Friday, September 19
Lynchburg, VA
7:00 PM
Liberty University Club Sports
vs
University of North Carolina
Senior forward Ryan Finch, who is from North Carolina, skates the puck in through the crease in last season's showdown with UNC at ther LaHaye Ice Center. (Photos by Simon Barbre)
Flames welcome first-year ACHA DI Tar Heels for Friday’s ‘Pucks and Polos’ Night
9/18/2025 1:44:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey
Sell-out College For A Weekend crowd will liven up the LaHaye Ice Center for the single-game men’s ice hockey border battle.
Liberty University's Division I men's hockey team, the No. 4 team in last week's national rankings, has already sold out tickets for Friday night's border battle against the University of North Carolina, coinciding with Family Weekend and the semester's first College For A Weekend (CFAW).
UNC Chapel Hill is one of eight programs to make the jump to the DI level this season, bringing the total to 81 teams. That total includes North Carolina State, the team the Flames swept in a home-and-home series last weekend — winning Friday's opener near Raleigh, N.C., 4-2, and Saturday's rematch, 1-0 in the LaHaye Ice Center.
"This will be the first time we've played (the Tar Heels) since they've moved up to DI, so I'm looking forward to it," said Liberty junior defenseman and alternate captain Nick Pomerleau, who assisted three of the Flames' goals in the opener at NC State and helped set up sophomore forward Michael DeBrito's golden goal in overtime of the rematch. "We are preparing for it, and we'll be ready to go (Friday night). It is going to be a good battle, a good test for us. We want to keep improving and really just focus on us. No matter who we play, we want to just buy in and keep improving the way we play the game."
Pomerleau has embraced the role as one of the Flames' top playmakers after leading the team last season with 27 assists and just one goal.
"My whole career, I've always been an assist guy, even back in Junior hockey," he said. "I'm always looking to make a good pass, just making a play — either on the rush into the offensive zone or an outlet out of the D zone."
He desires to help spark the Flames' fast-break attack whenever possible.
"We look to play a quick, fast game since we've got guys who can skate and push the pace of the game," Pomerleau said. "The more attack and speed we have going, the better we're going to be able to maintain that and wear the other team down. That's what we're hoping to do."
Defensively, Pomerleau is often paired with fellow junior Luke Anderson, and the duo helped Liberty shut out the Icepack on Saturday night.
"D zone-wise, we played well," he said. "Other than two or three times, we killed their rushes before they even got into our zone. Overall, we played a good game, though there are areas we are going to keep improving on, especially on our blue line — limiting turnovers and looking to make the next right play."
All-time series: Liberty leads, 1-0, dominating the then-ACHA DII Tar Heels 7-1 in front of a sellout crowd at the LIC in its 2024-25 season opener held over Homecoming Weekend.
Liberty Scouting Report: While limiting opponents to just three scores, the Flames have gotten off to a bit of a slow start offensively, with nine goals in three games. Liberty is led by Pomerleau's 4 assists with DeBrito (2 goals) and sophomore forward Liam Cox-Smith (1G, 1A), the only other players with multiple points.
"We are doing the right things," Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy said. "If you do the right things long enough and consistently enough, they will become habits, and we want to make those things habits. I really liked the way we played for the most part (against NC State). We want to refine our special teams and continue to build on some new concepts we're implementing into our systems right now."
Between the pipes, the Flames feature one of the best goalie tandems in the league, with junior Konrad Kausch (1-0, 0.00 goals-against average, 1.000 save percentage) posting his first shutout of the season against NC State and senior Nick Bernstein (1-0, 2.00 GAA, 90.5 SP) allowing only two power-play goals in that series opener.
UNC Scouting Report: The Tar Heels, who are raising funds to construct a $25 million, 3,000-seat multi-use hockey rink in Chapel Hill in the near future, defeated two ACHA DII programs to open their season at their existing Orange County Sportplex — routing the University of Tennessee, 6-0 in their Sept. 5 opener before edging the University of Georgia, 5-4, the next night. Last weekend in Lexington, Ky., they were swept by the University of Kentucky, another ACHA DI newcomer, by 5-2 and 4-2 finals.
Will Smith (4G, 4A) is a catalyst of UNC's offense, netting the game-winning goal against the Bulldogs. He is complemented by fellow forwards Patrick Oshaughnessy (2G, 2A), Nicholas Ansbacher (1G, 2A), and Adam Zukowski (3A).
In net, Lucas Brown (2-0, 2.00 GAA, 1 SO) has won both of his starts while Ander Andreev (0-2, 3.56 GAA, 91.4 SP) took both losses against the Wildcats.
Coaches: Handy is in his 26th season as head coach of the Flames, sporting a career record of 564-228-38 and leading Liberty to three ACHA DI Final Four appearances in the past five seasons. Steve Rice, a Kitchener, Ontario, native, is in his first season at the helm of the Tar Heels. The former captain of Team Canada's gold medal-winning team at the 1991 World Junior Hockey Championships was drafted by the New York Rangers and played eight seasons and scored 64 goals in 329 games in the NHL.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video edited by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
Players Mentioned
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