MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (November 24, 2023) – It had been 13 days since the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team played a game, and the team came out eager on Friday night in western Pennsylvania. Three goals in the back half of the third period stood up at RMU Island Sports Center, as the Pios put together a 4-2 victory in their weekend opener at Robert Morris. T.J. Walsh's (Shrewsbury, Mass.) goal late in the frame held up as the game-winner to give Sacred Heart its fifth straight Atlantic Hockey victory.
 
After not playing in nearly a fortnight, SHU (6-5-0, 6-2-0 AHA) tried to fit a full game's worth of action into the opening 20 minutes in the Keystone State. The Pios came up empty on an early double-minor, despite recording six shots, and then started filling up the net after the midpoint of the period. Kevin Lombardi (Schwenksville, Pa.) got things started at the 11:36 mark, as he found his way to the slot and deflected home a Hunter Sansbury (Lomita, Calif.) shot from the blue line to notch his fifth goal of the campaign.
 
The Pios needed just 75 seconds to double the lead. Mark Cheremeta (Parkland, Fla.) and Blake Dangos (St. Louis, Mo.) worked the puck around to the top of the left circle, where John Jaworski (Grinnell, Iowa) got into a pig one-timer and hammered home his sixth of the season.
 
RMU (2-8-3, 1-6-2 AHA) got one back on the man-advantage at 16:18, after Tanner Klimpke centered the puck from the right side to Walter Zacher between the hash marks. Zacher mostly fanned on his one-time attempt, but caught a break, as he wound up brushing the puck into the left circle for Dalla Tulik. Tulik took care of things from there and collected his third of the year.
 
SHU got it back in the final minute to reclaim a two-goal lead heading into the locker room. Lombardi tracked the puck down in the left-wing corner and made a nifty, blind centering pass across the low slot. Walsh was waiting for it, unmarked at the right post, and had no problems putting away his team-leading seventh of the season.
 
Things got considerably quieter from there, as the second stanza went scoreless, along with the front half of the third period. Robert Morris cut the cap to 3-2 at 10:24. On the right side of a rush into the offensive end, George Krotiris flipped a pass across to Cade Townend on the left side, to set up the latter's third of the year.
 
Though it was now a one-goal game, the Colonials never seriously threatened to even things up, as SHU surrendered just three shots the rest of the way. RMU short-circuited its own comeback attempt with 2:04 to play, as Krotiris was whistled for tripping in the offensive end, which effectively left his team shorthanded for the remainder of the game.
 
RMU pulled Chad Veltri in favor of the extra attacker, to create a 5-on-5 skater situation, but Daniel Ebrahim (Brooklin, Ontario) iced things for the Pios with a breakaway on the empty net at 19:21.
 
Chase Clark (Williamsville, N.Y.) made 25 saves against 27 shots to pick up the win (6-5-0) in the SHU crease. Veltri (2-7-3) stopped 27 of 30 at the other end of the ice for RMU.
 
Sacred Heart has now won its last five meetings against Robert Morris. The two teams wrap up their weekend and season series on Saturday at 1 p.m. at RMU Island Sports Center.