Third Annual CT Ice
Sacred Heart at No. 3/4 Quinnipiac
Jan. 27, 2023 - 7 p.m.
Third-place / Championship game
Jan. 28, 2023 - 4/7 p.m.
M&T Bank Arena - Hamden, Conn.

SNY
SNY stream (login with cable provider required): https://sny.tv/watch-now/
Out-of-Market Domestic Stream (Friday): https://gobobcats.com/watch/?Live=2913&type=Live
International Broadcast: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ecachockey/

The time has come, once again, to assemble Connecticut's four Division I men's ice hockey teams. The third annual CT Ice tournament, featuring Sacred Heart, Quinnipiac, UConn and Yale will be conducted on Friday and Saturday, and hosted by No. 3/4 Quinnipiac. Friday matchups feature UConn vs. Yale at 4 p.m., followed by the Pios against the host Bobcats at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the consolation game will commence at 4 p.m., followed by the championship tilt at 7 p.m.

Phil Giubileo has the call both days on SNY and gobobcats.com, via Stretch Internet. Michael Zahn will join him for Friday's game, while Rich Coppola fills the analyst role on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT
It was the night the Martire Family Arena crowd had been waiting for since the building's opening a week prior. Tied with 20 minutes to play, SHU poured it on in the third period and sent a third straight sellout crowd, of 4296, into party mode for the final 10 minutes. Daniel Ebrahim played hero for the second straight night, while Kevin Lombardi scored twice, as the Pioneers finished off a season sweep of Holy Cross, 4-1, on Saturday night.

A LOOK AT THE PIOS
SHU (12-9-2) took five of six points from Holy Cross over the weekend, and is now set to hit road for the first time in nearly three weeks. Saturday night's meeting with the Bobcats will mark SHU's second meeting with an ECAC opponent on the season; the Pios suffered a 2-1 loss at Cornell on Nov. 22. The red and white are winless in three games against nationally-ranked opponents this season. Hobey Baker nominee Neil Shea leads the way for SHU at 7-12-19. Ryan Steele (7th, 0.42) and Kevin Lombardi (10th, 0.41) are both top-10 in Atlantic Hockey in goals per game.

SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Former No. 1 Quinnipiac (18-3-3) has dropped to No. 3/4 nationally and is licking its wounds after getting swept in central New York last weekend. The Bobcats fell at No. 14/15 Cornell on Friday night, which snapped a eight-game winning streak, as well as a 17-game unbeaten streak (16-0-1) which dated to late October. QU then surrendered a third-period lead in a 3-2 loss at Colgate on Saturday night. Quinnipiac had not lost back-to-back games since it dropped three straight to close out the 2020-21 campaign. Hobey Baker nominee Collin Graf (12-22-34) leads five Bobcats with at least 20 points on the season. Graf is fifth in the country in points per game (1.42). Goaltender Yaniv Perets is fourth in the nation in goals-against average (1.80).

LAST MEETING
The Pios and Bobcats last met a year ago, also on the opening day of CT Ice, which was hosted by SHU at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport. Neil Shea and Dakota Raabe rallied Sacred Heart to a 2-1 lead midway through the third, but Joey Cipollone evened things with 1:19 to play and Zach Metsa provided the winner 3:51 into overtime, as No. 2/2 Quinnipiac escaped with a 3-2 (OT) victory.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Formerly Atlantic Hockey, MAAC Hockey and ECAC South foes, SHU and QU are no strangers to each other, though the Pios have struggled through the 38 all-time meetings, with just an 8-26-4 record. SHU is just 2-15-2 on the road against Quinnipiac, including three losses in three tries in the Bobcats' current arena. The Pios do have one win to their credit on York Hill, but it was a 2-1 (OT) win over Air Force in a neutral-site makeup game in February of 2018. SHU is 1-4-0 in its last five againt QU, all of which have come while the Bobcats were nationally ranked.

VOTE FOR NEIL
Neil Shea has been named as one of 82 nominees for the famed Hobey Baker Award, which annually honors the nation's top Division I men's ice hockey player. The first round of fan voting is underway at hobeybaker.com/vote and will run through March 5. The initial watch list will be pared back to a top 10 on March 15, with three Hobey Hat Trick finalists to be announced on March 30. The 2023 Hobey Baker Award will be presented on April 7, in conjunction with the Frozen Four.