BRIDGEPORT, Conn.- The Sacred Heart University Men's Ice Hockey team defeated Yale by a final score of 6-2 at the inaugural CT Ice Festival this afternoon. The Pioneers will now face Quinnipiac tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. for the CT Ice Championship.

"I was really proud of our guys tonight. The execution is where I wanted it to be. Yale pushed back in the second. In the third we did what we needed to do to close it out. There was a great ambience tonight. Our players enjoyed playing in this environment and we are excited for tomorrow's match against Quinnipiac tomorrow." SHU head coach CJ Marottolo on the Pioneers 6-2 victory over Yale.

First Period

• The Pioneers dominated the opening period as they outshot the Bulldogs 13-7 in the period.
• SHU jumped out to an early courtesy of a goal by senior Jason Cotton while the team was on the power-play just 3:16 into the first to put SHU ahead 1-0. Assists were credited to senior Mike Lee and first-year Braeden Tuck.
• Then less than two minutes later senior Vito Bavaro would find the open hole to cash in his 15^th goal of the year unassisted to put SHU up 2-0 just 5:07 into the first.
• The scoring didn't stop there for the Pioneers as junior Matt Tugnutt nailed his 13^th goal of the year while SHU was short-handed off an assist by Jason Cotton to put SHU ahead 3-0 at the 8:30 mark in the period.
• As the second half of the period began, SHU tallied its fourth goal of the game coming off the stick of sophomore Austin Magera from a pair of assists by junior Marc Johnstone and junior Jordan Kaplan at 15:17 into the period to seal the Pioneers 4-0 lead after one.

Second Period 

• The Pioneers and Bulldogs kept the whole period tight as Yale outshot the Pioneers 18-14 in the period.
• Yale jumped out onto the board for its first goal of the game early off the stick of Dante Palecco while Yale was on the power at 1:15 into the period to tighten the SHU lead to 4-1.
• The Pioneers answered back after a five-minute major was issued to Yale, junior Jordan Kaplan tallied his seventh goal of the year off assists by Mike Lee and Austin Magera to return SHU to a four-goal lead 15:11 into the period making the score 5-1.

Third Period 

• The Pioneers and Bulldogs were limited in shots on goal in the third period as SHU was outshot by Yale 8-6.
• Both defenses were tight in holding each other to no goals for the first 17 minutes of the period.
• Then at the 17:23 mark in the period, junior transfer Evan Wisocky cashed in his first goal as a Pioneer off a pair of assists from sophomore Todd Goehring and sophomore Ryan Steele to give SHU a commanding 6-1 lead.
• Yale would tally one more goal in the final minute coming off the stick of Brett Jewell but wouldn't be enough as the Pioneers prevailed with a 6-2 win.

Notes 

• Three Pioneers tallied a goal and assist in the game as Jason Cotton, Jordan Kaplan and Austin Magera each tallied two points for the Pioneers.
• Senior Mike Lee tallied two assists in the win racking his season totals to 24 on the year.
• Sophomore goalie Josh Benson recorded 21 saves on 23 shots faced as he picked up his 15^th win of the year.
• With the win the Pioneers improve to 15-8-2 overall while Yale drops to 8-10-0 overall.