Three-goal first period lifts No. 4 Liberty over defending national champion Bulldogs

Friday, January 31

Lynchburg, VA

7:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Adrian College

DI men's hockey Hayden DeMars vs. Adrian

Flames freshman forward Hayden DeMars scored the second goal in a three-goal first period to ignite Liberty's offense against Adrian College, Friday night at the LaHaye Ice Center. (Photos by Matt Reynolds)

Three-goal first period lifts No. 4 Liberty over defending national champion Bulldogs

1/31/2025 11:30:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey

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Liberty will look to sweep Adrian (Mich.) College for the first time since they accomplished the feat against the then-No. 1-ranked team at the LIC in late February 2020.

Gallery: (1-31-2025) DI men's hockey vs. Adrian Game 1

Challenging the reigning ACHA Division I national champions at the LaHaye Ice Center, Liberty University's No. 4-ranked men's hockey team came out firing on all cylinders for Friday night's series opener, netting three goals in the first period and holding on for a 3-1 victory over No. 6 Adrian (Mich.) College (21-2-2).

Just 28 seconds after the opening faceoff — following a ceremonial puck drop by new Club Sports Hall of Fame inductee and former DI women's hockey two-time national champion goalie Chantal Kerr — Tucker Shields started the scoring by taking a pass from fellow freshman forward Brad Barker and ripping a wrist shot from the inside edge of the right circle past Bulldogs goalie Noah DeCottignies to get the Flames (17-5-4) out to a quick 1-0 lead.

"It was a great start," Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy said. "Kal (Essenmacher), Brad (Barker), and Mason (Smith) got us off to a great start. They had a great first shift and played a great game tonight. They had a lot of jump for us and were physical and they brought it the whole night tonight."

Then, at the 13:54 mark, Liberty doubled its lead to 2-0 when senior forward and alternate captain Jacob Kalandyk stole a pass in the right crease and deftly sent a backhanded feed into the slot where freshman forward Hayden DeMars slammed it home.

"We were really good on the forecheck tonight and caused a lot of turnovers and capitalized a lot in the first," said Kalandyk, who switched to center last week to fill in for injured senior head captain Sam Feamster. "Everyone was just playing hard and playing aggressive."

The Flames extended their advantage to 3-0 with 6:54 to play in the first period on a shot from the right corner by freshman forward Kal Essenmacher that deflected off DeCottignies' stick — behind freshman forward Michael DeBrito's cut in front of the cage — and into the upper netting, ending his night.

"It went off the goalie's stick or a defenseman's stick, but again it was a great forecheck," Kalandyk said. "We got a turnover and we put it on net and luckily it just went in. The way we started was huge and we carried that momentum on for the whole game."

Liberty killed off a penalty after a crushing check into the boards by sophomore forward Mason Smith. Freshman forward Mac Ratzlaff, who had narrowly missed finishing off a cross-crease feed in front, nearly capitalized on a shorthanded opportunity before striking replacement goalie Peyton Trzaska in the facemask with a solid shot from deep in the left circle after the PK expired.

"We were getting a lot of good looks and scoring chances and hit a lot of posts and crossbars," Kalandyk said. "We've got to keep doing that (in Saturday's rematch)."

The Flames' top line of graduate Jackson Vercellono, senior Truett Olson, and DeBrito, filling in for Kalandyk, generated a few more quality scoring chances late in the period, including at 4-on-4 for the final minute, with Shields also getting off a quality shot from inside the left circle.

Liberty killed off another penalty early in the second period as sophomore goalie Konrad Kausch made a few clutch saves under heavy fire.

"Our penalty kill was excellent tonight," Handy said. "It's been excellent most of the year and you kill off penalties against a team like that, you're doing something right."

With 3:36 left in the period, the Bulldogs finally broke through to end the shutout, crashing the cage with Matthew DiCesare beating Kausch from a sharp angle in the right crease.

Liberty outshot Adrian 35-31 on the night and Kausch made 30 saves as the Flames' penalty kill unit returned to full strength after being shorthanded with some of its top players representing Team USA at the Winter World University Games in Italy earlier this month.

"It feels good being back and having everyone back and being healthy," Kalandyk said. "It was a good goalie battle today (and) Kausch stood on his head. It was a great game by him. Our PK was great. We didn't give up any great scoring chances for them. We blocked a lot of shots and kept them to the outside and that made Konrad's job a lot easier."

Kausch made a quality save of an Adrian shot and follow before stopping a final counterattack when the Bulldogs were whistled for a penalty at the buzzer, putting the Flames on the power play to start the third period, as they were again to end the game.

"We were pretty disciplined overall tonight and our PK was excellent," Handy said. "We had a lot of guys who came to play tonight and that's what we preach to them is these last eight games we've got are nationals games, every single one of them. So let's play each one, empty the tank, and come back tomorrow ready to play a big 60 minutes again."

The Flames and Bulldogs, who have split the last five series, will battle again Saturday at 1 p.m. back in the LIC.

"It's quick (turnaround) for everyone, which is good," Handy said. "That's something you could have at nationals where sometimes you play in the evening and play the next day earlier, so we're going to be prepared for it. This is what we do down the stretch is prepare like every game is a game at nationals. Those guys have an excellent team over there and that's why we love this time of year and playing these teams. It makes us battle-tested."

"We're headed in the right direction right now, so we've just got to keep going every day and get better and better," Kalandyk added.

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