Most of the school doesn’t even know about them, but for some, its a big part of their lives. Liberty Eagles hockey is coming back for their fifth season.
The St. Chuck Cup tournament starts on Tuesday, Sept. 30 at Wentzville Ice Arena for the Eagles. This will be the first game played of to 2025-26 season.
Last season, the Eagles made it all the way to the Founders Cup Championship game, where they unfortunately lost 4-2 to Fort Zumwalt East. They ended the regular season with a record of 9-9-2, 20 points, and were 7th in the St. Charles division.
The Eagles are facing Francis Howell in their first game next week. Last season, they went 0-1-1 against Howell, losing one game and tying one game. In both games, Howell was able to put up six goals against the Eagles. In the tied game, former eagle Trey Wilson (11) put up five goals alone for the eagles, with Greyson Howarth (12) putting up the other one.
“They’re really physical. They have a lot of speed. Just like us, they have a lot of returning players,” captain Lucas Kempf (12) said. “I think they might have lost like maybe one kid, but I remember we got beat pretty bad by them last year, and it was pretty embarrassing.”
For the Eagles, there are a lot of new and returning faces, and not a lot gone from last year. With only two seniors last year, and two unreturning players, the team hasn’t had any major changes this season.
One big change is with the goalies. With Ben Teismann graduating, and Ethan Eager moving, the only goalie returning to the varsity team is Brayden Dill (10).
Another major change is losing Trey Wilson (11). While Wilson didn’t physically attend Liberty last year, attending TPH, a hockey academy in St. Louis, he was a big asset to the team while he played. In the 11 games that he played last season, Wilson scored 25 goals. Wilson ended up getting a wrist injury and not returning the rest of the season.
All though they lost four of their players, they gained a lot with the new freshman. With three freshman on varsity, and six freshman swing players, there is a lot of potential this season.
“I think we have a lot of young kids that are very skilled that will help push our older kids, but also just make out whole program better,” head coach Mark Turnipseed said.
Be sure to show up to Wentzville Ice Arena at 7 p.m. to support your Eagles and watch them play Francis Howell.
