Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Fourth men’s hockey Hall of Fame inductee Bauman brought fire to the ice for the Flames
4/12/2023 12:01:30 PM | Men's D1 Hockey, Men's D2 Hockey, Varsity Club
Leadership ability and a knack for scoring as well as levying punishing checks were a few of of Zac Bauman’s strengths that he brought to Liberty University’s ACHA Division I men’s hockey team.
A three-year captain for the Flames, Bauman (’10, ’13) is the program’s all-time leader in penalty minutes (532, including a single-season record of 189 as a freshman) as well as its seventh-leading goal-scorer (82) and eighth-leading point producer (166), factoring in his 84 assists.
“I tried to hit everything that moved and to help in any way I could everywhere else on the ice,” said Bauman, a right wing from Ontario who played three seasons with the Elmira Sugar Kings of the Mid-Western Junior Hockey League. “I don’t know how many 10-minute penalties I had in my career, and disqualifications for fighting. I played a really aggressive style and I had enough skills that I could contribute as well.”
Bauman will be the fourth men’s hockey player inducted into the Club Sports Hall of Fame this Friday at noon at The Virginian in downtown Lynchburg. He follows defenseman Dave Semenyna (’10, inducted in 2015), the Flames’ all-time leading scorer who was his alternate captain his last three years and will be his presenter on Friday, forward and second-leading scorer Kyle Dodgson (’10, inducted in 2017), and goalie Mike Binnie (’08, ’10, inducted in 2019).
Bauman’s leadership style reflects that of Head Coach Kirk Handy, who instills a positive work ethic in his players.
“I’ve always prided myself on working harder than anybody else, working hard and leading by example, but also speaking when needed to,” Bauman said. “I always asked ‘How can we be the best team we can be and reach the goals of being in nationals?’ I found it was by pushing everybody every day.”
He said he was also diligent in remaining spiritually disciplined, honed-in and grounded in his faith.
“My faith certainly evolved during my time at Liberty,” said Bauman, who previously played junior hockey in Canada and admitted he was rather profane on the ice. “I bring a lot of passion when I play sports, and it was admittedly one area where, when I was on the ice, I was pretty verbal and words coming out of my mouth were not so Christlike. I carried some of that with me my freshman year at Liberty (but) I’ve gotten to be more thoughtful about it over time.”
God had changed his heart and his vocabulary by the time he was first selected as a head captain his sophomore season.
“We wanted to do things in a way that honors Christ, who was the cornerstone of what we were doing,” Bauman said, noting that God rewarded that approach. “We went to nationals every year, and made it to semifinals my sophomore year.”
That year, the Flames ended Penn State University’s 10-year stretch of appearing in ACHA DI national championship games in the quarterfinals before falling to Illinois in their first Final Four.
Bauman arrived at Liberty the year the LaHaye Ice Center opened in 2006. He remembers the team commuting to Roanoke for practices and games the year he visited for a College For A Weekend (CFAW) event, and remarked that the elevation of the program has continued since then.
“From the time I started to the time I left, they completely transformed the locker room,” he said, noting that players were previously required to provide their own gear and equipment, including sticks and gloves. “Toward the end of when I played, we got pants, gloves, sticks, and a lot of workout track gear. It was pretty cool to see the program evolve (but) nothing compares to transformation between then and now. It certainly has grown a lot more since I was there.”
Bauman’s skills as a leader and a developer continued after he completed his B.S. in Business Finance with a minor in psychology in 2010 as a two-time ACHA Academic All-American, and after adding an MBA in Marketing in 2013.
While pursuing his master’s degree, he spent part of the 2010-11 season on the Division II men's team and served as a Club Sports graduate assistant before being promoted to director of concessions and business operations coordinator from 2010-13. He also helped launch the Lady Flames’ ACHA Division II women’s hockey team, serving as their head coach the first two seasons.
“Club Sports started a lot of new teams during that time, and it was pretty cool to see the program expanding,” Bauman said.
He went on to work for Dell Technologies and now serves as chief of staff to the CFO at Shutterfly based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where he has thrived working in high-pressure environments while being a team player who strives to continue to learn and grow while driving business results.
“I have spent a lot of my career in corporate/commercial finance operational roles and in business transformation,” Bauman said.
He and his wife, Melissa (’12), have two children — a 3-year-old daughter, Blake, and son, Brooks, who turns 2 this month.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
