Sophomore forward Kal Essenmacher battles a Maryville player for the puck in the teams' series last semester in Lynchburg, Va. (Photos by Simon Barbre)
DI Flames travel to St. Louis area to prep for nationals at Maryville Showcase
11/19/2025 2:23:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey
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No. 4-ranked Liberty will face the No. 10 host Saints on Thursday night, No. 6 Calvin on Friday, and Arizona on Saturday.
Liberty University's Division I men's hockey team, which moved up one spot to No. 4 in this week's national rankings, will get a feel for the ACHA DI National Championships this weekend when it travels to the St. Louis area to play three games in three days in the Maryville (Mo.) University Showcase in Chesterfield, Mo.
The event will foreshadow nationals to be played in Maryland Heights, Mo., another suburb of St. Louis, in mid-March, when the Flames plan to stay in the same hotel.
"We are excited to play in this showcase tournament," Liberty Head Coach Kirk Handy said. "This is our third year going, and it will give us a real good idea of where we stand. There are some quality teams here. Maryville will be just as strong as always, and Calvin was ranked one spot ahead of us last week. All these teams are going to be against teams we could face at nationals, so it is super important to play well."
These will be the Flames' last three games before Liberty's Thanksgiving Break. A Dec. 5-6 series against Minot State University, starting with the semester's second Midnight Mayhem matchup, will conclude the fall schedule.
The Flames will have head captain Sam Feamster and fellow senior forward Ryan Finch back after they sat out the Nov. 6-7 sweep of Jamestown (N.D.) University at the LaHaye Ice Center due to injury. The status of senior forward Aidan Carney and junior forward Mac Ratzlaff is listed as day-by-day, though both were expected to make the team's trip by bus on Wednesday.
"No. 1, we are trying to get healthy," Handy said. "No. 2, we are trying to keep up the compete (level) and execution that we're going to need going into this weekend," in a format similar to the national tournament schedule.
Handy and Assistant Coach Ben Hughes flew into St. Louis on Tuesday night and planned to have lunch with Maryville Head Coach John Hogan on Wednesday.
Scouting Preview, Games 17-19: No. 4 Liberty (13-3) at No. 10 Maryville (Mo.) University (5-8), Thursday at 9 p.m. EST; Liberty vs. No. 6 Calvin (Mich.) University (7-1-1), Friday at 4 p.m. EST; Liberty vs. Arizona (5-5-1), Saturday at 1 p.m. EST. All three games will be streamed live from the Maryville University Ice Hockey Center in Chesterfield, Mo., on Maryville Hockey's YouTube channel.
All-time series: Liberty holds a 5-3 advantage on Maryville, starting with a 9-0 rout in its Ice Hockey Center in the 2021 ACHA DI National Championships opener. Calvin leads the Flames 2-0 after rallying from two-goal deficits to sweep them in back-to-back overtime battles in their first-ever series last January at the LIC. Liberty was playing without Feamster, its leading scorer, and five other key players representing Team USA in the FISU Winter World University Games in Italy. The Flames are 12-2-1 against the Wildcats, including a 7-2 triumph to start the 2019 ACHA DI National Championships in Texas and an 8-3 rout that capped a 3-0 showing at last season's Maryville Showcase.
Senior forward Michael DeBrito, the Flames' leading scorer so far this season, skates past a Maryville player in a game last February at the LaHaye Ice Center.Liberty Scouting Report: The Flames feature extremely balanced offensive production with 11 players having recorded nine points or more, led by double-digit scoring from senior forward Michael DeBrito (7 goals, 11 assists), junior defenseman Nick Pomerleau (1G, 16A), junior forward Luke Munroe (10G, 2 game-winning goals, 6A), Finch (9G, 2GWG, 5A), and sophomore forwards Kal Essenmacher (7G, 2GWG, 7A) and Liam Cox-Smith (3G, 10A).
Liberty has capitalized on 15 of its 48 power-play opportunities (31.3 percent), while its penalty kill has been successful 32 out of 43 times (74.4 percent).
Between the pipes, junior goalie Konrad Kausch (7-2, 3.00 goals-against average, 89.4 save percentage, 1 shutout) has had the hot glove of late, starting both games of the sweep of Jamestown, with senior Nick Bernstein (5-1, 2.47 GAA, 91.1 SP) experiencing similar success in the cage when called upon.
Maryville Scouting Report: Last March in nearby Maryland Heights, Mo., the Saints won their first two games at the ACHA DI National Championships before being eliminated in the quarterfinal round by eventual national champion UNLV — which proceeded to snuff the Flames in the Final Four — 3-2 in overtime.
After starting this season at 5-0 with a win over McKendree (Ill.) and sweeps of Midland and Illinois State, Maryville has struggled of late, losing eight straight games by being swept in two series against Ohio and single series against Minot State and NCAA Division I Long Island University, which Liberty split a home series against in 2021.
Offensively, the Saints, who have been outscored 37-33 on the season, are sparked by forwards Sam Edwards (4G, 6A) and Will Smith (2G, 7A) and defensemen Brett Ursukak (3G, 4A) and Sidney McNeill (2G, 5A), who both have netted a game winner.
In goal, Maryville has platooned Parker Sawka (3-4, 2.57 GAA, 89.6 SP, 1 SO) and Lucas Bain (2-2, 1.50 GAA, 93.1 SP, 1 SO).
Calvin Scouting Report: Head Coach Josh Petrusma, who had served as associate head coach and assistant operations director for 15 seasons under his father, Mike Petrusma, took over as interim director of the Knights after he died during surgery to remove cancer last November. Mike Petrusma was inducted into the ACHA Hall of Fame as a builder after leading the Knights over a 28-year career at the helm, the last seven as a Division I team. He accumulated a 520-210-37 record, mostly at the DIII level, and also served as Head Coach for Team Canada at the 2023 World Cup of University Hockey.
The Knights have maintained their high-octane attack paced by forwards Steven Ickes (7G, 16A), Krzysztof Petryla (9G, 11A), and Trent Benedict (5G, 9A).
In net, Calvin has relied on Aidan Feddema (6-1, 2.28 GAA, 92.7 SP) with backup from Adam Yost (1-0-1, 3.71 GAA, 87.3 SP) and Carlos Siso.
Arizona Scouting Report: Like Liberty, the Wildcats are led by six players in double figures in scoring — forwards Jacob Vockler (8G, 8A) and Dylan Walker (1G, 15A), defenseman Nicholas Chiocca (3G, 1GWG, 9A), and forwards Jack Kurrle (6G, 4A), Riley Ruh (5G, 5A), and Justin Hughes (5G, 5A).
Also like the Flames, who have Munroe and Carney on the roster, Arizona boasts two NCAA Division I transfers in defenseman Mateo Picozzi from Mercyhurst (Pa.) University and forward Jack Vockler from Lindenwood (Mo.) University.
Adam Stevenson (3-0-1, 2.72 GAA, 92.4 SP) has provided excellent backup to regular starter Hadyn Gould (2-5, 4.30 GAA, 85.8 SP, 1 SO) in between the pipes.
Coaches: Handy is in his 26th season as head coach for the Flames, sporting a career record of 574-231-38. He guided Liberty to its ninth consecutive nationals appearance last spring when it made its third trip to the Final Four in the past five seasons. Hogan is Maryville's founding head coach after starting the program at the DII level in 2018-19 and moving up to DI for the past five seasons. He has posted a combined 131-92-13 mark. Josh Petrusma has carried on his father's winning ways, posting a 22-8-1 record since taking the reins in mid-November 2024. Chad Berman is in his 11th season as head coach at Arizona and has posted a 180-135-19 career mark.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video edited by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
