FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Daniel Ebrahim (Brooklin, Ontario) was, perhaps, an unlikely choice to play a main character on Friday night, having played in only half the team's games thus far, but play one he did. Ebrahim got the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team on the board early in the second, but he was just getting started. Later, the sophomore sent the sellout crowd of 4223 into celebration mode at Martire Family Arena, as he snapped the shootout winner between the goalie's pads. The Pioneers picked up the extra Atlantic Hockey point with the shootout victory, which followed a 2-2 (OT) tie with Holy Cross.
With the tie, SHU moves to 11-9-2 (10-4-2 AHA), while Holy Cross stands at 7-13-3 (6-7-2 AHA). The two teams will wrap up their four-game season series on Saturday night at Martire Family Arena, with a 7 p.m. puck drop.
Chasing a goal to start the third period, Sacred Heart evened things up early, to get the packed building buzzing. Amid a solid shift in the offensive end, Austin Magera (Suwanee, Ga.) had a wraparound chance stymied at the right post, but the rebound proved just dangerous enough. Julian Kislin (Manalapan, N.J.) jumped up into the slot and buried the loose puck for his second of the campaign.
At times from there, the outcome seemed predestined. Buoyed by the now-raucous crowd, the Pios chalked up a 14-6 shots advantage in the third period, but were unable to solve Holy Cross goaltender Thomas Gale again in either regulation or overtime. Thus, the game went on to the shootout.
Ryan Steele (Stratford, Prince Edward Island) had his opening shot saved, before Lucas Thorne gave Holy Cross the early advantage by snapping one into the right side of the net. It was all Pios from there. Todd Goehring (Wayside, N.J.) picked the five-hole in the second round to get the crowd nice and frothy again. After Luke Lush (Sherwood Park, Alberta) made a pad save at the other end, Ebrahim went between the pads as well to whip them into an all-out frenzy. With the building going bonkers, Jack Ricketts fired Holy Cross' final attempt high on the backhand, as SHU picked up the extra point.
"It was a fun environment, we had a great crowd tonight," said Lush, regarding the shootout. "It's just easy to get up and get excited for the games when we have the crowd behind us like that."
The Pios got up for Friday night, to the tune of a 41-28 advantage in shots on goal.
"I was really happy with our effort, really happy for the guys to finally get to win in here," said head coach C.J. Marottolo after the game. "I thought we generated enough shots to score more than two goals. We had some great chances. Their goalie played really well, and I really respect how they played defense. They really sacrificed. They blocked a lot of shots. They get in a lot of lanes."
Holy Cross finished the game with 13 blocked shots, and SHU posted a 74-48 advantage in shot attempts.
Earlier in the night, Holy Cross had the only goal of the first period, as the Crusaders capitalized on a defensive-zone turnover by the Pioneers. Matt Guerra took control on the left-wing half wall and fed it into the middle for Liam McLinskey, who put away his eighth of the season, at the 9:01 mark.
The two teams traded goals on some serious shooting in the second period. Holy Cross doubled the lead to 2-0 at 2:01, as McLinskey and Guerra linked up again, playing give-and-go up the left side of the ice. McLinskey wired a shot to the top-right corner from the middle of the left circle, for his second of the night.
The Pios had the answer, just 29 seconds later. Conner Hutchison (Hicksville, N.Y.) and John Jaworski (Grinnell, Iowa) engineered a rush up the left side, which got the puck to the stick of Ebrahim with a head of steam headed into the offensive end. Ebrahim made it Snipe City, population: 2, as he lasered his own shot to the top-right corner from the left circle, much the same way McLinskey had. The 2-1 score held through the remainder of the second stanza, setting the stage for the third-period and shootout excitement to follow.
Lush (9-8-2) finished with 26 saves on 28 shots in the SHU crease. Gale (1-7-2) piled up 39 saves against 41 shots at the other end for Holy Cross.
