FAIRFIELD, Conn. (February 11, 2023) – The goal horn got a workout on Saturday night at Martire Family Arena, and the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team picked up a much-needed three points. Austin Magera (Suwanee, Ga.) and Chikara Hanzawa (Tokyo, Japan) struck early – the latter for the first of his college career – and the penalty kill went 4-for-4, as the Pios chalked up a 5-3 victory over visiting Air Force, in Atlantic Hockey play in front of a sellout crowd of 4152.
SHU (15-13-2, 13-7-2 AHA) had dropped three straight coming in, came out with something to prove, and staked itself to a 2-0 lead before the game was even nine minutes old. Magera and Kevin Lombardi (Schwenksville, Pa.) got things started with a give-and-go in the left circle, and the former rifled his sixth of the season inside the right post to get the crowd on its feet 3:27 into the proceedings.
Hanzawa followed up with the feel-good moment of the night at 8:25. The lone Japanese native currently playing Division I college hockey, he took a feed from Marcus Joughin (Tecumseh, Ontario), walked off the left half wall and was upended as he moved into the slot. Undeterred, Hanzawa got his stick to the puck while on his backside and swatted it past Maiszon Balboa anyway, for his first collegiate score.
"Our character came through, I really liked our start," said SHU head coach C.J. Marottolo after the game. "We hadn't had a start like that in our new building since we opened it, so that was nice to get."
Air Force (11-17-2, 7-12-1 AHA) got one on either side of the first intermission to even things back up. Following a faceoff win in the left circle, Holt Oliphant finished off a rebound at the right post for his third of the year at 16:44 of the first. A 2-on-1 rush early in the second made it 2-2, as Clayton Cosentino eluded the defense in the middle of the ice on a give-and-go with Nate Horn and notched his fifth of the campaign at 3:19.
The Falcons' Sam Brennan – who had scored twice in Friday's 5-4 Air Force win -- would take a slashing penalty less than three minutes later, and SHU responded with a timely power-play goal. On the left side, Daniel Ebrahim (Brooklin, Ontario) put the puck wide of the net. Neil Shea (Marshfield, Mass.) tracked it down behind the cage, wrapped around to the right post and stuffed home his third goal of the weekend at the seven-minute mark.
The 3-2 lead would hold for much of what was left in the game, but Air Force leveled the game at 3-3 with just 5:11 to play in the third. Will Gavin put a long shot through traffic form the middle of the blue line and wound up with his 11th goal of the season.
The SHU response came even quicker this time, as the Pios reclaimed the lead 58 seconds later, this time for good. Hanzawa did the heavy lifting again, carrying the puck all around the offensive zone and eventually putting it towards the net. The rebound trickled outside the right post, where John Jaworski (Grinnell, Iowa) was on the scene to clean things up for his third of the season.
All the drama was not yet out of the game though. Jaworski himself took an interference penalty with his team on the power play and 2:58 to play. The SHU penalty kill – which was 3-for-3 to that point in the game, but had surrendered five goals in the previous two contests – suddenly found itself in the spotlight, needing to kill 53 seconds of 6-on-4 after Air Force pulled Balboa. The PK would not surrender so much as a shot attempt, never mind a shot on goal, and Braeden Tuck (Calgary, Alberta) ultimately iced things with an empty-netter at 19:54.
"We had some big penalty kills tonight," added Marottolo. "Everybody on that bench stepped up tonight. They paid a price to win, and I couldn't be prouder."
Luke Lush (Sherwood Park, Alberta) piled up a career-best 37 saves against 40 shots to pick up the win (12-12-2). Speaking of paying the price to win, the defense added 12 blocked shots in front of Lush, led by a game-high five from Patrick Dawson (Medway, Mass.).
Balboa (4-4-0) made 28 saves against 32 shots in defeat for Air Force.
The Pios hit the road next weekend, for a pair at Canisius on Feb. 18-19. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m. both days at Harborcenter in Buffalo, N.Y.
