Liberty University Club Sports Athletics
Saturday, October 3
7:00 PM
Liberty University Club Sports
5
vs
3
University of Arizona
Flames sophomore forward Seth Wall gets under a Wildcat defenseman between Arizona goalie Hadyn Gould and Liberty forward Zach Nicolas. (Photos by Ted Allen)
Shorthanded Flames make most of even-strength opportunities to fend off Wildcats
10/4/2026 12:04:00 AM | Men's D1 Hockey
Liberty (5-0) opened a 5-1 lead with four unanswered goals in the second period before holding onto a 5-3 victory to improve to 14-2-1 all-time against Arizona.
Despite uncharacteristically poor showings on special teams, Liberty University's No. 7-ranked ACHA Division I men's hockey team played well enough at even strength to account for its struggles on the power play and penalty kill in Saturday night's 5-3 victory over No. 15 Arizona before a spirited Pink-the-Rink crowd on hand at the LaHaye Ice Center.
"I thought 5-on-5, we were excellent tonight," Head Coach Kirk Handy said after the Flames improved to 5-0. "Our power play was not good at all — we were 0-for-6 — and our penalty kill wasn't good enough, either; it was 3-for-6. We've put ourselves down 5-on-3 too many times already this season, and that's something we've got to figure out."
Just getting Saturday night's game in was a bit tricky for Arizona's staff to figure out after having to cancel Friday night's opener. Although their players arrived in Lynchburg, Va., as scheduled after flying into Raleigh, N.C., on Friday, the Wildcats (0-2) were forced to take a rain check on Friday's first game due to their gear — including skates, sticks, helmets, and pads — being stranded in Dallas when severe thunderstorms in the afternoon delayed the transfer cargo flight.
Saturday's game start time was still in question until the middle of the afternoon, when the equipment arrived in Charlotte, N.C., and Arizona sent its bus down to pick it up and shuttle it into town in time for the 7 p.m. puck drop.
Arizona's traditional and Liberty's newly designed home white uniforms were a near perfect complement to one another, with the Wildcats sporting navy blue and both teams having similarly fashioned sweater patterns. The lively home crowd added to the ambiance with a large percentage of the student fans on hand donning pink to commemorate the start of October' National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The teams traded goals in the first period, when Flames junior forward Zach Nicolas started the scoring with a sharp-angled shot from the right side off assists from graduate defenseman and alternate captain Nick Pomerleau and sophomore forward Seth Wall with 3:56 to play. Moments later, with the Wildcats on a 5-on-3 power play, Riley Ruh netted the equalizer from point-blank range off assists from Alex Helgeson and Tim Tychonick with one second remaining in the first penalty.
Nicolas reclaimed the lead for the Flames with 13:53 to play in the second period after a spectacular skid-stop steal by senior defenseman Michael Adamek and outlet pass up the center of the ice. That sprung Nicolas for a one-on-one breakaway with Arizona goalie Hadyn Gould and he pocketed his shot into the top-left corner of the net for a 2-1 advantage.
"(Nicolas) has played really well for us," Handy said of the junior transfer from NCAA Division I Stonehill (Mass.) College. "He just seems to get stronger and stronger with each game, and he's got some good chemistry there with him and (freshman forward Stone) Rolston and (sophomore forward Seth) Wall. We got three goals from that line, and they've played really well."
Then, at the 12:00 mark, sophomore forward Seth Huygen received feeds from senior forward Kal Essenmacher and senior defenseman Mason Smith and netted a wraparound goal to provide a 3-1 cushion.
Huygen, who played at the Division I level last season but was placed on the DII roster this fall, was called back up from Liberty's DII squad due to an extensive injured reserve list that included senior forward Michael DeBrito, junior forward Liam Cox-Smith, sophomore defenseman Shane Burns, sophomore forward and leading scorer Tanner Hunt, and freshman forward David Utkin, who has been sidelined since distributing three assists in his Flames debut, a 9-1 season-opening rout of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Less than 2:00 after Huygen's score, freshman forward Stone Rolston took passes from Nicolas and Pomerleau near the outside edge of the left circle and threaded a shot through traffic that beat Gould to the top-right corner of the cage.
With the teams skating 4-on-4 late in the period, Liberty graduate forward Ryan Finch capitalized on a one-on-one set up by senior defenseman Luke Anderson and sophomore forward Bronson Hunt as he skated across the blue line and sneaked his shot past Gould inside the left post for a commanding 5-1 lead at the 2:35 mark.
The Flames were held scoreless in the third period while they allowed the Wildcats to sneak back within 5-3 on two goals — the first by forward Riley Fast and second by Rah — in a span of 41 seconds on 5-on-3 and 5-on-4 advantages with 7:00 left in regulation.
So far this season, Liberty has gotten away with its substandard performances with men in the penalty box, converting only 18.8 percent of its power-play chances while killing off only 65 percent of its penalties. Typically, the Flames want to score on at least 20 percent of the time they are on a man advantage and to prevent opponents from scoring at least 80 percent of the time they are on the power play.
"In the third period, we had our opportunities on the power play that weren't capitalized on, and they were able to score on our PK twice," Handy said. "Allowing three goals on the power play, that's not acceptable. Our power play going 0-for-6, that's not the standard that we have. I was disappointed in the way we finished the third period there. We're going to be better for it. We've got a good week to figure it out. We'll figure it out. I have confidence in our guys, confidence in the power play and the PK, and we're going to be better this next weekend."
Liberty outshot the Wildcats by a 48-25 margin and junior goalie Joe Kuchaslo made 22 saves to improve to 3-0 in his first season with the Flames after transferring from No. 9 Drury (Mo.) University over the summer.
The Flames will entertain former ESCHL rival Delaware on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. back in the LIC.
"The schedule doesn't get any easier," Handy said. "There's some good teams coming in here."
By Ted Allen/Staff WriterGallery: (10-4-2026) DI men's hockey vs. Arizona
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"I thought 5-on-5, we were excellent tonight," Head Coach Kirk Handy said after the Flames improved to 5-0. "Our power play was not good at all — we were 0-for-6 — and our penalty kill wasn't good enough, either; it was 3-for-6. We've put ourselves down 5-on-3 too many times already this season, and that's something we've got to figure out."
Just getting Saturday night's game in was a bit tricky for Arizona's staff to figure out after having to cancel Friday night's opener. Although their players arrived in Lynchburg, Va., as scheduled after flying into Raleigh, N.C., on Friday, the Wildcats (0-2) were forced to take a rain check on Friday's first game due to their gear — including skates, sticks, helmets, and pads — being stranded in Dallas when severe thunderstorms in the afternoon delayed the transfer cargo flight.
Saturday's game start time was still in question until the middle of the afternoon, when the equipment arrived in Charlotte, N.C., and Arizona sent its bus down to pick it up and shuttle it into town in time for the 7 p.m. puck drop.
Arizona's traditional and Liberty's newly designed home white uniforms were a near perfect complement to one another, with the Wildcats sporting navy blue and both teams having similarly fashioned sweater patterns. The lively home crowd added to the ambiance with a large percentage of the student fans on hand donning pink to commemorate the start of October' National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The teams traded goals in the first period, when Flames junior forward Zach Nicolas started the scoring with a sharp-angled shot from the right side off assists from graduate defenseman and alternate captain Nick Pomerleau and sophomore forward Seth Wall with 3:56 to play. Moments later, with the Wildcats on a 5-on-3 power play, Riley Ruh netted the equalizer from point-blank range off assists from Alex Helgeson and Tim Tychonick with one second remaining in the first penalty.
Nicolas reclaimed the lead for the Flames with 13:53 to play in the second period after a spectacular skid-stop steal by senior defenseman Michael Adamek and outlet pass up the center of the ice. That sprung Nicolas for a one-on-one breakaway with Arizona goalie Hadyn Gould and he pocketed his shot into the top-left corner of the net for a 2-1 advantage.
"(Nicolas) has played really well for us," Handy said of the junior transfer from NCAA Division I Stonehill (Mass.) College. "He just seems to get stronger and stronger with each game, and he's got some good chemistry there with him and (freshman forward Stone) Rolston and (sophomore forward Seth) Wall. We got three goals from that line, and they've played really well."
Then, at the 12:00 mark, sophomore forward Seth Huygen received feeds from senior forward Kal Essenmacher and senior defenseman Mason Smith and netted a wraparound goal to provide a 3-1 cushion.
Huygen, who played at the Division I level last season but was placed on the DII roster this fall, was called back up from Liberty's DII squad due to an extensive injured reserve list that included senior forward Michael DeBrito, junior forward Liam Cox-Smith, sophomore defenseman Shane Burns, sophomore forward and leading scorer Tanner Hunt, and freshman forward David Utkin, who has been sidelined since distributing three assists in his Flames debut, a 9-1 season-opening rout of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Less than 2:00 after Huygen's score, freshman forward Stone Rolston took passes from Nicolas and Pomerleau near the outside edge of the left circle and threaded a shot through traffic that beat Gould to the top-right corner of the cage.
With the teams skating 4-on-4 late in the period, Liberty graduate forward Ryan Finch capitalized on a one-on-one set up by senior defenseman Luke Anderson and sophomore forward Bronson Hunt as he skated across the blue line and sneaked his shot past Gould inside the left post for a commanding 5-1 lead at the 2:35 mark.
The Flames were held scoreless in the third period while they allowed the Wildcats to sneak back within 5-3 on two goals — the first by forward Riley Fast and second by Rah — in a span of 41 seconds on 5-on-3 and 5-on-4 advantages with 7:00 left in regulation.
So far this season, Liberty has gotten away with its substandard performances with men in the penalty box, converting only 18.8 percent of its power-play chances while killing off only 65 percent of its penalties. Typically, the Flames want to score on at least 20 percent of the time they are on a man advantage and to prevent opponents from scoring at least 80 percent of the time they are on the power play.
"In the third period, we had our opportunities on the power play that weren't capitalized on, and they were able to score on our PK twice," Handy said. "Allowing three goals on the power play, that's not acceptable. Our power play going 0-for-6, that's not the standard that we have. I was disappointed in the way we finished the third period there. We're going to be better for it. We've got a good week to figure it out. We'll figure it out. I have confidence in our guys, confidence in the power play and the PK, and we're going to be better this next weekend."
Liberty outshot the Wildcats by a 48-25 margin and junior goalie Joe Kuchaslo made 22 saves to improve to 3-0 in his first season with the Flames after transferring from No. 9 Drury (Mo.) University over the summer.
The Flames will entertain former ESCHL rival Delaware on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. back in the LIC.
"The schedule doesn't get any easier," Handy said. "There's some good teams coming in here."
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer
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/ Men's D1 HockeySunday, September 27
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Friday, September 25
Thursday, September 24