Freshman forward Cooper Fredericks skates against Lindenwood earlier this month at the LaHaye Ice Center. (Photos by Ryan Anderson)
DII Flames sweep RedHawks to extend winning streak to four
10/27/2025 10:08:00 PM | Men's D2 Hockey
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Liberty will conclude fall semester play at the Nov. 14-16 Lindenwood Showcase near St. Louis, site of the ACHA National Championships.
Liberty University's ACHA Division II men's hockey team extended its winning streak to four games by sweeping Miami (Ohio) University, winning Friday's opener 5-1 and Saturday's rematch 4-1 to improve to 7-8 on the season and pull closer to the rival RedHawks (7-5) in the Southeast Regional standings.
"Things looked pretty grim at the start of the semester, but we've outscored opponents 18-3 in the last four games, so we've almost climbed out of the hole," Flames Assistant Coach Josh Graham said.
Despite being outshot by Miami by a 53-30 margin in the opener and failing to capitalize on any of its seven power-play opportunities, Liberty prevailed by netting four unanswered goals in the first period, sparked by back-to-back scores by freshman forward Cooper Fredericks in a span of 30 seconds.
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Fredericks scored three goals against Miami (Ohio) over the weekend at the LIC.
Fredericks started the scoring with the teams skating 4-on-4 with a snipe of a wrist shot immediately after senior forward Antonio Vidal won a right-circle faceoff, beating Miami goalie Logan Rose to the top corner near post for a 1-0 lead at the 13:47 mark. Just 31 seconds later, with the teams still in 4-on-4 action, Fredericks scored unassisted with a howitzer from the top of the right circle into the top-left corner of the cage after skating the puck through the neutral zone, doubling the lead to 2-0.
Then, with 8:30 to play in the period, the Flames scored on a quick counterattack when graduate defenseman Nate Cox poke checked the puck away from a RedHawks forward up to freshman forward Glen Farmer, who reversed direction and skated across the redline and through the right circle before threading an assist into Benjamin Kovac cutting into the left crease for a point-blank backhanded tap-in finish and 3-0 advantage.
Just 1:21 later, sophomore forward Caleb Burchette received a back-door feed in the right crease from Farmer — after he had recovered the putback of his driving shot from near the left post — and padded Liberty's lead to 4-0, ending Rose's night.
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Freshman forward Glen Farmer distributed back-to-back assists in Friday's first game.
Following a scoreless second period, Miami got one goal back with the teams skating 4-on-4 early in the third before the Flames answered seconds after their sixth power-play chance expired when senior forward Jared Matley slammed a pass from Vidal past replacement goalie Zach Waizmann from in the right circle for the final score.
Junior goalie Christian "CJ" Sehlke made 52 saves to record the win, earning a start in Saturday's rematch, when the Flames turned the tables on the RedHawks by outshooting them by a 43-38 margin, again opening a 2-0 lead 8:00 into the first period en route to the 4-1 win.
On Saturday afternoon, Matley picked up where he left off late Friday night, scoring the Flames' first goal just seconds after a power-play expired. He showcased phenomenal stickwork on a spectacular driving shot through the left crease, finishing another assist from Vidal through the five-hole of Waizmann just 3:03 after the opening faceoff.
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"Jared Matley has been struggling to find the net, but he got a really nice goal today," Graham said.
With 12:00 remaining in the first period, Fredericks netted the Flames' only power-play goal of the series, extending his streak of games with at least one goal to four by ripping a left-circle wrist shot inside the left post for a 2-0 advantage.
Kovac stretched the edge to 3-0 with an unassisted score midway through the second period before Vidal capped the scoring at the 13:00 mark of the third by finishing assists from senior forward Josh Martin and sophomore forward Anthony Emme.
On the other end, Sehlke made 36 saves in net for his second win of the series and season.
"CJ was great in goal all weekend," Graham said. "He faced 84 shots this weekend and he only gave up two goals. He competes really hard and he's just a great teammate. He played really well."
The RedHawks were whistled for their first of six penalties less than a minute into the contest when Cooper Eberhardt, who leads Miami with 24 penalty minutes on the season, charged Selke in the cage.
"He came right in and body-checked him like he was a defenseman," Graham said. "(Sehlke) had awesome composure. He didn't retaliate, he didn't yell at anybody, he just was focused, and he turned in a really solid performance today."
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Flames senior defenseman Cade Pawluk zeroes in on a Lindenwood player in a lopsided series sweep at the hands of the Lions Oct. 9-10 at the LaHaye Ice Center. The Flames will get another shot at Lindenwood during its showcase from Nov. 14-16 near St. Louis.
The Flames' defense also benefited from the return of Theo Priem and the steady play of fellow freshman defenseman Luke Russell as well as Cox, who played four games over the weekend after being called up to the DI squad for its series against Stony Brook.
"He knows how to use his energy well," Graham said of Cox. "He played in every situation. He probably had 18-20 minutes today."
He said that type of work ethic from veterans and freshmen alike has produced rapid results since the start of the season, following an unprecedented 3-8 start in the first season under Head Coach Christian Garland.
"They're starting to see and believe now," Garland said. "We're having success, and that was very difficult for the group at the beginning of the year because not only were we getting beat, but we were getting beat badly. The fact is we swept Northeastern,which is a top-four team in its region every year; Virginia Tech, which we outscored 9-1 in the second series after only holding an 9-8 lead the first series; and now Miami of Ohio, a top-five team in our region which we split with last year and we outscored them 9-2 this weekend. So we have gotten significantly better."
The Flames have two weeks to prepare for the Nov. 14-16 Lindenwood Showcase, when they will face Florida Gulf Coast University, which swept Liberty by 5-4 and 6-1 scores last month, that Friday, Montana State on Saturday, and Lindenwood, which dominated its series at Liberty by 6-1 and 11-2 finals, on Sunday.
"Lindenwood and FGCU will be good barometer markers for us to see how much we've grown this year," Graham said. "We've got a really big test in St. Louis, and that's kind of like our mid-term exam. We'll see how much more we have to grow until nationals after that."
The season's first regional rankings, which will determine seedings for the Southeast Region playoffs, are due to be released Nov. 9. With no autobids to the national championships, the Flames are hoping to be seeded in the top four to give them the best shot at advancing, as they have for the past 12 seasons in a row.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Videos edited by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
