ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Sacred Heart men's hockey team scored twice in the first 3:20 Saturday night at the Gene Polisseni Center and hung on for a 2-1 win over the RIT Tigers. The win is the Pioneers' first over RIT since Feb. 6, 2010 and their first ever in Rochester.

Sacred Heart (5-6-2, 4-4-2 AHC) got on the board 1:02 into the hockey game. Ben Lake (Calgary, Alb.) won a faceoff to Evan Jasper (Whitby, Ont.), who fed Drew George (Regina, Sask.) at the far post for the Pioneers' first goal. Jordan Minello (Sweaburg, Ont.) extended the Sacred Heart lead 2:20 later. Zach Luczyk (Charlton, Mass.) started a rush out of the Pioneer zone, getting the puck to Justin Danforth (Oshawa, Ont.). On a two-on-one, Danforth passed the puck to Minello who shot the puck over RIT goaltender Jordan Ruby's stick to make the score 2-0.

RIT (4-7-2, 3-5-2 AHC) had a chance to get on the scoreboard with 14:56 to play in the opening period, going on its first power play. Sacred Heart goaltender Andrew Bodnarchuk (Saskatoon, Sask.) made two saves to kill the penalty, including a sprawling stop on an Andrew Miller shot from the near post. The Pioneers killed off two more penalties in the period to keep the game scoreless. Jeff Carroll (Kingston, Ont.) almost put Sacred Heart up 3-0 with 2:31 in the period, but his shot off of a 2-on-1 breakaway was gloved by Ruby. The Tigers outshot the Pioneers 12-9 in the opening frame, but were held scoreless as Sacred Heart took a 2-0 lead into intermission.

Andrew Miller got RIT on the scoresheet 1:38 into the second period, knocking in the rebound of a Todd Skirving shot that weakly hit the post. Sacred Heart tried to extend its lead with four shots over a span of four minutes, but Ruby did his part to keep the score at 2-1. The Tigers had two power plays in the second period, but the Pioneers held them to two shots to keep the 2-1 lead. Sacred Heart went on the power play with 4:58 remaining in the second period when Chase Norrish was called for hooking. The Pioneers had three shots on the man advantage, but none were on goal. Sacred Heart outshot RIT in the second period 11-5, but couldn't extend the lead before the second intermission.

The two teams traded shots to open the third period, but both Bodnarchuk and Ruby were stalwart in goal. The Pioneers went on their fourth power play with 15:26 to play but had just one shot when Connor Doherty let one fly from the blueline right at Ruby. The Tigers had an opportunity to tie the game on the power play with 10:13 remaining. Bodnarchuk made two saves on shots by Brad McGowan and Matt Abt to keep the Pioneers in front. RIT had three high-percentage opportunities to tie the game in the final five minutes, and Bodnarchuk was equal to the task each time. Sacred Heart was able to run the clock out and hang on for the 2-1 win.

RIT outshot Sacred Heart 26-24, and 9-4 in the third period. Neither team scored on the power play, with the Tigers going 0-for-6 and the Pioneers 0-for-4. Bodnarchuk made 25 saves for his third win in the last five games, as Ruby had 22 saves for RIT.

The Pioneers return to action on Dec. 5 when Sacred Heart travels to Robert Morris for a weekend series.