Flames score power-play, shorthanded, and empty-net goals to split with Bobcats

Saturday, February 21

Lynchburg, VA

7:00 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Ohio University

Kal Essenmacher Liberty forward vs. Ohio

Sophomore forward Kal Essenmacher's shorthanded goal in the second period held up as the game winner in Saturday night's rematch at Ohio. (Photo by Emily Cuthrell)

Flames score power-play, shorthanded, and empty-net goals to split with Bobcats

2/14/2026 10:01:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey

Junior goalie Konrad Kausch made 36 saves and Liberty’s penalty kill unit was successful on all nine chances in the 3-1 road win over No. 2 Ohio.

Shorthanded on its bench due to multiple injuries and illnesses, Liberty University's No. 6-ranked ACHA Division I men's hockey team excelled on special teams—even in shorthanded situations — in Saturday night's rematch with No. 2 Ohio University, a 3-1 triumph that salvaged a series split in front of a sell-out crowd at the Bird Ice Center in Athens, Ohio.

"That's a huge win," Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy said. "I am super proud of our team. That was awesome. Ohio is a top team in the country, and that is a hard place to win. Did we have great goaltending tonight? Absolutely, (junior goalie) Konrad (Kausch) played fantastic. But the difference in the game was special teams."

Liberty's penalty kill unit was successful at squelching all nine of the Bobcats' power-play opportunities and scored a shorthanded goal in the second period that turned out to be the game winner.

"To me, that shows the buy-in from our team tonight," Handy said. "Our guys bought into what we were doing and fought through the adversity that we had."

Nolan Abraham, who scored the game-winning goal for Ohio in the final 4:47 of the third period of Friday night's 2-1 victory, put the Bobcats on top just 1:29 after the opening faceoff in Saturday's rematch. But that was all the offense Ohio would muster on the night, despite outshooting the Flames, 37-34, including 12-4 in the third period.

Just 44 seconds after Abraham's goal, Liberty was assessed two penalties on the same play.

"We killed off a huge 5-on-3 at the beginning of the game," Handy said. "Konrad Kausch made some huge saves on the PK. He was incredible."

Offensively, Liberty scored two of its three goals when Ohio had a man advantage after netting its first goal on a power play of its own, when Aidan Carney finished a feed from fellow senior forward Ryan Finch for the equalizer at the 6:17 mark of the first period.

"Aidan was in front of the net battling for the puck, and he was able to get it and threw it in," Handy said.

Then, with Liberty fighting off a penalty with 12:49 to play in in the second, sophomore forward Essenmacher manufactured the shorthanded goal to lift the Flames to a 2-1 edge.

"(Freshman forward) Tanner Hunt forced their goalie (Garrett Alderman) to make a quick decision with the puck, and he threw it around the back of the net and Kal came around and shot it immediately," Handy said.

Forced to pull Alderman for the final 1:20 of regulation, the move backfired for the Bobcats when Flames sophomore defenseman Michael Adamek added insurance with an empty netter with 37 seconds remaining in regulation.

"We played them hard last night for 60 minutes and played them hard again for 60 minutes tonight," Handy said. "We did a lot of soul-searching in our series against Adrian College, and (Assistant) Coach (Ben) Hughes made some changes and our guys bought into it."

With Ohio returning Liberty's road trip for next weekend's series at the LaHaye Ice Center, the Flames will get an excellent final tune-up for the March 17-22 ACHA DI National Championships near St. Louis.

"It's going to take four games for us to win the national championship," Handy said. "When you have to play a top team in the country four times going into nationals, we're going to be ready. The opportunity God's given us with our schedule, we embrace it."

Flames junior defenseman Nick Pomerleau returned from a one-game suspension for fighting in a home sweep of Maryville last Saturday, and senior forward and leading scorer Michael DeBrito played through an injury sustained Friday night. However, sophomore defenseman Joe Feamster and Brad Barker joined fellow sophomore forwards Mac Ratzlaff and Hayden DeMars on the injured reserve list Saturday, when freshman forward Seth Wall caught the flu from sick teammates, including freshman Shane Burns, who sat out both games.

Handy said the Flames may need to continue to take a next-man-up approach into the playoffs.

"There are games we're going to have at the national tournament, where guys are going to be put in positions they're not used to with the game on the line," he said. "We're going to need everybody to do their part to win games. Seeing that buy-in, it's exciting. We want to rest up this week and get healthy and come back ready to play (Ohio again) next weekend."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer