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The NHL preseason starts this weekend, but the guys and gals playing at the college level are already up and running and it didn’t take long for an early Save of the Year candidate to show up.

I love when we get a chance to highlight some club hockey, and for this one, we’ve got to check in on the Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles who traveled north to face off against the Liberty University Flames in Lynchburg, Virginia for a three-game weekend series to open the season.

Now, it can be weird to think of college hockey in Florida and Virginia, but let me assure you, both of these schools are no joke. 

The Eagles play in Division 2 of the ACHA (American Collegiate Hockey Association), and they have four national championship banners to their credit with titles in 2012, 2016, 2018, and 2019.

Meanwhile, the Flames play in the ACHA’s Division 1 and play in an arena that puts a lot of NCAA barns — and honestly a lot of minor league arenas too — to shame.

The Flames came in as the favorites to take Friday night’s contest, but they may have started to grip their sticks a bit harder when they saw this showstopping stop from FGCU netminder Keegan Wise.

Liberty forward Ryan Finch (*Ricky Gervais voice* Finchy) found himself with the puck right around the faceoff dot and a yawning cage to shoot out. 

What he didn’t count on was Wise going Marc-Andre Fleury on him for a save so filthy I feel like I need to go take a shower after watching it.

Man, that’s good stuff.

But the Eagles didn’t just have one player pull off a highlight reel bit of larceny, they went on to pull off a stunning upset and beat the Flames 4-3.

Liberty will get two chances at revenge, once on Saturday and again on Sunday.