From Springfield News-Leader
By Drury Athletics Communications Department
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, MO—The Drury D1 hockey program built on a historic 2024-25 inaugural season with its second-straight American Collegiate Hockey Association National Tournament appearance to close the 2025-26 campaign last week in St. Louis.
After an inaugural 2024-25 season in which the Panthers finished the regular season as the No. 9 team in the country and qualified for the ACHA national quarterfinals, Drury continued its rise in the D1 hockey ranks with another captivating campaign, with the Panthers climbing as high as No. 4 in the national rankings in January.
With a top-eight ranking, the Panthers earned a first-round bye at the national tournament this season, before matching up with No. 11 Calvin in their opener at Centene Community Ice Centre. The Panthers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals from freshman Nolan Bowsher and junior K-T Walters, but the Knights picked up a late first period goal to pull within one heading into the first intermission.
Midway through the second period, sophomore defenseman Lucas Sadownyk scored a power play goal to give the Panthers their two-goal lead again, but just five minutes later, the Knights would again pull within one.
It didn’t take long in the third period for the Knights to tie the game, resulting in a tense final period, with the Panthers generating multiple opportunities to regain the lead. Nevertheless, the game headed into overtime, where the Drury confidence was high, considering its perfect 4-0 record in overtime during the regular season, as well as the performance of sophomore goaltender Jozef Kuchaslo, who faced 35 shots in regulation.
The Panthers controlled much of the play in the extra period, including earning a power play opportunity five minutes into overtime.
But, late in the first overtime period — which would turn out to be the longest overtime game of this year’s tournament — the Knights took advantage of a scramble in front of the Panthers net, converting a goal to end the Panthers season.
Despite the setback, the Panthers completed an impressive second year at the ACHA D1 level, finishing the regular season 23-4-0, for a combined program regular-season record of 49-6-0, in their two years of D1 hockey.
Kuchaslo led the way in net for the Panthers with a 16-4-0 record on the season. Offensively, the Panthers were led by sophomores Daniel Beaupre (35 points) and Anmol Garcha (34 points), while Walters also hit the 30-point mark with 31 points. In all, 16 Panthers players finished the season with double-digit point totals.
(Originally published at https://www.news-leader.com/story/sports/college/2026/03/26/drury-d1-hockey-season-ends-at-national-tournament/89322891007/)
