ROCHESTER, N.Y. (October 21, 2023) – In the matchup of current Pioneers and a former Pio, it was the current group which won out on Saturday night at the Gene Polisseni Center. Braeden Tuck (Calgary, Alberta) and Hunter Sansbury (Lomita, Calif.) scored against former SHU netminder Luke Lush, as the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team jumped out to a 3-0 lead through two periods and carried on for a 5-2 Atlantic Hockey win at RIT.
 
"Really proud of our group tonight against a very good RIT team," said SHU head coach C.J. Marottolo after the game. "We had contributions from everyone in our lineup."
 
After a closely-contested game on Friday, the two teams came out flying on Saturday night, as they combined for 33 first-period shots (17-16 SHU). It was Sacred Heart (1-3-0, 1-1-0 AHA) which wound up making the best of its opportunities, by bookending the period with goals.
 
Blake Dangos (St. Louis, Mo.) got the party started just 2:33 into the proceedings, after he took a feed from Marcus Joughin (Tecumseh, Ontario) coming off the right-wing half-wall. Dangos' first shot was turned aside by the defense, but the puck came right back to him in the high slot, and he snapped home his first collegiate goal from there.
 
The Pios doubled the lead at 17:15. John Jaworski (Grinnell, Iowa) dug the puck out on the left-wing side and found Tuck heading towards the slot. The latter shot against the grain and picked the top-left corner for his second of the campaign.
 
Things quieted down a little in the second, but not before SHU found an important insurance marker at 2:48. Sansbury held the puck in at the left point, beat a defender to the outside, powered to the net and flipped a shot between Lush's pads to make it a 3-0 lead.
 
The Pioneers had a golden opportunity to drive the dagger home later, as RIT's Kevin Scott was whistled for a five-minute major for kneeing at 18:08. SHU managed just one shot on the power play, which carried over into the third period, and it nearly proved costly, as the Tigers set out on the comeback trail in the third period.
 
Grady Hobbs got RIT (2-2-0, 1-1-0 AHA) on the board at the 7:28 mark of the third, as he put away a shot from the high slot for his first of the campaign. Cody Laskosky followed up at 12:34, with his third goal of the weekend on a goalmouth rebound to make it a one-goal game heading into the late stages of the game.
 
RIT got a late power play, thanks to a Liam Izyk (Blackie, Alberta) hooking penalty. The Tigers pulled Lush on the man-advantage as well, to make it a 6-on-4 in search of the tying goal. Chase Clark (Williamsville, N.Y.) made a pair of saves on the penalty kill, while Dante Fantauzzi (North York, Ontario) and Sansbury blocked shots as well.
 
"We played hard for one another and had a ton of sacrifice in our game, especially late, as we had to kill off a penalty and RIT pulled their goalie," continued Marottolo. "We played with much more pace and structure tonight. Our forecheck kept pucks alive and we closed quicker in the defensive zone. Our team took a nice step tonight as we continue to grow."
 
The Sansbury block came as the penalty expired and SHU iced the game immediately after. The rebound came to Tuck between the hash marks in the defensive end, and he turned and fired a 170-foot shot into the middle of the yawning cage for his second of the evening, at 19:06. TJ Walsh (Shrewsbury, Mass.) provided the icing on the cake with another empty-net tally at 19:59.
 
Clark (1-3-0) collected 33 saves against 35 shots to pick up the win for Sacred Heart. Lush (0-1-0) made 27 stops against 30 shots in his RIT debut.
 
The Pios return home next weekend for a pair of Atlantic Hockey contests against Niagara, in a rematch of last year's Atlantic Hockey quarterfinal series. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. on Saturday at Martire Family Arena in Fairfield. Friday night is Hockey Fights Cancer night.