DIII men’s hockey to play in ACHA, CHF; host Coastal tonight | Club Sports

January 29, 2021  |  Lynchburg, Va. 

Adding “drama, intrigue, and mystery” to an already “very unique” season, according to first-year Head Coach Josh Graham, Liberty University’s ACHA Division III men’s hockey team will follow the lead of the rest of the Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League (ACCHL) and play as members of the second-year College Hockey Federation (CHF) this spring.

The Flames received permission from the ACHA on Thursday to dual-enroll with the CHF for the remainder of the season, giving them opportunities to play teams it used to compete with in the ACCHL. That includes High Point and Christopher Newport University, which edged Coastal Carolina in overtime in the 2020 ACCHL Tournament championship game, and as many as four games against the University of Tennessee, which competes in the SEC.

“At the beginning of this season, almost the entire Southeast Region and the ACCHL moved to the College Hockey Federation,” Graham said, noting that the ACHA Division III is now down to 80 teams still playing through the pandemic whereas the CHF has grown from 82 teams its inaugural season to more than 100 now, with seven conferences and other independents from New York down to Florida. “With us getting permission to also be in the CHF, we can play in the ACCHL conference again and qualify for the CFL National Tournament, the week of April 9-11 in Philadelphia.”

The ACHA will not hold its regional tournaments this season, with the DII and DIII national tournament fields determined by the final regular-season coaches’ rankings, with the top 16 teams qualifying. If they make it into both, the Flames may have to choose between the ACHA DIII and CHF National Championships, which will likely be held over the same weekend.

Liberty will open its spring semester schedule with a series against Coastal Carolina tonight at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. at the LaHaye Ice Center, where the Flames swept the Chanticleers, 5-2 on Nov. 6 and 5-1 on Nov. 7 at the LIC, in their only series of the fall semester.

Graham already has a 10-game ACHA spring schedule set up this spring — all against Coastal Carolina, which Liberty will host again on March 5-6, and Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), which will host the Flames Feb. 19-21 before Liberty welcomes the Eagles to the LIC from March 19-21. He is hoping to add at least four more contest leading up to the ACCHL tournament, which Liberty has put a bid in to host from March 26-28.

“We are meeting with the ACCHL and are still in early planning phase with that, to make sure we can get the ice and figure out which teams are coming,” Graham said. “A little bit of this will be done on the fly and I am thankful that the Club Sports senior administration has been supportive and has been giving me a lot of guidance on how to navigate through this. I just have to be flexible and patient, knowing some things will get done at the 11th hour.”

Also this past week, Graham and his staff and team selected the final two captains to join senior forward Scott Chisholm and senior defenseman T.J. Moores, who returned as assistant captains in the fall. 

Two players from last season’s Division II squad joined the ranks with senior forward Adam Partridge, a former DII captain and goalie, selected as the DIII team’s head captain and sophomore forward Jaime Ross tapped as an assistant.

Partridge grew up playing forward before becoming one of the Flames’ best goalkeepers, even being promoted to the DI squad in the preseason last year. However, a hip injury ended his career in the cage.

“He is able to skate as a player pretty much pain-free,” said Graham, who invited him to practice with the team in November. “He has a lot of credibility with the guys having been at Liberty for four years now, and he has a way with the guys in the locker room and on the ice. They respect him.”

Ross is the youngest member of the group of captains and Graham has been excited to see him grow into a leadership role this season.

“He is not a vocal guy, but he has been really consistent at practices and in workouts and in our leadership meetings, he offers a lot of feedback,” Graham said.

He said Moores and Chisholm have done an excellent job of carrying the torch to this point.

“T.J. is a very vocal guy and brings a lot of intensity,” Graham said. “Scott’s a really quiet guy, but he brings a calming presence to what’s going on. He knows when to keep it light and when to be a little more serious, and has been able to influence guys on both ends of the spectrum with his personality.”

 

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer