WORCESTER, Mass. – A four-goal second period powered the Sacred Heart men's hockey team past Holy Cross 5-0 Saturday night at the Hart Center. Senior goaltender Alex Vazzano (Trumbull, Conn.) made 22 saves for his second career shutout. The win also clinched home-ice for Sacred Heart in the first round of the Atlantic Hockey tournament.

Holy Cross (12-16-5, 11-11-5 AHC) opened the game with a power play 3:10 in after Nick Lotito (Staten Island, N.Y.) was called for cross-checking. The Sacred Heart penalty kill held the Crusaders to one shot on goal on the initial power play. The Pioneers' first shot on goal of the game came with 14:15 to play in the first when Zach Luczyk (Charlton, Mass.) fired a shot from a tough angle that was stopped by Matt Ginn. On the other end of the ice, Vazzano made a sprawling save to rob Tim Driscoll with 13:02 remaining in the first.

Sacred Heart (10-17-6, 9-12-6 AHC) then went on the offensive, putting five shots on net in a span of five minutes, capped off by a Justin Danforth (Oshawa, Ont.) attempt that was snagged by Ginn. Holy Cross went back on the power play with 5:58 remaining in the period, but Vazzano made two saves on the man advantage to keep the game scoreless. The Pioneers went on their first power play with 1:58 left in the first, but didn't register a shot on goal as the two teams headed to the locker scoreless after the first period.

Evan Jasper (Whitby, Ont.) broke the scoreless tie 1:45 into the second period. After Zach Sabatini (Johns Creek, Ga.) put a shot wide, Jasper took the rebound around the net then put a shot on that hit a Holy Cross skate and found the net. With 14:38 to play in the second, Jasper put Sacred Heart ahead 2-0. This time, Jasper fired home a feed from Danforth from the slot.

Kory Kennedy (Midhurst, Ont.) made the score 3-0 with 6:36 left in the period when Ben Lake (Calgary, Alb.) found him on a two-on-one breakaway for his fifth goal of the season. Luczyk staked Sacred Heart to a 4-0 lead with 1:42 to play in the second period. Connor Doherty (Holden, Mass.) found Luczyk on a breakaway, who put a shot right off Ginn. The puck popped up in the air and found its way across the goalline to put the Pioneers ahead 4-0 heading into the third period. Sacred Heart tacked on one more goal late in the third period. Jeff Carroll (Kingston, Ont.) scored his first goal of the year on the power play with 2:08 remaining, with assists from Doherty and Erlich Doerksen (Toronto, Ont.) that made the final score 5-0.

Sacred Heart outshot Holy Cross 26-22, including a 14-3 margin in the second period. The Pioneers were 1-for-4 on the power play, and killed off all six Holy Cross power plays. Doherty and Doerksen each had two assists. Jasper's two goals are a career-high.

The Pioneers wrap up the regular season on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7:05 p.m. against Bentley at the Milford Ice Pavilion for Senior Night.