BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – One day after Thursday night's dramatic comeback, Friday afternoon was a little more by-the-book for the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team at Total Mortgage Arena. The Pios built a 3-0 lead through two periods and cruised to a 4-1 victory to finish off a four-game season sweep of visiting Mercyhurst. Graduate student Ryan Steele (Stratford, Prince Edward Island) had a goal and an assist, while senior Kevin Lombardi (Schwenksville, Pa.) dished out a pair of assists in the Atlantic Hockey contest.
With the win, SHU improves to 10-7-1 (9-4-1 AHA), has won four in a row to close out the calendar year, and heads into 2023 solo-second in the Atlantic Hockey standings. Meanwhile, Mercyhurst falls to 6-12-2 (5-5-2 AHA). It was SHU's first regular-season series sweep of the Lakers since 2009-10, when the teams played just twice.
"I thought we really managed the puck well, and the forecheck was good," said head coach C.J. Marottolo after the game. "We played fast, and we did a lot of the things we need to do to be successful."
The Pios set the tone early, as they controlled the first period, to the tune of a 10-4 advantage in shots on goal. They came away with the only marker of the frame as well, at 8:01. SHU was buzzing for the entire shift, and eventually capitalized on some strong puck movement. From up high, senior Logan Britt (Crystal Lake, Ill.) sent the puck into the right circle for graduate student Austin Magera (Suwanee, Ga.), who immediately fed it into the middle for fellow grad student Todd Goehring (Wayside, N.J.). Goehring received the puck with his back to the net, but spun and flipped a shot inside the left post for his team-leading eighth of the year.
SHU added two more in the second to build the lead out to 3-0. At 8:51, sophomore Hunter Sansbury (Lomita, Calif.) put a shot into traffic from the left point, which was tipped home out front by senior Braeden Tuck (Calgary, Alberta), for the latter's second of the year.
Just under six minutes later, junior John Jaworski (Grinnell, Iowa) got a chance to show off his hand-eye coordination, after Lombardi threw the puck out front from the right-wing corner. Jaworski got his skate to the puck, popped it up in the air, and then kept his stick underneath the height of the crossbar – to avoid a high-stick infraction – while batting his second of the campaign to the back of the net.
Mercyhurst got on the board at 10:07 of the third, when junior Mickey Burns jumped out of the penalty box to head a breakaway which resulted in his fifth goal of the campaign. SHU saw the game out from there though, with Steele adding his seventh of the season into an empty net at 19:24 to create the 4-1 final.
"That was massive for us," said Steele after the game, regarding SHU's five-point weekend. "This weekend was huge to put ourselves in position to have home ice in the playoffs; they were massive points to get for us."
Senior Luke Lush (Sherwood Park, Alberta) had a bounce-back night in the SHU net, with 23 saves against 24 shots to pick up the win (8-6-1). Graduate student Tyler Harmon (2-6-1) collected 29 saves against 32 shots in defeat for Mercyhurst.
SHU is back in action to close out its 6.5-year residency at Harbor Yard with a midweek AHA contest on Thursday, Jan. 5. Puck drop against Army West Point is set for 7 p.m.
