Flames seek to extend seven-game win streak against Seawolves in weekend home series

Jackson-Vercellono-Liberty-Stony-Brook — Graduate forward Jackson Vercellono battles two Seawolves in last fall semester's sweep of Stony Brook at the LaHaye Ice Center.

Maintaining consistent effort and intensity from the opening faceoff to the final buzzer will be an emphasis for Liberty University's ACHA Division I men's hockey team as it entertains former ESCHL rival Stony Brook this weekend.

Coming off back-to-back series splits at No. 1 Adrian College and at home against No. 9 Maryville University, the No. 6-ranked Flames will look to extend their recent dominance against the Seawolves by completing their third sweep of the season against ESCHL foes. Liberty dominated Delaware at home in late September and Pittsburgh on the road in early October.

"Our No. 1 focus is coming out with a great start, unlike what we did (last) weekend," Flames junior forward and head captain Sam Feamster said after a 3-2 loss to the Saints in Saturday's rematch at the LIC. "If we come out this weekend and play from the drop of the puck like we did in the third period (against Maryville), it's going to be a great weekend for us."

The Flames have dealt with injuries and suspensions lately, with a depleted defensive corps forcing them to call up sophomore Connor Diem from the DII squad and injuries to freshman forward Mac Ratzlaff and sophomore forward Ryan Finch prompting the promotion of Eric Abbate, a senior forward on the DIII team, for last Saturday's second game against Marysville.

"We've got to clean up our D zone a little bit," Feamster said. "Hopefully, we can get some guys healthy this week. It seems like we're already plagued with injuries in October, but it's a hard game. Our medical staff is awesome and they're going to do everything they can to get those guys back (this) weekend."

In the meantime, the Flames have added junior forward Thomas Kayner, who has netted three goals and distributed 11 assists for the DII team this season, to the roster for this weekend.

Scouting Preview for Games 11-12: Stony Brook (3-2-1) at No. 6 Liberty (7-3), Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. at the LaHaye Ice Center. Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+.

All-time series: Liberty leads 40-18-3, winning the last seven meetings including all four in the 2023-24 season.

Liberty Scouting Report: The Flames have outscored opponents by a 48-17 margin this season and have excelled on the penalty kill (88.1 success rate) while struggling on the power play (capitalizing 22.3 percent of the time).

The attack has been sparked by Feamster (6 goals, including two shorthanded, two power-play, and one game-winning, 5 assists) as well as junior defenseman Nick Pomerleau (11A). They are followed by four freshmen forwards — Michael DeBrito (6G, 4A), Ratzlaff (5G, 4A), Liam Cox-Smith (3G, 5A), and Tucker Shields (3G, 5A) — and sophomore Mason Smith (3G, 5A).

Between the pipes, sophomore Konrad Kausch (4-1, 1.00 goals-against average, 96.8 save percentage) earned his second shutout of the season in Game 1 against the Saints. Junior fellow NCAA Division III transfer Nicholas Bernstein (3-2, 2.36 GAA, 92.8 SP, 1 SO) has played well enough to continue platooning in the blue ice.

Stony Brook Scouting Report: After opening the season with a home-and-home split with ESCHL rival New York University, winning their first game at The Rinks on Long Island before losing the rematch at NYU's Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers, the Seawolves have gone 2-1-1 at The Rinks the past two weekends, sweeping Oswego after being swept by Niagara.

Offensively, Stony Brook is paced by Justin Nakagawa (6G, including 2 game-winning goals, 5A in 6 games) and fellow forward James Kozicki (2G, 5A) as well as defenseman Colin Wenrich (1G, 5A) and forward William Kormanik (3G, 1A).

In goal, Scott Barnikow (2-1-1, 2.68 GAA, 93.2 SP) has played the majority of minutes with quality backup from Garrett Simpson (1-1, 1.50 GAA, 92.9 SP, 1 SO).

Coaches: Kirk Handy, who played for the Flames from 1996-2000 and was named to the ACCHL Hall of Fame in 2015, is in his 25th season as head coach at Liberty and has a career record of 547-224-33 behind the bench. Stony Brook Head Coach Chris Garafalo is in his 15th season at the helm after totaling more than 100 points as a player for the Seawolves from 1992-96. He sports a record of 275-124-31.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media

Flames seek to extend seven-game win streak against Seawolves in weekend home series

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Players Mentioned

Nicholas Bernstein

Liam Cox-Smith

Ryan Finch

Konrad Kausch

Mac Ratzlaff

Tucker Shields

Mason Smith