FAIRFIELD, Conn. (February 4, 2023) – Head coach C.J. Marottolo was pointed in his postgame comments after Thursday's victory. He wanted to see the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team come out and play a better game on Saturday, in the back end of its home-and-home series against American International. On Saturday night though, the Pioneers surrendered three goals in the first period. SHU controlled the run of play the rest of the game from there, in front of a sold-out crowd of 4267 at Martire Family Arena, but could never mount a comeback, in a 4-1 Atlantic Hockey loss.
Following the weekend split, SHU now stands at 14-11-2 (12-5-2 AHA), while AIC is 14-11-5 (11-7-2 AHA). The second-place Pios exit the weekend in the same position they came in, five points in front of the third-place Yellow Jackets.
The first period was the deciding factor on Saturday, and it was not kind to Sacred Heart. The Pios were outshot, 15-6, and conceded three goals in a span of 7:54. Julius Janhonen opened the scoring at 8:31, as he deflected home a Jordan Biro shot at the top of the crease for his seventh of the year. The Yellow Jackets struck again just 13 seconds later, as Brett Rylance buried his third of the campaign from the right side on a 2-on-1 rush. The stanza's final goal came at 16:25, with Casey McDonald cleaning up a broken play out front for his second of the season.
It was a much stronger effort the rest of the way for the Pios, who outshot AIC 24-10 over the final two periods, but they were never able to put a dent in the lead. Instead, the two teams traded goals in the back half of the second period, and that was that. McDonald tallied his second of the night at 12:40, as he had a doorstep finish after Janhonen did the heavy lifting carrying the puck all around the SHU zone.
Sacred Heart got one back just before the middle frame expired, at 19:55. Kevin Lombardi (Schwenksville, Pa.) and Logan Britt (Crystal Lake, Ill.) worked the puck around the horn to Hunter Sansbury (Lomita, Calif.) who forced home a shot from a sharp angle on the left to notch his fifth of the campaign.
The Pios posted an 11-4 advantage in shots in the third, to finish with a 30-25 edge in the game, but the final period went scoreless and AIC skated away with the 4-1 victory.
Luke Lush (Sherwood Park, Alberta) made 21 saves against 25 shots in the loss (11-10-2) for SHU, while Jarrett Fiske (7-5-4) made 29 stops against 30 shots in the victory for AIC.
The Pios remain home next weekend, for a pair against Atlantic Hockey foe Air Force on Feb. 10-11. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. both nights at Martire Family Arena.
