For the McIlhany family, hockey is more than a sport. It's a promise.

Growing up as a young defenseman, Kent McIlhany’s coach told him there was an expectation that came with mentorship, that he would pass on what he’d learned when it came time.

Many years later, Kent has upheld his end of the bargain as head coach of the Liberty Lancers hockey program and father to its best player, senior forward Brandon McIlhany.

This past season saw Brandon go off for 59 points on 33 goals and 26 assists, leading the Lancers to a 16-5 season and an appearance in the 4A semifinals, the program’s first winning season since 2015-2016. He was voted the top player by all 4A schools, according to Kent, and several area coaches regard him as the best local ice hockey player this season.

In short, he did his family proud.

This past season a lifelong goal of Kent’s came to fruition as he wanted to have two older brothers coach two younger brothers. This year, Andrew McIlhany, a Lancer alum who graduated in 2017, coached defensemen. Connor McIlhany, who graduated from Liberty in 2019, coached forwards. Brandon’s younger brother, sophomore Nathan, played defense for Liberty and received coaching from Andrew. Connor gave Brandon a brotherly slap on the helmet when he did something wrong in a game or practice.

It’s a perfect fit for a family that grew up competing on the rink together.

“I started playing at the Air Force Academy around the age of 2 and then having my older brothers out there it was a compete-to-see-who’s-better (environment). That’s still going on to ‘til this day,” Brandon said. “Growing up it was fun playing roller hockey with all of them, beating each other out over the puck, playing pond hockey with each other. It’s just been fun because not a lot of people get to have a sibling to play another sport with so having three brothers that I can play hockey with was just a blessing.”

That familial bond is what brought Brandon back to Liberty after a year in Tigers Triple-A hockey last season.

He learned a lot playing at that level and could have remained in Triple-A for a second season but Kent had a different idea.

“If he had his choice I think he would have played Triple-A his senior year and kind of keep pushing to get better and better. I think he did it for me. It was kind of a family thing to where pay back to your brothers and to your younger brother,” Kent said.

With Kent serving as a physical education teacher for 26 years, Brandon has been around Liberty all his life. From hanging out with his dad and other teachers to attending volleyball, football, and soccer games, Liberty culture has played a large role in Brandon’s upbringing.

Watching Andrew and Connor play, serving as an assistant captain and then a two-time captain respectively, galvanized what being a leader on the ice meant Brandon.

“It’s amazing. It’s a dream that a family could have of passing down that McIlhany name through the school so everyone knows what kind of leaders we are,” Brandon said.

An assistant captain this past season, Brandon took a page out of Connor’s leadership style. He led by example and brought a level of intensity and speed that he saw in his year of Triple A hockey to his high school teammates some of whom were a part of those Triple A teams.

According to Kent, Brandon had a contagious work ethic and he noted the difference in the intensity of drills in practice when his son was on and off the ice. Brandon would even go so far as to stop a drill midway through if the team wasn’t running it correctly or to standard.

“To lead it you have to show it. So I just worked my butt off to show the younger guys how to work hard and what that looks like,” Brandon said. “Working hard can be in different ways like scoring, assisting, we’re big on back checking this year. Different little things like that we all would get excited about. Maybe it’s a hit or a blocked shot. We’d all cheer for it and hype that person up because they gotta realize that they just did something for the team that helped.”

Brandon also learned from his teammates, skating alongside fellow seniors Ethan Graber, Micah Newton, and Tristan Ward. He said their positive attitude and commitment to playing every game at 110% helped push him and the Lancers to the success they achieved this season.

Though Liberty fell short of the ultimate goal of winning a state championship, Brandon believes the program is positioned to continue to move the program forward.

That’s possibly the most important achievement: a new culture for the hockey program at Liberty. One where there is an expectation of hard work, dedication, and winning.

That’s been a goal of Kent’s since he took over the program four years ago. He started by making sure his players received some experience. During that first season, Liberty had a JV team that played nine games, a program first, according to Kent. The work laid then bleeds into the success now.

Each season under Kent, the team has taken a step forward. The Lancers missed the postseason in 2021, lost in the first round in 2022, made it to the second round – quarterfinal round – last year, and were one of the last four standing this past season.

The biggest reward, however, is preparation for life beyond hockey.

For Andrew that has led to life as a father and an engineer. For Connor, it meant becoming a firefighter. Now both have a group of athletes looking up to them.

“I know growing up I had a lot of experiences as a leader going through the processes as a player. You get to decide what kind of leader you’re going to be and your coaches have the ability to help shape that. And I didn’t have a whole lot of shaping as I was growing up, I just had my leadership style that worked,” Connor said. “Coming into the coaching realm it was more of a, ‘Oh, I have the opportunity to show these kids what I went through’ and how I was able to develop and kind of give them at least somewhat of a path.”

As for Brandon, he will be the first of his brothers to play junior hockey. He is tendered to the Helena Bighorns in the North American 3 hockey league.

Now it’s his turn to pass the torch. He has high hopes for his younger brother Nathan.

“Hopefully, for my little brother, Nahan, he can take all of our years and put it into one year so hopefully next year he can win state, if not his senior year,” he said.