DII Flames sweep Huskies, prep for defending national champion Lions

Friday, September 26

Fort Myers, Florida

8:30 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Florida Gulf Coast University

DII Flames sweep Huskies, prep for defending national champion Lions

10/8/2025 3:27:00 PM | Men's D2 Hockey

After returning from an 0-3 trip to Florida by taking both games from Northeastern at the LaHaye Ice Center, Liberty renews its rivalry against Lindenwood late Thursday night and early Friday afternoon at home.

Liberty University's ACHA Division II men's hockey team recovered from a three-loss road trip to Florida by sweeping Northeastern (Mass.) University late Friday night and Saturday afternoon at the LaHaye Ice Center. The Flames (3-6) won the opener, 2-0, on the first shutout of sophomore goalie Andrew Young's career before completing the sweep with a 4-3 shootout win in the rematch.

Freshman forward Drake Perham netted his first goal with the Flames in the first period of the opener.

"That was a beautiful goal, and a really memorable one for him in a defensive effort," Liberty Head Coach Christian Garland said. "He got the puck in the middle of the ice and attacked a defenseman one-on-one and beat him before finishing his shot into the upper netting."
The score remained 1-0 until junior forward Caleb Burchett's empty netter in the closing 3.3 seconds of the third period.

Young (3-3), who started in 5-4 and 6-1 losses at Florida Gulf Coast University over the weekend of Sept. 26-27, posted the shutout before preserving the series sweep by saving all three shootout attempts by the Huskies.

"They may have outshot us, but we had a lot more quality looks than they did," Garland said. "On Saturday, we played really well. We were up 3-1 going into the third period before they scored two goals in middle of third to tie it. There were pretty good chances both ways in overtime."
Flames senior forward Antonio Vidal netted the only goal and game winner in the shootout.

Junior forward Travis Strutt had scored the game's first goal unassisted at end of a first-period power play before the Flames added two goals in the second period, the first shorthanded by sophomore forward Anthony Emme on a putback of a shot by senior forward Josh Martin.

"That was a great individual play by Josh to put the puck on net, and the timing was perfect for Anthony to get the rebound," Garland said.

Flames freshman defenseman Theo Priem extended the lead to 3-1 by jumping into an odd-man rush and recovering a rebound of another shot by Martin before putting away a driving score. Northeastern tied the contest by netting the only two goals of the third period.

"The game is so fast now that a two-goal lead is nothing," Garland said. "You need four or five."

Liberty trailed FGCU 3-1 in the first of its three-game road trip to Florida before racking up three goals in three minutes to seize a 4-3 lead only to allow the Eagles to tally the equalizer and game-winning goals down the stretch.

"No lead is safe, and you've got to play a full 60 minutes, which is how we have often struggled, maintaining that high level of play for three full periods," Garland said, noting the Flames dropped the rematch 6-1 and then were shut out by the University of Tampa, 5-0, on Sept. 28. "We have a new coaching staff and 17 freshmen on the roster adapting to the college game. It is obvious to see we have established some good habits. It is a matter of doing them all the time."

The Flames will be seriously tested again this Thursday at 9:30 p.m. and Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the LIC, where they will host defending ACHA DII national champion Lindenwood (Mo.) University.

"Lindenwood, like Florida Gulf Coast, is obviously a team that has set the standard in the league for the past 10 years, winning it all last year," Garland said. "We have played them so many times over the past few years and have established a really good rivalry with them. We expect to see the same playoff-style games against them during the regular season as we have against all the top-seeded teams we've played so far."

He is looking forward to monitoring the Flames' progress from this weekend's first series against the Lions to the next two meetings later this season.

"How do we stack up when play them (and FGCU) again in mid-November at their (Lindenwood) Showcase (near St. Louis) and again in the Miami (Ohio) Showcase in late January?" Garland said. "We are excited to play Virginia Tech (in another home-and-home series) next weekend and see how they have improved, and excited to continue to grow and adapt to our style of game."

He said the team is determined to make gradual progress as it eyes a potential bid to the Southeast Regional playoffs, where it will need to secure one of four bids to the ACHA Division II National Championships near St. Louis by winning both regional tournament games.

"It's all about preparing for regionals," Garland said. "The regular season doesn't matter, and we don't need to worry too much about the results right now so much as the process. I like what we've seen in the growth of our defensive game and maturity as well. We want to be really focused on the defensive side and doing things up and down the lineup in line with what we want to do as a team."

"It's about establishing our identity, our habits, and honing in on our systems," he added. "We've seen flashes of it … and it was very rewarding to see so much gritty effort and growth (against the Huskies) after a tough weekend down in Florida. The guys rallied around each other following a tough week of practice and dialed in on what we wanted to do against a really good contender in Northeastern."

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