DI men’s hockey’s third trip to Finland changed lives overseas, within team

Saturday, January 10

Kuljetusrinki Arena, Finland

11:30 AM EST / 18:30 EET

Liberty University Club Sports

FCAA Hockey

Liberty players, including goalies Konrad Kausch and Nick Bernstein, and coaches pray over the HPK Ice Dogs after playing them as a warm-up game during their trip to Finland. (Photos by Jordan Chamberlain)

DI men’s hockey’s third trip to Finland changed lives overseas, within team

3/19/2026 7:44:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey

Working with ministry organizations in Hämeenlinna, the Flames accomplished their twofold mission on the Jan. 4-14 outreach orchestrated by LU Send.

Members of Liberty University's ACHA Division I men's hockey team, who traveled on a third LU Send sports outreach trip to Finland in early January, used hockey as a platform to share God's love, humility, and grace through their words and actions in a secular culture.

"Our team's main goal for this mission trip was to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ overseas in Finland," said sophomore forward Kal Essenmacher, who was on his second trip in five months to the Scandinavian country after traveling with members of Liberty's disc golf team in early August. "We wanted to show Jesus to the people over there, to spread some love and to play some hockey along with that. It was a really fun experience."

Working with Operation Mobilization Finland and Kingdom Sports Hämpton alongside Pastor Dave Pike from Hämeenlinna Internation Christian Fellowship (ICF) and Freechurch facilitated the community outreach.

"To go on a great mission trip, two things have to happen. No. 1, we want to impact the people of Finland that we get to work with," Head Coach and Club Sports Vice President and Athletic Director Kirk Handy said. "No. 2, we want to see players' lives have an opportunity to be transformed as a part of being on the mission trip. Mission accomplished with both of those things."

Senior forward and head captain Sam Feamster, who was one of a handful of players making a return trip to Finland after going as a freshman in 2024, said it changed his worldview and perspective on the spiritual impact followers of Christ can have wherever they go.

"The biggest takeaway without a doubt is that God can use you no matter what's going on in the environment that you are in," Feamster said. "There were certain times when we were in environments there where it was frowned upon to have spiritual conversations and share the Gospel of Jesus. But what we found and what I learned is that just by being there and loving on people and letting your actions speak is enough to plant seeds and God will do the rest of the work from there."

"Through our actions and how we treat others and showing them love, it shows them that Jesus is in us," added senior forward Ryan Finch, who committed his life to Christ and was baptized on the team's last trip to Finland. "If we just show people love and care for them and show them that we see them as people and not what they can bring to the table, that is how Jesus would want us to treat them. Eventually, they would have questions about who God is or who Jesus is or why we are the way that we are."

Liberty's Division I women's hockey team, which followed the DI men's team to the ACHA National Championships near St. Louis this week, is planning to make its second journey to Finland in January 2027 after its first trip in 2023.

Video by Jordan Chamberlain/Club Sports Video & Media Coordinator