FAIRFIELD, Conn. (February 7, 2023) – The first period was a problem again on Tuesday night at Martire Family Arena. The Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team would go on to post a 28-10 shots advantage over the final 40 minutes of the evening's Atlantic Hockey contest against Army. Unfortunately for the Pios, it came after they were outshot 12-5 and conceded a pair of goals in the first period. Army made things stand up the rest of the way and skated away with a 4-1 victory.
SHU (14-12-2, 12-6-2 AHA) was somewhat snakebit throughout the proceedings. The Pios hit a post in each of the three periods and struggled to solve Army goaltender Justin Evenson, despite the sizable shots advantage over the final two frames.
"Big picture, I don't think we played that poorly; overall, we generated a lot of scoring chances," said head coach C.J. Marottolo after the game. "But we can't keep spotting teams 3-0 leads, and we lost the special teams battle. So that's kind of what that game came down to… We've got to get a power play going again."
Army (10-14-4, 9-9-2 AHA) potted a pair of power-play goals in four opportunities, while SHU came up empty on four chances of its own.
Army struck twice in the first period and made it hold up from there. Michael Sacco opened the scoring at 5:12, as he was left alone out front on a broken play and tallied his seventh of the year off a feed from behind the net by Max Itagaki. Later, the Black Knights built a play down low on the right side and ultimately fed John Keranen at the bottom of the right circle for his eighth of the year, on the man-advantage at 15:41.
The Black Knights would be on their heels for the rest of the game. Despite being under siege, Army was able to limit the quality chances for SHU, in part by recording 18 blocked shots as a team. Keranen and Thomas Farrell led the way with three blocks apiece.
The defensive stand allowed Army to collect an important insurance marker on the power play late in the second period. Joey Baez, Atlantic Hockey's leader in power-play tallies, powered home his 16th goal of the campaign with a big one-timer from the left circle at 18:58, to make it a 3-0 game heading into the second intermission.
Much of the third period went without further scoring. SHU pulled the goaltender for the extra attacker with more than five minutes to play and still facing a three-goal deficit. The gambit did net the Pios one goal, as Neil Shea (Marshfield, Mass.) curled into the slot and put a shot through traffic at 17:26 for his ninth of the season.
Shortly thereafter though, Keranen blocked a shot and scored from 150 feet away into the empty net to put things on ice.
Luke Lush (Sherwood Park, Alberta) finished with 18 saves against 21 shots and suffered the loss (11-11-2) in the SHU crease. Evenson (4-3-1) stopped 32 of 33 in the win for Army.
SHU remains home for a pair of Atlantic Hockey contests this weekend, as Air Force pays its first visit to the Martire Family Arena on Feb. 10-11. Puck drop is 7 p.m. both nights.
