Rising sophomore forwards Hayden DeMars (from left), Tucker Shields, and Liam Cox-Smith joined Annie Cory and Chris Kerr on the opening segment of the Rock the Rink podcast.
DI men’s, women’s players reflect on roads to nationals in offseason episode of Rock the Rink
5/13/2025 12:08:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey, Women's D1 Hockey
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Hayden DeMars, Tucker Shields, and Liam Cox-Smith, who formed the Flames’ top line as freshmen, and Brookelyn Beauchamp and Sophia Adamek, who helped lead the Lady Flames to their seventh ACHA DI championship, joined this week’s podcast.
An offseason episode of Rock the Rink welcomed two members of Liberty University's seven-time ACHA Division I women's hockey national champions as well as the top returning line from the Flames DI men's hockey team, rising sophomores Hayden DeMars, Tucker Shields, and Liam Cox-Smith.
DeMars, Shields, and Cox-Smith ranked second, third, and tied for fifth, respectively, in scoring as freshmen this past season, totaling 90 points including 64 after becoming a line at the Nov. 21-23 Maryville University Showcase. They talked about their athletic and academic transition from the Junior Hockey ranks to the collegiate game as well as looking back on their rookie seasons and forward to the 2025-26 campaign.
DeMars said a preseason meeting with junior forward and head captain Sam Feamster, who tied Cox-Smith for fifth in scoring despite missing several games due to injury, set the trajectory of their seasons.
"He just laid out the expectations, 'I know you guys are freshmen, but I want you guys to, not run show, but to assert yourselves,'" DeMars said. '''Even though there's older guys, you also can … push the pace.'"
"That was super exciting going into the season," he added. "Our expectation was to win a national championship, even though from the outside, we had a lot of freshmen and not a lot of experience. So going into this year having that experience now, it's full gas, no brakes."
With the Flames returning a solid foundation of underclassmen for next season, and preparing to welcome a strong recruiting class, the future looks bright.
"We have all of the pieces," Shields said. "Even though we're a super young team, the expectation is to win, and I think anything short of a national championship is failure, to be honest. That's our standard."
Cox-Smith said the Flames, who made their third trip to the Final Four in the past five seasons, felt the sting of a 5-2 semifinal setback to eventual champion UNLV in a game they led 2-0 with less than 10 minutes remaining in the third period. But that setback has only left them more motivated in offseason workouts and given them more incentive to come back stronger and finish better.
"We were very hungry throughout the season," he said. "We definitely had our ups and downs, but I'd say nationals left a very sour taste in our mouth. We were pretty upset with how that all went out. Our line, we took a lot of pride in just putting the puck in the back of the net and being energy for our team and … we're going to be bringing that into this next year."
Club Sports Assistant Athletic Director of Sports Performance Chris Kerr said the intensity of workouts, both on the ice and in the gym, has only ramped up since nationals.
"I've never seen a men's team before with so many guys dialed in, showing up and putting in the work," Kerr said. "So it's incredibly exciting."
"It starts off with all three of us working exceptionally hard in practice and in everything we do," Shields said. "All three of us take extreme pride in how we play and how we approach the game, so we're all on the same wavelength in terms of work ethic."
Sophia Adamek and Brookelyn Beauchamp focused on spiritual aspects of the team.
Lady Flames junior forward Brookelyn Beauchamp and sophomore defenseman Sophia Adamek visited with Kerr, Liberty Broadcast Experience Apprentice Annie Cory, and Club Sports Director of Video & Media Patrick Strawn to talk about their experience in St. Louis, where they won the fifth national title in the past six tournaments and seventh in 10 tries.
"When we got (to St. Louis), it was straight business," Beauchamp said. "We were all dialed in, locked in, and our mindset throughout the whole thing was, 'We've got to win, we've got to get this done, we've got to get it back.' Last year, we lost in double overtime (to Minot State) and this year, we won it in double overtime (over Maryville), which was awesome. We were calm, but we knew we had to get it done, and this one felt super special."
Adamek followed her older sister, senior forward and alternate captain Zosia Adamek, to Liberty and gave her life to the Lord in December as Zosia had her sophomore season. That increased her sense of her purpose and confidence in God's plans going into this year's tournament. In the final against the Saints, she assisted the game-tying goal early in the third period before her older sister netted the game winner in a 3-2 truimph.
"Reflecting on it, after being saved this year, my perspective on hockey has changed completely," Sophia Adamek said. "Last year, I was almost trying to glorify myself through hockey and it got us nowhere, got me nowhere … and outside of hockey, I was kind of lost. This year, being saved and playing for Christ, it was such a blessing. All those answered prayers working toward one goal of nationals and glorifying Christ in the process was super cool."
Beauchamp said playing the game they love for Christ is a uniting factor that gives the Lady Flames an advantage over their competition.
"We know the Lord's bigger than everything and we want to glorify Him through everything," she said. "I love that we pray after every game and every practice. That's our foundation and we always go back to that foundation. We're Champions for Christ. That's we're doing, being those leaders and those Disciple Makers to our teammates and to others as well to glorify the Lord. That's what drives us and motivates us."
Video edited by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
