Bobcats sneak past shorthanded Flames in opener, 2-1

Friday, February 13

Athens, OH

7:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Ohio University

Junior forward Mason Smith (6) returned from injury to start Friday night's game at Ohio.

Bobcats sneak past shorthanded Flames in opener, 2-1

2/13/2026 11:38:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey

Liberty’s lineup was riddled by injury and sickness as Ohio evened the all-time series at 24-24-1.

A defensive duel between Liberty University's No. 6-ranked ACHA Division I men's hockey team and its closest rival, Ohio University, unfolded in favor of the No. 2 Bobcats (26-5) in Friday night's series opener at Bird Ice Arena in Athens, Ohio.

"It was a tight game," Liberty Head Coach Kirk Handy said, noting both teams played well defensively on special teams. "These are the types of games we're going to have at nationals. I thought the guys played hard today. We were great on the penalty kill, and didn't score on the power play, but did get one just a couple seconds after."

Trailing 1-0 going into the third period, after Drake Albers' first-period ice-breaker, the Flames (18-8-1) notched the equalizer in the first five minutes when freshman defenseman Michael Fischer scored off an assist from freshman forward Bronson Hunt seconds after an Ohio penalty kill.

"That was a beautiful pass by Bronson Hunt over to him as they skated through the neutral zone, and Fischer shot it into the top-left corner from 40 feet out," Handy said.

But the Bobcats bounced back and netted the game winner with 4:47 remaining in regulation when Nolan Abraham finished feeds from Donovan Burdette and Mathieu Ovaert, his second assist on the night.

Ohio, which outshot Liberty by a 33-18 margin for the contest, evened the all-time series between the two teams at 24-24-1 with the regulation win.

Junior goalie Konrad Kausch made 31 saves, matching his number, in defeat. He came out for the final 1:36 to give the Flames an extra skater, but they couldn't capitalize.

As well as it played on the PK, Liberty was shorthanded throughout the contest.

"We weren't as good as we wanted to be at the beginning of the game, but our guys battled," Handy said. "We have a bunch of guys out sick and a bunch of injuries. Every single guy who could play tonight was in the lineup. A lot of guys who played a lot of minutes tonight wouldn't typically play that much."

Besides Hayden DeMars (upper-body injury), the Flames were missing fellow sophomore forward Mac Ratzlaff and senior forward and leading scorer Michael DeBrito, who went down with an injury against the Bobcats. Additionally, fellow senior forward and second-leading scorer Ryan Finch and freshman defenseman Shane Burns were sidelined by sickness while a couple others who were sick all week played through their illnesses.

The Flames hope to return a couple reinforcements for Saturday's 5 p.m. rematch, when they will look to salvage a series split before concluding their regular season with a home series against the Bobcats next weekend at the LaHaye Ice Center.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer