Liberty University’s ACHA Division I men’s hockey player Luke Hannon was selected to represent Team USA at the Winter World University Games, Feb. 4-14, 2015, in Granada, Spain.
Hannon, a 23-year-old freshman forward from Buffalo, N.Y., was the first Flames player selected to participate in the eight years USA Hockey has entered a team. He finished the fall semester as the ACHA DI scoring leader with 28 goals and 28 assists (56 points).
The 27th annual event is similar to the Winter Olympics, but is open only to non-scholarship collegiate athletes, with approximately 3,000 participants expected to compete. About 800,000 spectators will watch sports ranging from skiing, snowboarding, and figure skating to biathlon and curling.
Team USA’s 22-man hockey squad will play a couple of exhibition games against professional teams from Spain before facing Japan in its opener on Feb. 5. In the final round of preliminary play on Feb. 7, the team will go up against Kazakhstan and will compete in a qualifier on Feb. 10 with a chance to advance to the Feb. 11 quarterfinal, the Feb. 13 semifinal, and the Feb. 14 bronze or gold medal game.
