DII Flames sweep former MACH rival Rowan to cap regular season, prep for Southeast Region playoffs

Friday, February 13

Lynchburg, VA

4:30 PM

Liberty University Club Sports

Rowan University

Flames junior forward Travis Strutt, a transfer from ACHA Division I Robert Morris (Pa.) University, controls the puck in Friday's 5-2 opening win over Rowan. (Photos by Grace Greer)

DII Flames sweep former MACH rival Rowan to cap regular season, prep for Southeast Region playoffs

2/17/2026 5:39:00 PM | Men's D2 Hockey

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Loaded with underclassmen, Liberty sent out five seniors and a few graduate students on Saturday’s Senior Night.

Gallery: (2-17-2026) DII men's hockey vs. Rowan

Liberty University's ACHA Division II men's hockey team ended the regular season above the .500 mark, improving to 20-1 in the all-time series against Rowan (N.J.) University with a 5-2, 4-2 sweep of the Profs (20-7-2) on Friday and Saturday at the LaHaye Ice Center.

The Flames (15-13) honored graduate forward and alternate captain Corey Owens and senior forwards Josh Martin (another alternate captain), Mark Padgett, and Antonio Vidal, as well as senior defenseman and alternate captain Cade Pawluk,before Saturday's rematch on Senior Day.

In Friday's opener, Liberty seized a 3-0 lead on the Profs after the first period on three goals in the final seven minutes — by freshman forward Boaz Sochaczevski, Martin, and Owens with 1:01 to go.

Rowan netted the only goal of the second period, by Griffin Meyer, before freshman forward Drake Perham answered with a shorthanded score assisted by Sochaczevski at the 12:05 mark of the third. Meyer cut the deficit to 4-2 with 12:49 remaining in regulation before sophomore forward Ben Kovac responded 27 seconds later off assists from Owen and freshman defenseman Luke Russell to ice the three-goal win.

The Flames dominated the Profs in shots, 34-16, and junior goalie CJ Sehlke recorded the win in net.

In Saturday's rematch, freshman forward Hunter Belisle's first goal at Liberty and Owens' third of the season — all in the eight games of the spring semester — gave the Flames a 2-0 lead after 4 minutes, 4 seconds of play.

However, Profs leading scorer Mac Findley trimmed it to 2-1 by ending Sehlke's shutout bid with 1 second left in the period. Flames junior forward Caleb Burchett netted the only goal of the second period off assists from Belisle and junior forward Travis Strutt, before Rowan's third-leading scorer Josh Bianchi recorded the game's only power-play goal to make it a 3-2 contest.

Freshman defenseman Glen Farmer's 10th goal of the season, and first since shifting back from forward in the fourth game of the semester, capped the scoring with 2:17 remaining in regulation.
Liberty only maintained a 34-25 shot advantage, and Sehlke made 23 saves to secure the sweep.

Head Coach Christian Garland said sophomore forward Anthony Emme — a fourth alternate captain who was complemented on the leadership corps by newly named head captain Theo Priem, a sophomore defenseman — played a key role in the Flames' sweep.

"Anthony Emme was awesome," he said. "He has really grown, especially in the second semester, and has really stepped up the last two weeks. It is only a matter of time before he gets on the scoresheet more consistently."

Youth could be a factor in Liberty's favor going into this weekend's Southeast Region Playoffs.

"We have a young group, with 16 new players this year, and a handful have stepped up into leadership capacities," Garland said. "It's cool to see those guys take charge in the locker room and on the bench as they progress."

Liberty will be seeded eighth and face No. 9 University of South Carolina for the first time in recent history in Saturday's first round of the 16-team playoffs at the Queen City Sportsplex in Cincinnati. After receiving autobids to the ACHA DII National Championships the past seven seasons, the Flames must defeat the Gamecocks and win a second game on Sunday — potentially against top-seeded Florida Gulf Coast University at 9 a.m. or No. 2 University of Tampa at noon at the Heritage Bank Center — to advance to the March 12-17 nationals near St. Louis.

Garland said the Flames need to play the way they did in the first period of both games against Rowan for all three periods against South Carolina to advance to Sunday's national qualifier.

"If we can play the way we've played in the first period the last four games, I feel really, really good about our chances," he said, noting Liberty was tied with St. Bonaventure 2-2 after the first period of the first game and led 2-0 after the first period of the rematch before being swept by the 21-4-1 Bonnies by 4-2 and 6-2 scores, respectively. "Consistency is the biggest issue. Our standards and habits and play styles are not habitual yet. How well we're able to stick to our game plan and execute the things that we've been working on (will be key)."

Liberty looks to build on the momentum it has gained by going 14-7 in the last three-quarters of the season after starting 1-6.

"We've been through a lot of high highs and low lows this year, especially early on in the season," Garland said. "We've played the hardest schedule in the league and the numbers back that up. After all that adversity and character development, this is the time of season that has to come out. Now is the time to put it all together, one shift at a time, but really for the full 60 minutes."

He said it will be critical for the Flames to stay out of the penalty box as their penalty kill unit has only been successful 59.8 percent of the time this season. Meanwhile, Liberty has only converted 16.3 percent of its power plays into goals, making special teams an area with plenty of potential for improvement.

"The PK has been a weak link this year," Garland said. "If we can dial it in there, we'll be all right. There are lots of emotional swings and highs and lows in games, and if we don't let a breakdown or bad call get to our heads and we just stick with it and play our game, we can beat most teams playing five on five."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer