BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – It was one last time in the Park City on Thursday night, for the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team, and the Pios closed out their 6.5-year tenure at Total Mortgage Arena in style. Graduate student Austin Magera (Suwanee, Ga.) had a first-period assist and a third-period goal to record his 100th career point (41-59-100), and first-year Marcus Joughin (Tecumseh, Ontario) handed out a season-best four assists, as SHU rolled to a 5-0 victory over visiting Army West Point in Atlantic Hockey play.
With the win, SHU improves to 11-7-1 (10-4-1 AHA), has won five in a row, and jumps into first place in the Atlantic hockey standings. With the loss, Army falls to 6-11-2 (5-6-1 AHA). The two teams will close out their two-game season series when Army returns to SHU on Feb. 7.
Sacred Heart controlled the first period, to the tune of a 16-5 shots advantage and utilized the man-advantage to build out a 2-0 lead. The first goal was not statistically a power-play tally, but may as well have been, as it came just eight seconds after an advantage expired. From the left circle, Joughin found a seam across the ice to Magera in the right circle. Magera put a shot on net, which was saved, but wound up with his 99th career point when senior Kevin Lombardi (Schwenksville, Pa.) banged home the rebound at the top of the crease for his sixth of the season, at 6:46.
The Pios doubled the lead with an actual power-play goal at 12:55. Sophomore Conner Hutchison (Hicksville, N.Y.) took a shot from the middle of the blue line, which hit a body out front. The puck ricocheted straight to graduate student Ryan Steele (Stratford, Prince Edward Island), who settled at the left post and salted away his eighth of the campaign. Steele has now scored in three straight games (3-3-6).
The power play, which had come up empty on eight chances in last week's sweep of Mercyhurst, finished 2-for-4 with 11 shots on the night. "I thought the power play had a good weekend against Mercyhurst. We didn't get the result on the scoreboard, but we had chances and created momentum," said Senior Associate Head Coach Scott McDougall after the game. "We were able to stick with it, and tonight, we were able to get those pucks to fall in the net."
The first period was only the start of the night's dominance for the Pios. SHU posted a 35-18 advantage in shots, added a third goal late in the second, and tacked on two in the third to win going away, 5-0.
At 17:10 of the second, first-year Dylan Robbins (Alpine, N.J.) notched his first career goal, as he used his skate to deflect home a centering feed from Lombardi behind the net. At 4:56 of the third, senior Neil Shea (Marshfield, Mass.) headed a 2-on-1 from the left wing and fed graduate student Todd Goehring (Wayside, N.J.) on the right, for the latter's ninth of the year.
The highlight-reel goal came at 9:28 though, as Magera's 41st career goal made it 100 career points. It was tic-tac-goal on the power play, with the puck going from Joughin in the right circle, to Steele in the left circle, and back across to Magera at the right post for a quick, one-time finish on his second of the season.
"It's obviously huge getting 100 points, but I'm kind of past that, we're moving on," said Magera postgame. "I think, for the team right now, [it's important that] we keep playing hard, and playing consistent."
It was the first shutout of the season, and second of his career, for senior Luke Lush (Sherwood Park, Alberta), who stopped all 18 shots he faced on the way to the win (9-6-1). Army junior Gavin Abric (4-9-1) made 30 saves against 35 shots in defeat.
SHU steps out of conference this weekend, with a trip to Hockey East member New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon. Puck drop is set for 3 p.m. at the Whittemore Center in Durham, N.H.
