Ice Town

The DI Liberty Flames Men’s hockey team kicks off its season Friday against Penn State. The team enters the season returning most of its players and only calling up one. 

“It’s gonna be an awesome year,” sophomore forward Jordan Bochinski said. “We have a really close group of guys and a veteran group of guys that have been around the game for a long time. Also, we have no freshmen this year on our team, so we have a lot of experience coming back and a lot of talented guys.”

He reiterated how tight this group truly is, with all but one of them having one full year as being teammates under their belt. Head Coach Kirk Handy mentioned the experience of this team as an important benefactor moving forward. They have been together for many wins and for some hard losses.

Last year, the Flames rode a 19-game win streak into the Nationals playoffs, before ultimately falling to the University of Central Oklahoma 2-1 in overtime during their first game. While it is something they want to forget quickly, Handy said it is also something that will motivate them in practice and games this season.

“It will motivate us to work hard every practice and to believe in each other,” Handy said. “We saw our team improve the last couple years by leaps and bounds, and I think that we want to continue to have a short memory in some ways, but still remember what the level of competition was like there, and what it’s going to have to be day-in and day-out at practice.”

Handy said having a lot of the same guys will provide a dynamic that will hopefully bring them closer together and help them win more games. He said their energy level has also been contagious, which is another thing that he thinks will help throughout this season as they try to ride their way to a national championship.

“I definitely think that we’re ready (to win a championship this year),” Bochinski said. “We’re coming in ranked number 10 in the nation. I think that compared to where we were coming in last year, and the year before, it’s just been a steady climb.”

He said the opportunity shines bright before them. He said one of their goals, other than winning a national championship, is to move to number five in the rankings. They have slowly creeped up in the standings every year, and he thinks they can continue to climb.

“It starts in practice every day,” Handy said. “It starts with us being intentional in practice every day and developing and

building on that.”

 

Handy said the three season goals are linear. Win the conference, win the conference championship and win the national championship. He said that they must take it one step at a time to reach the final goal.

Another important thing Handy said is that the goal of the team is to have GPA above 3.2 GPA. Last year they had highest team GPA ever, and he said he hopes it
continues to rise.

“We’re excited about the group of guys that we have,” Handy said.

Entering year 19 as head coach, Handy said he and his staff are excited about the team this year. They are also looking to do more as a team this year, which includes trying to take them on a missions trip to Finland with LU Send in January. As for the first game of the season, he said he and the team are looking forward to getting the season started.

“The home opener’s always an exciting night, and to follow it back up the next weekend with the Midnight Mayhem,” Handy said. “Right at the beginning of the year will be two back-to-back experiences for our guys.”

He mentioned the student body has always been excellent in coming out and supporting the team, and having so much support from the fans is a great experience for these
student athletes.