Hockey: Doherty's top line tears up Lancers

Doherty’s top line has started the season on a tear with a combined 18 goals and 17 assists. Not only are seniors Dusty Kachel and Evan Weidner finding the back of the net, but so is sophomore Patrick Alldredge.

Doherty’s offensive trio all extended their season-long point streaks to five games, and the Spartans used four unanswered second-period goals to pick up their first Peak Conference victory of the season 6-3 over Liberty on Monday night at Sertich Ice Center.

“All three of those guys together are kind of like a miracle in works,” said Doherty coach Will English. “It’s kind of a gift for us right now. The younger guys are seeing that, and they then get on the bandwagon.”

Alldredge scored the first of Doherty’s four unanswered second-period goals when he skated down the left side of the Spartans’ offensive zone and fired a shot past Alex White to give the Spartans a 3-2 lead with 12:20 left in the period.

“I just felt that I needed to dig deep right there and put the puck in the net to kind of get the team motivated,” Alldredge said.

Liberty (0-5, 0-2 Peak Conference) had a chance to tie the score at 3 with 8:56 remaining in the period when the Lancers earned a power play, but Kachel, Doherty’s captain, scored short-handed 9 seconds into the penalty kill on a breakaway to make it 4-2.

“We have a strong first line. They are leading the team but we have depth,” English said. “That is one thing in our favor. Our second, third and even our fourth line contributed tons today with their roles.”

Ty Snyder highlighted his three-point night with two power-play goals within the final 6 minutes of the period to make it 6-2, and Doherty (4-1, 1-1) never looked back.

Liberty had jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Matt Myers scored on a breakaway with 5:59 left in the first period. He also tied the game at 2 33 seconds into the second period when the senior split three defenders and deked past Spartan goalie Jared Wolf.

“We need to put more pucks on net,” Myers said referencing the team’s 13 shots. “It shows that we are getting more goals when we put it on net. This is the highest-scoring game (for us) and definitely proves that if we put the puck on net we are going to get some goals.”