In the words of Frank Sinatra, “Start spreading the news.” LIU Men’s Hockey picked up a big win Friday night at Northwell Health Ice Center, upsetting no. 12 Ohio State 3-2 for their first win over a ranked opponent in program history. It was also their first win against a BIG 10 Hockey program.
Freshman Austin Brimmer started things for the LIU Sharks at 8:22 into the first period on the power play. The Sharks have struggled to strike first in recent games, so this was a positive.
“It was huge to score first, it’s huge to score on the power play, and it was an awesome goal by Austin Brimmer hungry at the net,” LIU head coach Brett Riley. “If you score first, you have a chance to win, and we were on the right side of that trend tonight.”
The power-play goal was Brimmer’s second goal of the season, and the freshman has clearly embraced the Sharks way.
“Obviously, it was a total team effort. We had guys throwing their lives on the line to block shots, and get pucks out, and I think we got rewarded for our hard work,” Brimmer told NYI Hockey Now. “We got a couple of good chances that we capitalized on. I think all the work that we have put in this whole year, we definitely deserved this win for sure.”
There have been a lot of close battles for LIU against ranked opponents:
- @Northeastern 3-2 OT L
- @ #7 Quinnipiac 2-2 T
- vs. Omaha-Nebraska 2-1 L
- @ Wisconsin 3-2 L
- @Wisconsin 4-3 OT L
With the game tied heading into the third period, Riley and several leaders reminded the team of their close battles before.
“Some of the guys spoke up about coming back in the room this year, being so close,” Riley said. And just [spoke] about not letting it [a loss] happen. Just not letting it happen again, doing whatever it takes to win.”
“We’ve been in this position a handful of times, and we’ve come back after the third period, kind of a ‘should, coulda, woulda’ and was not the outcome we wanted. And it was a challenge for us to take advantage of this opportunity in a 2-2 game in our barn, a very good hockey team, and the boys responded to that,” Adam Goodsir said.
The game-winning goal came by Goodsir came at the 12:07 mark of the third period and was assisted by fellow alternate captain Anthony Vincent.
🎥🔥🏒 Check out the game-winning goal from @A_Goody88 and set up by Anthony Vincent as we beat a ranked opponent for the first time in program history!@NCAAIceHockey pic.twitter.com/HWSyUZNg2B
— LIU Men’s Ice Hockey (@LIUMHockey) November 26, 2022
The LIU alternate captain was a big-time transfer for this young D-1 program coming from Michigan State in the Big Ten, and Riley was happy to see Goodsir thrive on home ice. Goodsir sits second on the team in goals with six after Friday’s game.
“For Goodsir and [Anthony] Vincent to connect on the goal, they came here for moments like that and it just kind of was really cool to see that happen,” Riley said.
The Sharks did not visit the box once in the third period as well, which, when going against a team like Ohio State, is a make-or-break situation, as they sit in third place in the Big Ten on the power play with 12 goals.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, the whole LIU team was thankful for the win but even more so for the culture and community being created with LIU hockey as a whole, with 526 fans in attendance Friday night.
“Great crowd, great college hockey atmosphere. Kids might still be signing autographs. So that was kind of the vision when this thing started was to build hockey in Long Island, and to see it come to life in some respect is super cool,” Riley said.
Next Up: LIU hosts Ohio State again Saturday night at 8 P.M eastern at Northwell Health Ice Center and can be streamed on ESPN+.
