SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (February 24, 2023) – The battle for second place in Atlantic Hockey lives on to the season's final day. Neil Shea (Marshfield, Mass.) gave the Sacred Heart men's ice hockey team a 2-1 lead midway through the third on the road on Friday night, but Blake Bennett scored on a late power play to even things up for American International. The contest went all the way to a shootout, after the two sides played to a 2-2 (OT) tie. Brian Kramer put home the shootout winner as the host Yellow Jackets claimed the extra standings point with a 2-1 shootout victory.
As a result, Sacred Heart (16-14-3, 14-8-3 AHA) heads into the season's final day one point clear of AIC (16-12-7, 13-8-4 AHA). It just so happens the final day sees the two sides meet again, in a 7 p.m. puck drop at SHU's Martire Family Arena in Fairfield, Conn.
The two teams will finish second and third in some order, that much is known, and it will largely be a "to the victor go the spoils" situation on Saturday night. A SHU win, regardless of how, would see the Pios claim second place. An AIC victory in regulation or overtime, would allow the Yellow Jackets to take second, outright with a regulation win or via the head-to-head tiebreaker with an overtime win.
The one wrinkle in the system is the shootout. If the game went to a shootout, the season series would be split, and SHU would finish second even with a loss, by virtue of finishing with more Atlantic Hockey wins than AIC.
Commit that to memory. There will be a quiz.
As for Friday night, AIC opened the scoring at 8:26 of the first, when Oscar Geschwind got loose out front and put a backhand home for his eighth of the year. It took SHU some time to respond, but the Pios did so at 14:19 of the second, when Dante Fantauzzi (North York, Ontario) found the net through traffic from the middle of the blue line for his second of the campaign.
As such, things went into the third period tied, in a playoff-like atmosphere in downtown Springfield. It was SHU which broke the tie, at the 9:02 mark. Marcus Joughin (Tecumseh, Ontario) and Todd Goehring (Wayside, N.J.) worked to win the puck behind the net. The latter exited towards the left-wing side and found a lane out front to Shea, who was left unmarked just above the hash marks. The senior buried his team-leading 13th of the year from there.
The Pioneers held the lead into the final five minutes, but a late holding call against Daniel Ebrahim (Brooklin, Ontario) would prove problematic. On a give-and-go play off a faceoff win on the right side, Bennett – AIC's leading scorer – found some room to work with in the middle of the blue line. He fired through traffic and caught the back of the net for his Atlantic Hockey-leading 20th of the season, at 16:10.
SHU had a power play of its own inside the final three minutes, but could not respond. Overtime went without a goal as well, which sent things to the shootout.
"Third period, I thought, was a real gritty effort on our part, getting that goal" said SHU head coach C.J. Marottolo after the game. "Unfortunately, they got a power play and they executed. We got a power play late and we didn't. In these playoff-type atmospheres, special teams obviously play a huge role."
The shootout was level at 1-1 through two rounds, with Ebrahim opening the first round with a goal and Casey McDonald responding for AIC in the second round. In the decisive third round, Kevin Lombardi (Schwenksville, Pa.) was turned aside by Jarrett Fiske, and then Kramer scored to pick up the extra point for AIC.
Luke Lush (Sherwood Park, Alberta) chalked up 35 saves against 37 shots on the way to the tie (13-13-3) in the SHU crease. Fiske (8-6-6) stopped 29 of 31 at the other end for AIC.
