Sophomore forward Mason Smith, shown controlling the puck against Niagara last February at the LaHaye Ice Center, ranks fourth among the Flames scoring leaders. (Photos by Ryan Anderson)
DI Flames to duel Purple Eagles after visiting Niagara Falls, serving with local church
10/30/2024 5:12:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey
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Liberty will work alongside former Assistant Coach Jake Hannon at New Covenant Church's youth night on Halloween before playing two afternoon games at Niagara on Friday and Saturday.
Liberty University's ACHA Division I men's hockey team left early Wednesday morning to spend the evening at Niagara Falls before serving on Thursday night alongside former Flames player, assistant coach, and team chaplain Jake Hannon, now a youth pastor at New Covenant Church in Buffalo, N.Y.
On Halloween, the Flames will assist Hannon at a Youth & Young Adult Worship Party, seeking to engage Gen Z members of the community through games and food as well as corporate worship and prayer.
"We're going to leave early, visit the Falls and do some mission work while we are there and represent Liberty University well," freshman forward Tucker Shields said. "However they need us and want to allocate our time and the team, we'll be there to help."
Hannon played hockey at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., and later gave his life to the Lord after meeting FCA Hockey Director Rick Randazzo, an Army alumnus who is in the process of relocating his headquarters from Alexandria, Minn., to Lynchburg, Va. After working with the Flames' DI squad in a ministerial role, Hannon served as FCA's Metro Director for Buffalo from 2015 until recently joining the staff as a youth pastor at New Covenant.
On the ice, Shields is looking forward to Friday's and Saturday's afternoon showdowns with Niagara University, a former ESCHL rival of the Flames.
"Any time you get to spend away with the boys, it's really exciting, and I think we have prepared well all week," Shields said. "It's going to be a very good challenge. Niagara has a lot of skill. They're a very good team and we have a lot of respect for them. They're a very hard-working, very fast team and we're ready for them. We practiced hard, and watched a lot of video, taking a look at all of their systems, trying to figure out what they do and how we can counteract that and better our play."
Off the ice, Shields is even more excited about the chance to use hockey as a platform to share his faith, as every team at Liberty does. He said he sees road trips as opportunities to share the Gospel.
"The culture here at Liberty in general is always very missions-minded," Shields said. "We're always trying to recruit and disciple someone who hasn't found Jesus in their heart, and we're always preaching the Lord. The Great Commission calls us to represent the Lord as well as we can and help people who haven't found the Lord to find the Lord."
"That is one of the big reasons we pray at center ice after the games obviously, to glorify the Lord, but we also invite all other teams and players to pray with us and that's a good way to represent who we are at Liberty and what the Gospel's about," he added.
Scouting Preview for Games 13-14: No. 6 Liberty (9-3) at No. 13 Niagara (9-1), Friday and Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Dwyer Arena in Niagara Falls, N.Y. Both games will be streamed live by FloHockey.
All-time series: The Flames have won six of the last seven meetings with the Purple Eagles, splitting the regular-season-ending series with them last February, starting with a Rock & Glow Night setback at the LaHaye Ice Center, after sweeping them in 2022, starting with a Hawaiian-themed Midnight Mayhem matchup.
Liberty Scouting Report: Starting on the same line as graduate forward Jackson Vercellono and senior forward Aleksandr Charin this week, Shields said the combination has clicked in practices.
"We move the puck really well and we have very good chemistry," he said. "As long as we work hard and do our job, us three are going to work really well together this weekend."
However, he knows the trio may be temporary with Head Coach Kirk Handy still experimenting with all four of his forward lines.
"We're a very deep team, and we're very flexible," Shields said. "We have the liberty to be flexible with our forward lines and our D pairings and kind of mix and match however the game sees fit, adapting to what we need to on the fly."
Shields, who at 6-feet, 2-inches tall is a formidable presence in front of the net, contributes to both the Flames' power play and penalty kill units.
"My strength relies on my 200-foot play," he said. "I'm a pretty unique centerman in the way I can kind of dominate both sides of the puck, both defensively and offensively, to put the puck in the net and chip in defensively, too."
Special teams were a point of emphasis from Assistant Coaches Daniel Berthiaume and Jonathan Chung in practices this week.
"We're touching up our PK systems, some of our power play systems, how we want to approach certain situations out on the ice," said Shields, who plays on the same power-play team as junior forward and head captain Sam Feamster, sophomore forward Ryan Finch, senior forward and alternate captain Jacob Kalandyk, and fellow freshman forward Liam Cox-Smith. "Our unit's working really well. We're very dynamic getting shots through. We've got skill to make plays so we're excited to see how that works out this weekend."
The Flames, who have outscored opponents 59-24 this season, have converted 20 percent of their power-play chances while their penalty kill unit has been successful 86 percent of the time.
Offensively, junior defenseman Nick Pomerleau is Liberty's leading scorer with 14 assists, followed closely by Feamster (6 goals, 7A), freshman forward Michael DeBrito (6G, 6A), sophomore forward Mason Smith (5G, 6A), Vercellono (6G, 4A), and Cox-Smith (5G, 5A). Junior defenseman Kevin Bite skates the puck up the ice against the Purple Eagles last February.
Defensively, the Flames are bolstered by juniors Kevin Bite, Laz Kaebel, and Pomerleau as well as senior Nate Cox.
In goal, the Flames have platooned two NCAA Division III transfers, sophomore Konrad Kausch (5-1, 1.17 goals-against average, 96.3 save percentage, 2 shutouts) and junior Nicholas Bernstein (4-2, 2.80 GAA, 91.7 SP, 1 SO).
Niagara Scouting Report: Fresh off a split with No. 15 Maryville University,, the Purple Eagles have five players with 10 points or more through 10 games, paced by forwards Charlie Belanger and Jakob Kalin (who both have 8 goals, including 2 game winners, and 5 assists), and Tristan Taillefer (7G, 4A), defenseman Quinn Schneidmiller (4G, 6A), and forward AJ Vasko (3G, 7A).
Between the pipes, Niagara has rotated in Brady McEwan (5-1, 2.19 GAA, 92.8 SP), Jacob Dubinsky (3-0, 1.69 GAA, 94.1 SP, 1 SO), and Josh Lacelle (1-0, 1.00 GAA, 97.0 SP).
Coaches: Kirk Handy, in his 25th season as head coach, sports a career record of 547-224-33. Tom Mooradian is in his fifth season at the Purple Eagles' helm and boasts a 69-27-3 mark.
