It may have been viewed as a slight disadvantage, but the Freedom ice hockey team just did not have the numbers to throw on to the ice Parkland did.

With nine healthy skaters, including their goalie, the Patriots could not even rotate two full lines.

Even with those low numbers, though, Freedom (5-10 overall) made this one a game. Trailing just 2-1 midway through the third period, all of those minutes of ice time may have finally caught up to the Patriots. Parkland (12-0-1) would go on to score four goals in the last eight minutes of the contest to pull away and win 6-1.

"We just didn't have the numbers that we wanted," said head coach Brandon Zittrer. "It's tough to play a great team like Parkland for a full game while you're down some guys. I'm proud of how well we played."

A big reason behind the Patriots good start was the play of goaltender Jarrett Ballister. Ballister made 67 saves, stopping 67-of-73 shots that the Trojans put on net.

The teams would go scoreless in the opening period, and then trade goals in the second, before Parkland took the lead with a goal from Andrew Loomis.

Ben Zager opened the scoring just 25 seconds into the second period, but Brendan Driscoll tied it up with a goal of his own, his 19th of the season which is third best in the league.

In the final period, the Trojans opened it up. With three full lines to throw at the Patriots, Parkland found the net four times. Zager tallied two, and Connor Breinich and Timmy Doe each contributed one a piece to put the game away.

Freedom has one more regular season game against Northampton, who sits right ahead of them in the standings.