Box Score Springfield, Mass.—The Sacred Heart men's ice hockey team scored five goals in the third period to beat AIC 6-3 on Sunday afternoon at the Mass Mutual Center. The Pioneers (2-3-1, 1-2-0 AHC) picked up their first Atlantic Hockey win of the season.
AIC (0-2-1, 0-1-0 AHC) struck first with a shorthanded goal by Shawn McBride with 32 seconds to go in the first period. Freshman Vito Bavaro got the Pioneers on the board with a second chance goal off a shot by junior Kory Kennedy 44 seconds into the period. The Yellow Jackets answered back shortly after with a goal by Janis Jaks to take the 2-1 lead into the third period.
The Pioneers turned on their attack in the third period with senior captain Evan Jasper tying the game up with his power play goal on the assist from Justin Danforth and Jordan Minello with 11:12 remaining in the period. Jasper would strike again nearly two minutes later on the dish from Bavaro to give Sacred Heart the 3-2 lead. It was Jasper's first two goal performance since February 20, 2016 against Canisius. The scoring continued as Kennedy got a breakaway from Jeff Carroll to bring the score to 4-2. Jordan Minello added his first tally of the season on a rebound off a shot by Alec Butcher 1:49 remaining in the period. The Yellow Jackets added their third goal on a shot by Johno May. Carroll netted his first goal of the season on an empty net to bring the final score to 6-3.
Sacred Heart was able to stay out of the penalty box for much of the game, only drawing one penalty in the second period. Their two penalty minutes today is lowest penalty minutes total since recording just four minutes against Holy Cross last season. The Pioneers outshot the Yellow Jackets 39-26, thanks to their 18 shots in the third period. Seven Pioneers recorded two points on the day. Sophomore goaltender Brett Magnus recorded 23 saves for Sacred Heart.
The Pioneers will head to New Haven, Conn. to take on 16th ranked Yale on Saturday October 29 at 7:00pm.
First Period
- AIC goaltender Zackarias Skog made three big stops on the Pioneers early in the first period.
- Magnus made a great save on a breakaway attempt by AIC with 12:49 remaining in the first.
- Coltyn Hansen had three straight shots on goal with just over four minutes to go in the first period but was denied twice by Skog.
Second Period
- Bavaro put the Pioneers on the board with his rebound shot off Kennedy's shot attempt with 19:16 to go in the second period.
- Magnus made a spectacular sliding save on a shot by Blake Christensen with 16:33 left in the period.
- Adam Durkee has his first shot of the season hit off the pipe.
- Jaks' tally gave the Yellow Jackets the 2-1 lead with 14:56 remaining in the period
Third Period
- Jasper with the put in shot off Danforth's attempt on the SHU power play at 9:46 in the period.
- Jasper answered again with his second score on the assist from Bavaro with 7:24 remaining in the third period.
- Kennedy with the back handed breakaway goal on the lead pass from Carroll.
- Minello netted his first goal of the season on the rebound off a shot by Alec Butcher.
- Carroll sealed the game with his empty net goal with 18 seconds to go in the game.
