPEAKER_03 27:02

Yeah, it's what it is. But yeah, I mean, yeah, you brought up a good point. Yeah, obviously, Liberty wants to play a lot more discipline heading into it. But you gotta do love one thing. You love seeing uh kind of the goal disparity. Uh nine goals were scored on the weekend, and I believe they had seven different goal scores. So, like, that's showcasing the depth. Uh, and this is a team, also too. Top uh playmaker didn't play at all this entire weekend, and Cooper Frederick, so hopefully he's gonna be ready to go next weekend. And I think for Liberty, um, yeah, like uh trying to just send their seniors all right, which they did, honored five guys Martin, Pollock, Fidel, Owens, and Paget. So another big senior group that's kind of been instrumental, especially you look at these five. Like, it's tough when they've been a part of kind of men's division two teams that were either number two or number one in their respective region, come back this year, and it's basically okay, guys, we're the old guys now, and it's a completely new group of young, young players. Newish coaching staff as well. I mean, basically, you bring in almost 20 new guys for this team. So, like, credit to them as well, trying to set the standard and culture and help with that turnaround to get them to this moment now where they can potentially have a shot at going to nationals.

SPEAKER_05 28:19

Yeah, it's tough when you have that big of a swing, and I think we've certainly seen that throughout the year. Um, but now as they're heading into winner-go-home hockey, I think you're really gonna start to see some of that uh experience and leadership come out, right? With all all these guys kind of listed right here. Um they've been battle tested, they've been through it. I know they're gonna have uh a couple more bodies added in uh to the lineup here as uh if you guys were just out with you know various things, illnesses and whatnot. Um so having that experience in injected back into it, coming off of a good weekend, got to get through South Carolina first, obviously. But um in those high pressure situations, I think a lot of that leadership will come out during intermissions on the bench, keeping guys focused. Um that's what it's gonna take. That's what it's gonna take to move on. And all the experiences they've had, um, you know, like you said, Pat, being the one seed, being the two seed regionally, making it um in you know, that final game of pool play. So heavily relying on all that as we move forward.

SPEAKER_03 29:25

But yeah, it'd be exciting times for this upcoming weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Uh, and this is why Coach Garland said they wanted to play that heavy schedule so they can be ready for these moments. So hopefully this team will be ready when the time comes and uh can keep that national streak keep going. Moving forward, a team that already looks like they're in playoff mode, women's division two kicking on a big rival, number three in the Southeast Villanova games that had to be rescheduled from earlier in this year. Uh we're able to lay a thumping on them. 8-1 and 7-2, eight different goal scorers on the weekend. And some of these girls had a day highlighted by the eight-point weekend by who we can safely say should be national player of the year, Core Williams, and then Abby Rogers, five apples on the crazy, right? So, yeah, great showing for these ladies, Coach uh Coach Fourth.

SPEAKER_04 30:19

Yeah, obviously it's a great weekend for us, right? We played a tough team in Navy in the number two last weekend. Uh, and then this past weekend having Villanova, the number three, come in. We've been anticipating this. Yeah. Uh they had our number last season, beating us at the DVCHC, and then also um closing out, not officially, but really closing our hopes at Nashville's trying to get out of pool play there. Um, but yeah, so for them to come in, there's a bit of history, and to thump them eight, one and seven, two. Uh, as a coach, it's you know, I thought we played our our brand of hockey. I thought we were fast and dangerous, and obviously Cora had uh a weekend, and and a player like Abby Rogers has five assists, she does the little things right, right? Right. So she kills some penalties for us five on five um and on power play, like wins the face-offs, goes to the front of the net. You know, I think maybe she should have had one of those goals, but um doing the little things right and getting rewarded um offensively, but even looking at the numbers of somebody like Sabrina Honeycutt, who's a freshman for us, yeah. Um, she's in the middle of the pack points-wise, but and I don't even think she had for her standard a great weekend, and she still gets three points. So I think that's just goes to show that like as a coach, you kind of look at these and you say, like, oh, that girl has more. This they have more to get. Yeah. Uh right. So they're not even playing their best hockey, so to speak. Um, so for for us to to send a message to the DVC AC, especially, saying, like, hey, we're kind of a force to reckon with right now. And um, the one stat it's a little bit concerning that we gave up 34 shots that second game. I'd like to see that number drop by 10. On man rushes or anything, or yeah, I mean, there's a little bit of of danger, and I think um late in the game we kind of gave up some quick two-on ones in our zone with you know mismatches and stuff like that. But overall, I thought we did a good job of working on the things that we've been working on. Uh, and I thought top to bottom the girls did a good job.

SPEAKER_05 32:16

Good. Because, you know, as a we're just gonna call it an outside perspective, how much of those 34 shots was just kind of letting off the gas a little bit when you've you know been beating the brakes off of a team. It kind of just happens, right? It just sort of is what it is. Um yeah, to your point, uh 17 versus 34 shots. Hopefully, we can keep cleaning that up there. But uh give us a preview, kind of what does the DVC HC tournament entail for you? Does that have any um implications for nationals or anything like that?

SPEAKER_04 32:48

Yeah, so in ours we still have auto bids. Okay. So in the DVCHC, so the Southeast region, uh, we have our tournament and the CHE is also connected to the Southeast. They have their tournament and they also get an auto bid. Okay. But everybody in theirs is between seed five or six and ten. Okay so somebody in the top four in our um in our region is gonna get bumped. Wow, if they get an auto bid. And they have to be within the top ten, so you can't be number 12, play four games and come in and win and go to nationals. You have to be within that top ten season ranking in order to go. But typically it's it's a mercy hearst that comes out of there. They've got some top end, really good top end talent as we played them. We played them in in pool play last season and they gave us a scare the first period. Um but yeah, it's probably gonna be out of there, it's probably gonna be mercy hearst, but Niagara's been playing pretty good hockey at D2. Um, but yeah, heading into this, we get a buy because we're number one. Navy gets a bye because they'll be number two. Um so three plays six, four, five, and then we play somebody in the stem, and we start in the semis. So you get the lowest seed remaining. Okay. Yep. So kind of go from there. Last year we played Rowan, uh, but I think they're playing good hockey. They just beat Villanova Friday night before they came to us. Oh, wow. Two-nothing. Yeah. So Villanova Villanova had a tough weekend. Obviously, it's not their best stuff, but I think they're gonna head to that tournament and be confident in some things that they're doing. And and they they were out without their, I think, second leading score this weekend. So it hurts, yeah. You know, it just is what it is. It's a tough time of the year. Yeah, little details and factors that go into it. But yeah, we're super excited to prep for the DBC HC in a couple of weekends and and go in and try to try to win that conference.

SPEAKER_03 34:34

I love it. Yeah. I'm about it. Let's do it. Should be an exciting time, and yeah, you guys definitely look like in playoff form and uh looking forward. That that's this weekend, right? DVC Nope, next weekend. Oh, next weekend. Okay, so yep. 8th and the first.

SPEAKER_04 34:50

All right, because there are not 30 days in February.

SPEAKER_03 34:53

It's not a leap year. That's right. Yeah. All right, so pushing it back. So yeah, a little bit of rest for y'all this weekend, and then next weekend will be exciting to see if you guys can uh hopefully uh raise uh your second ever conference tournament title. Love it. Uh but moving on now, last team that was in action, also our only other team that was on the road, men's division three, went down to Coastal Carolina and really came back with two big dubs, six-one and five-one.

SPEAKER_04 35:21

I thought you wait the way you said that, you said went down, like lost. I was like, what? You your notes say they went road trip.

SPEAKER_05 35:30

Smackdown. Yeah, another D3's rolling. Yeah, yeah, there's there's really no other way to describe it. Uh I got wake force this weekend coming up as a makeup game because uh everyone uh in the North Carolina and Virginia area was having games canceled with all that snow and ice that everyone had. I'm expecting another great weekend for the flames, but they're just on a roll here, guys. It's really like they're just a wrecking crew.

SPEAKER_04 35:55

Yeah, it's kind of funny to me. You look at these scores six one and five-one, and I can't my initial thought is like, oh, they finally had some close games. Yeah, yeah. They aren't even close. And I mean, uh, as far as the coaching staff, you're probably like, these guys, like you've got to do this better. So, right, like their standard is so high right now, it's it's similar to a women's one where it's like you gotta really hone in on all those details. Like, okay, how do we make it six nothing and seven nothing? Right. Right? So going from there, so it's it's really good to see that they're they're rolling and um yeah, excited for them to pump Wake Force this weekend.

SPEAKER_03 36:27

Yeah, obviously, exciting time. Interesting that they're gonna make up that Wake Force game considering what happened last year. And this is a much deeper team than it was last year, too. So it'll be interesting how that game goes on this Saturday. But like you guys said, should be another dominant showing, and then kind of expect D3 to roll into a CHL, not just the number one seed, but the number one team in the country.

SPEAKER_05 36:50

Yes. Yeah, I I believe they should. Now, yeah, the the makeup game, I think there's something weird where it would count as like a forfeit or something if they didn't, and that could affect rankings. Right. Um, something along those lines. I I can't exactly remember what Coach Wagner was telling me there, but we should, we will play Wake Forest as uh we we kind of need to there. But yeah, to your point, Pat, and just touching on what you were saying there as well, Forth, they need to keep the hammer going down during practices. That's their when their uh you know D are facing their forwards, the best forwards in the league. When the forwards are facing the D, best D in the league, you know, as as it kind of goes there. So they need to keep the hammer down in practices and not get too ahead of themselves, right? We kind of saw last year also super hot going into uh you know postseason, but you know, you face that one team with that one or two hot lines, that one or two hot players, and that could you know be your downfall, a couple of mistakes here and there. So uh as always, uh at the D3 level, work your butts off, stay out of the penalty box, and good things will continue to happen for them. They're just rolling. There's there's really no other way and words to describe it.

SPEAKER_03 38:03

Yeah, love it. Well, yeah, it should be exciting times. It's yeah, it's that time of season, guys. It is playoffs abound and uh really hoping for some success. Uh multiple teams will be in action this weekend. A couple are off uh because their postseasons are next weekend, but yeah, it's almost that time. It's crazy to think uh March man is almost here.

SPEAKER_05 38:22

It's unbelievable. This the spring is so fast. Like this whole spring semester, if you're uh you know working at a university or at uh student athletes or you're a student athlete yourself. Like it is just crazy how January, mid-March just comes so fast. And then yeah, you're you're on the roads and everything like that.

SPEAKER_03 38:42

Yeah, it should be an exciting time, obviously. This weekend, men's division one and men's division three will be here at home while Wednesday one left to regain their conference championship, and men's D2 hopefully have a little bit left in there. And LC next week.