All five Liberty hockey teams dialed in for ACHA, AAU nationals

For the first time in program history, Liberty University will send all five of its men's and women's hockey teams to their respective national championships, with the ACHA Division I and II men's and women's teams all competing at the Centene Community Ice Center near St. Louis from March 9-17 and the DIII men playing in the AAU National Championships from March 8-13 in West Chester, Pa.

"There's lots of energy out here, which is good," Flames DI Head Coach Kirk Handy said as Monday afternoon's practice at the LaHaye Ice Center wound down. "We're just trying to make sure that we're in a good spot come Saturday and I believe we're in a great spot. All five times are looking to make a good run here. At this point, you just have to go and win games. That's going to be the key for us. Once we get there and the excitement's around us, it's going to be great. Our guys will be ready to go."

Seeded No. 7 in the final regular-season ACHA national rankings, the Flames (20-9-1) will receive a first-round bye at nationals and await the winner between No. 10 University of Mary (N.D.) and No. 23 West Chester (Pa.) in the second round on Saturday at 5:45 p.m. EST. (View the entire tournament brackets on the ACHA's National Championships website.)

With a win, Liberty would advance to play the winner between No. 2 Adrian (Mich.) College and the winner between No. 11 Purdue Northwest and No. 22 Indiana University Pennsylvania in Sunday's quarterfinals.

The Flames split two series with the 2021 national champion Bulldogs this season, at home and away.

For nine Flames players — eight forwards and graduate goalie Hunter Virostek — the national tournament will be their final time sporting Liberty's colors. They are eager to go out as the first men's hockey national champions in program history.

"I think we have a really solid chance and a really solid team to go all the way this year," said junior forward Jacob Kalandyk, the Flames' leading scorer with 19 goals, including five game winners, and 22 assists. "Everyone's just getting healthy here, so we'll have a full team here to do something special. We're all just really excited to get there. Everyone on the team has that brotherly love where they play for each other and they're playing for this university and playing to glorify God."

Handy said the opportunity to be ambassadors for Christ wherever they go, from Finland — where they led a sports outreach for the second time in four years in early January — to St. Louis, where they will be competing at nationals for the third time in four years, is the team's top priority.

"It's the way that we treat people, it's our attitude, it's our actions, all the things we're going to do," he said. "Are we going to be representatives of what Liberty's all about? That's our goal every time."

Overcoming adversity is a trademark of the Flames, and they may have to stage a few upsets along the way to complete their journey to a first Murdoch Cup.

"There's always going to be some ups and downs, but … we always just bounce back, come together as a team, and we always grow and learn from our mistakes," he said. "We've had one of the hardest schedules this whole year, so we're going to be really battle-tested to give it our best. We just battle with everyone, and that's what we'll have to take into nationals."

Kalandyk said the team has remained fully focused on refining its game on the ice as well as developing team chemistry and growing spiritually throughout the season, and is now prepared to embark on a leap of faith after Wednesday's 12-14-hour bus trip to St. Louis.

"Our intensity's been really good these last few weeks," he said. "We've been putting in a lot of work and now we've just got to go execute and show everyone what we can do. Physically, we'll be really ready to go and mentally, we'll have some time there to get settled in and just get focused in on games. Everyone, every shift has to know that this could be our last game. So I think if we play with that edge … we're going to do something special out there."

Carly-Glover-Liberty-Adrian — Liberty's ACHA DI women's hockey team returns Carly Glover from an injury against Adrian at the 2023 nationals near Boston. (Photo by Brooke McDuffee)

The Lady Flames' top-ranked, record-setting five-time-defending ACHA DI women's hockey national champions carry the most momentum into nationals, having won their fourth WMCH Tournament title in five years from Feb. 22-24 at the LaHaye Ice Center.

Liberty (21-4-2) defeated second-ranked, defending tournament champion Midland (Neb.) University, which dealt it two of its four losses this season, 3-2 in the final. The Lady Flames edged Minot State by the same score in last season's national championship final near Boston, and they will be seeking their seventh title since 2015 near St. Louis.

"We had a good conference tournament, which was big for us to start the postseason on a high note," Liberty Head Coach Chris Lowes said. "Our best prep for nationals was playing in the WMCH. That's the benefit of being a part of the toughest conference in the country; every game has a national-level feel to it."

Both Liberty and No. 2-seeded Midland will receive byes through the first two rounds next week before playing in the quarterfinals on March 15, with the Lady Flames facing the lowest remaining seed from the 10-team tournament at 8 p.m. EST.

"Every tournament's a bit of an unknown, and since we won't know who we play, we get the benefit of waiting and seeing," Lowes said. "We are not worried too early about our Game 1 opponent. We are just focused on ourselves, trying to dial in and be ready to play our best hockey."

He said he has witnessed the fruit of the team's labor throughout the season in recent workouts leading up to nationals.

"The energy and the compete level has been really good in practice, and I've liked our attention to detail," said Lowes, who has challenged his veteran players to set a high standard for the underclassmen. "We get to push each other every day, and make sure we're ready to fire on all cylinders when we need to. When we get ready for game time, we should be buzzing."

If the Lady Flames are able to advance to the March 17 championship game, Lowes expects all three games to be tightly contested, and he likes his team's chances of coming out on top.
"Our talent is super balanced, and we've got good depth, so I like how we stack up," he said. "It is a matter of putting nine good periods together. We are excited to get there, excited to finish hard in this last week of practice, and then go out and do our thing."

DII-mens-hockey-Josh-Martin — Sophomore forward Josh Martin skates past a Lindenwood defenseman at the LIC. (Photo by Matt Reynolds)

For the fifth season in a row, rather than having to qualify by winning two games at the Southeast Regional tournament, Liberty's ACHA Division II men advanced to nationals with an autobid for finishing in the top two in the final Southeast Region rankings. The Flames will have to win their pool, with games against Providence on March 11, Army on March 12, and top-seeded Lindenwood on March 13, to advance to the March 14 semifinals, with the championship game set for March 15.

Ranked No. 3 in the nation, Liberty was placed in the same pool as No. 2 Lindenwood. After losing three of four meetings with the Lions during the regular season, Flames Head Coach Ben Hughes has been in communication with Lindenwood Head Coach Gary Gardner in the weeks leading up to next Wednesday's showdown, which could determine which team advances to the March 14 semifinal round.

"(We) were texting back and forth, and basically said, 'Let's make sure that third game matters,'" Hughes said on the last Rock the Rink podcast, noting that at last year's nationals near Boston, the top-seeded Flames were eliminated from their pool after being upset in the first game by No. 4-seeded Iowa. "Not to get too far ahead but … it's one game at a time."

Hughes, Assistant Coach Christian Garland, and their players are taking the right mindset into the tournament.

"We've got to play Lindenwood, sure, but you're going to have to play a team like a Florida (Gulf Coast University) or another top team at some point, so you might as well get right after it and build that momentum," Hughes said.

Liberty's DIII men, which were knocked out by High Point in the first round of the ACCHL Tournament in Winston-Salem, N.C., late Friday night, are seeded sixth out of 20 teams in the AAU Division II national championships. The Flames will have to defeat No. 5 Bishop's University, a team from Quebec, Canada, as well as No. 11 Clemson and No. 16 Vanderbilt to get out of their pool and reach the Final Four.

Meanwhile, the Lady Flames' DII squad qualified for nationals for the first time in four seasons, set for March 12-16. As the No. 4 seed out of the Southeast Region, Liberty (11-7-2) may have to stage three upsets to advance out of its pool, competing against Providence (R.I., 17-1-2, No. 1 in the Northeast Region) on March 12 at 11 a.m. EST at Maryville University Hockey Center in Chesterfield, Mo.; Delaware (16-4-1, No. 2 in Southeast) on March 13 at 4 p.m. EST at Maryville; and St. Thomas (Minn., 13-0, No. 3 in the West) on March 14 at 4:15 p.m. at the Centene Center's Plager Arena.

All games at the ACHA National Championships will be streamed live on FloHockey.TV.

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

Izzy Crossman DII women — Sophomore forward Izzy Crossman is tied with three teammates for the DII women's hockey scoring lead with 15 points. (Photo by Aziz Abrahim)

All five Liberty hockey teams dialed in for ACHA, AAU nationals

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Players Mentioned

Jacob Kalandyk

Hunter Virostek

All five Liberty hockey teams dialed in for ACHA, AAU nationals

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jacob Kalandyk

Hunter Virostek

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