Graduate forward and head captain Sam Feamster skates the puck behind Stony Brook's cage after scoring the Flames' first goal in the opening period, Friday night at the LaHaye Ice Center. (Photos by Ted Allen)
No. 6 Flames fend off unranked Seawolves in 4-3 barn-burner
11/6/2026 11:34:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey
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Stony Brook didn’t give Liberty a single power play and its goalie stood on his head with 40 saves to keep the game close to the final faceoff.
Backed by a College For A Weekend crowd, Liberty University's No. 6-ranked ACHA Division I men's hockey team extended its winning streak over former ESCHL rival Stony Brook to 12 games with a 4-3 victory Friday night at the LaHaye Ice Center.
The Flames (10-3) won for the first time without Head Coach Kirk Handy, who was with his family in Ottawa, in his home province of Ontario, attending the funeral for his uncle.
"Kirk Handy is Liberty Hockey, right," said Assistant Coach Ben Hughes, who filled in behind Liberty's bench. "I don't remember a time when he's missed a game. We're calling and texting him the whole time. We're glad he's going to be back (Saturday). Life happens, and life is way bigger than the game of hockey."
Handy, who has a record of 590-143-39 for his career, could tie former Lady Flames Women's Basketball Head Coach Carey Green for the most wins by any coach at Liberty — Club Sports or Athletics — when the Flames host the Seawolves (4-4-1) in Saturday's 7 p.m. rematch on Military Appreciation Night. Hughes, who coached Liberty's DII team for eight seasons, was glad to come away with a 1-0 record after his first win at the helm of the DI squad.
"Ultimately, we have a great leadership group," he said. "The staff is all on the same page. Good teams find a way to win, regardless. (Stony Brook) almost scored and tied it up at the end there in the last five seconds. That was pretty close, but we found a way to win and get it done."
Graduate forward and head captain Sam Feamster started the scoring and ended his four-game scoreless streak with 12:11 left in the first period, finishing assists from graduate defenseman and alternate captain Nick Pomerleau and senior forward Tucker Shields' short pass out of the slot by ripping a turnaround shot from the right circle that tipped off the glove of Stony Brook goalie Steven Reganato and trickled across the goal line for a 1-0 Liberty lead.
"That felt good for our line when we saw that puck drop in," Feamster said. "It's always good to get that first goal, and I felt like that really was a catalyst for our line going all night. We played with energy and were super engaged in the game tonight."
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Sophomore forward Tanner Hunt skates the puck past a Stony Brook defenseman.
The Flames carried momentum into the second period by killing off the first of their two penalties late in the first.
"We always try to draw a lot of energy from our penalty kill, so that was a big kill for us," Feamster said. "That brought some great energy to our bench and in between periods in the locker room that was a turning point for us that we kind of used to springboard into the rest of the game and say, 'That's a good kill, continue to work hard, and five-on-five we're dominating.'"
But the Seawolves struck back with 10:12 left in the second period, tying the contest on defenseman Joseph Anastasio's bar-down wrist shot from the high slot off an assist from his brother, Matt, over the shoulder of Flames freshman goalie Austin Caley. Â
The Flames responded with back-to-back goals in a span of 26 seconds to seize a 3-1 lead. First, freshman forward David Utkin received a feed from graduate forward Ryan Finch in the high slot and skated in before tucking his left-handed wrist shot into the left side of the net at the 6:54 mark.
Senior defenseman Michael Adamek padded the advantage with his first goal of the season, taking assists from Pomerleau and freshman forward Stone Rolston and rifling a shot from the top of the left circle past Reganato with 6:28 to play in the period.
However, Stony Brook answered even more quickly, just 19 seconds later, when Paul Desaro capitalized on a fast-break opportunity set up by Max Gorzelnik and Joseph Anastasio, sneaking the puck past Caley from directly in front of the left post, to trim the deficit to 3-2.
"We've got to figure out how not to get scored upon after scoring," Hughes said. "Ultimately, defense wins championships. We've got to figure out a way to play better and play harder without the puck."
The Flames quickly converted an insurance score at the start of the third period with Rolston threading an assist across the slot to junior forward Zach Nicolas who pocketed a point-blank finish from directly in front.
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Hunt feeds a short pass to senior forward and alternate captain Luke Munroe (12).
That eventually proved to be the game winner as Stony Brook again retaliated with a goal of its own just 47 seconds later when Joseph Anastasio again finished a feed from Matt Anastasio and Connor Noll.
Liberty maintained possession for much of the remainder of regulation, preventing the Seawolves from netting the equalizer or even pulling Reganato until the final 33 seconds. The Flames pinned the puck against the backboards behind their cage for nearly 20 seconds before calling out with 4.6 seconds to go. The move nearly backfired as Stony Brook won the faceoff and unleashed a shot from the high slot that beat a diving Caley but narrowly missed wide of the left post. Caley regained his footing in time to stop a potential putback off the back boards as the final buzzer sounded. Â Â
"If we were to look at the analytics, we probably had 80 percent of the possession time there, and we outshot them 44-16," Hughes said. "As good of a push as they made at the end, those are factors that are hard to overcome."
Liberty went 2-2 on the penalty kill without a single power-play opportunity.
"They stayed super disciplined," Hughes said. "They didn't take a single penalty. That's shocking, honestly. I've known Stony Brook for 12 plus years and that's the most disciplined I've ever seen them play."
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Sophomore defenseman Shane Burns skates the puck along the boards.
Feamster said for the Flames to complete the sweep on Saturday, they will need to maintain offensive pressure and win their races down ice and puck battles in the Seawolves' defensive zone. Â Â Â
"These guys have some fight," he said. "Credit to them for playing hard, sticking to the game. I felt that their goals were mistakes on our part. They weren't necessarily goals that they earned but more goals that we gave them, so (for Saturday) the message is to simplify a little bit, play an honest game, play on the defensive side of the puck because we know we're going to get our offensive chances. We want to have a hard forecheck, chip the puck behind their defensemen, make them turn. We're faster than them, we're better skaters than them, so we need to use our speed to our advantage."
On Saturday, the Flames will unveil their fourth specialty jersey, featuring a white-and-grey camouflage design, to be auctioned off after the contest. Liberty Club Sports is partnering with Vet Tix to give free tickets to those who have served or are currently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Tickets are redeemable for the rematch with Stony Brook or on Dec. 5, when the Flames will host Syracuse in their fall semester finale at the LIC.
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer; Video edited by Patrick Strawn/Club Sports Director of Video & Media
