DI Flames will try to train Dragons in semester-ending home series

Midnight Mayhem fans — Flames fans get fired up for the season's first Midnight Mayhem game, an 8-3 domination of Delaware on Oct. 4 at the LaHaye Ice Center.

Fully rested and revitalized after Thanksgiving Break, Liberty University's No. 3-ranked ACHA Division I men's hockey team is motivated to close out the fall semester with high-intensity performances in this weekend's first-ever series against No. 25 Drexel University, starting with the second of the season's three Midnight Mayhem matchups late Friday night.

"Midnight games are always fun for us to play in," said Flames senior forward and alternate captain Jacob Kalandyk, who scored twice in three wins at the Nov. 22-24 Maryville (Mo.) University Showcase. "It will be a good way to end the semester, for sure. We pretty much have everyone back (from injuries) now, so it's good timing to … have these two games right before (Christmas) Break. We're all excited and all happy with how we played in St. Louis, so we're just going to keep building off of that."

Liberty Head Coach Kirk Handy said in addition to raising their ranking from No. 7 to No. 3 in ACHA Division I, the sweep of the host Saints, then-No. 1 Minot State, and Arizona in the Maryville Showcase has fueled the Flames in practice as they refine their games in preparation for a return to the St. Louis area for the ACHA DI National Championships in March.

"We want to finish (the semester) strong," Handy said. "We have a lot of great energy and momentum from our trip to St. Louis and that's transferred into practices this week."

Though Drexel now competes in the ESCHL, the conference Liberty was a member of from 2016-21, the Flames have never faced the Dragons. Liberty had its scheduled Spring 2022 semester-opening home series canceled due to Drexel's COVID-19 travel policies.

"No matter who we're playing, we just need to play our game, stick to our system and we'll be fine," Kalandyk said, noting that the Dragons just moved into the ACHA DI Top 25. "Having that sweep in St. Louis was huge and beating Minot (State) and all that, so we're going in the right direction especially timing-wise, right before (Winter) Break, it's good to go into break with a nice win streak."

Handy said the Flames have ramped up their offensive systems, and especially become more effective on special teams as the season has progressed.

"We're looking forward to (executing in all phases this weekend)," Handy said. "Our special teams have looked good this week. Our power play had struggled for a bit and it was great in St. Louis. Sometimes, that's all you need to kind of get going again. We've got all four of our lines scoring and we've had great goaltending, so I think we're sitting in a good spot going into the weekend."

Kalandyk said the Flames put it all together at the Maryville Showcase.

"Everyone was bought in competing hard," he said. "We went into every game taking that as a national type of environment and we just played those games like they were our last games of the year and we had everyone playing and competing and we found success doing that."

He expects that to become the team's mode of operation as it closes out the fall semester and sharpens its skills over Winter Break to be ready to take its game to the next level over the final 12 regular-season games in the spring semester.

"Just staying focused every day," said Kalandyk, who will be one of six Liberty representatives on Team USA at the FISU Winter World University Games, Jan. 13-23 in Torino, Italy. "It's easy to get distracted going into a long Winter Break, but I think everyone's really bought in and everyone's feeling really good. We're focusing every day on just staying dialed into our systems and focusing on us growing as a team."

Scouting Preview, Games 20-21: No. 25 Drexel (11-3) at No. 3 Liberty (12-5-2), Friday at 11:59 p.m., Saturday at 7 p.m. in the LaHaye Ice Center. Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+. Saturday's rematch will be the annual Teddy Bear toss contest, with fans encouraged to bring a new or gently used stuffed animal to throw onto the ice after the Flames' first goal to be collected and donated to the nearby Gleaning for the World's Teddy Bear Brigade.

All-time series: This will be the first meeting between the Flames and Dragons.

Liberty Scouting Report: The Flames have featured incredibly balanced scoring production with a dozen players in double figures in points, paced by junior forward and head captain Sam Feamster (7 goals, 10 assists), sophomore forward Mason Smith (7G, 10A), and junior defenseman Nick Pomerleau (17A), who are in a three-way tie for the points lead. Close behind, graduate forward Jackson Vercellono (9G, 7A) is tied for the most power-play (three, along with Kalandyk and DeBrito) and game-winning goals (two, along with senior forward Truett Olson). Vercellono is followed on the scoring leaders list by freshmen forwards Mac Ratzlaff (7G, 7A), Liam Cox-Smith (7G, 5A), Michael DeBrito (6G, 6A), and Tucker Shields (3G, 9A) along with junior defenseman Laz Kaebel (6G, 6A).

Kalandyk (8G, 3A) is tied with freshmen forwards Kal Essenmacher (7G, 4A) and Hayden DeMars (4G, 7A) for 10th place among scoring leaders.

Between the pipes, sophomore Konrad Kausch (8-2, 1.69 goals-against average, 95.0 save percentage, 3 shutouts) — who will join Kalandyk as well as Kaebel, DeBrito, and sophomore forward Ryan Finch on Team USA in Italy next month — has had the hottest glove of late, starting all three games at Maryville. He is complemented by junior Nicholas Bernstein (4-3, 2.75 GAA, 92.0 SP, 1 SO), who will be relied upon for the spring-semester opening home series Jan. 17-18 against No. 11 Calvin (Mich.) University with Kausch overseas.

Drexel Scouting Report: The Dragons have six players in double-digits in scoring, with their sixth-leading scorer, forward Jimmy Jacobs (10G, 1A) leading the team with four game-winning goals and four scored on the power play. Their top scorer, forward Ryan Sambuco (4G, 17A), has accounted for more than one-third of the team's assists. Anton Kozitskiy (10G, 5A) ranks second in scoring, followed by fellow forward Matt Harris (8G, 5A) and defenseman Benjamin Birkhahn (2G, 11A).

In goal, Drexel has platooned Ryan Nocerino (6-2, 2.25 GAA, 94.2 SP) and Jared Treat (5-1, 2.94 GAA, 92.5 SP).

Coaches: Handy is in his 25th season as head coach for the Flames, with a career record of 550-226-35. Tyler Woyshner, a former Dragons player, is in his second season at the helm for Drexel and sports a 30-18-2 record.

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

DI Flames will try to train Dragons in semester-ending home series

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Players Mentioned

Nicholas Bernstein

Liam Cox-Smith

Hayden DeMars

Kal Essenmacher

Ryan Finch

Jacob Kalandyk

Konrad Kausch

Truett Olson

Mac Ratzlaff

Tucker Shields

Mason Smith

Jackson Vercellono