FAIRFIELD, Conn. (January 13, 2024) – TJ Walsh (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Blake Humphrey (Penfield, N.Y.) scored in a busy second period, but it was not quite enough for the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team to finish the job at home against Bentley on Saturday night. After the two teams split four goals in the middle frame, the visiting Falcons got an overtime winner from Stephen Castagna to skate away with a 3-2 Atlantic Hockey victory at Martire Family Arena. Still, the point for getting to overtime allowed the Pios to finish a busy, three-game week with six points, to put them six points clear of the field atop the AHA standings.
 
"I thought this weekend was a really hard-fought series with Bentley, both at their place and here tonight" said SHU head coach C.J. Marottolo after the game. "Both teams were emotionally invested in the weekend series."
 
SHU (10-10-2, 10-5-1 AHA) held a 9-4 shots advantage in the first period, including five shots across a pair of power-play chances, but could not capitalize, and the opening frame went scoreless.
 
Bentley (11-13-0, 7-9-0 AHA) needed just 67 seconds in the second period to get the scoring started. Kellan Hjartarson made a lap of the entire offensive zone with the puck on his stick, and then buried a shot from the left circle for his sixth of the season.
 
The Pios responded immediately, on the very next shift, just 39 seconds later. Goaltender Chase Clark (Williamsville, N.Y.) started things from the defensive end, with an outlet pass down the right wing. At the red line, Andrius Kulbis-Marino (Methuen, Mass.) deflected the puck to John Jaworski (Grinnell, Iowa), who carried into the middle of the ice and fed Walsh. The latter had a head of steam coming down the left side and ripped home a shot from the faceoff dot for his second goal of the weekend and team-leading 11^th of the year.
 
Sacred Heart would wind up with goals on two of its four shots in the second stanza, as Humphrey struck on another rush up the ice at the six-minute mark. Hunter Sansbury (Lomita, Calif.) provided a long outlet pass down the right side, and Humphrey picked the top-left corner from the middle of the right circle for his second of the campaign.
 
Bentley – which held a 21-10 margin in shots from the start of the second through the end of the night – drew even at 15:14. It was the game's third straight transition goal, as Arlo Merritt headed up a 2-on-1 rush from the right wing, took the shot himself and snapped home his fifth of the season.
 
The third period went scoreless, with the Falcons holding a 9-6 shots advantage, and then Bentley found the winner 2:54 into overtime. Ethan Leyh held in a clearance attempt at the left point, and deflected the puck straight to Castagna. Castagna flicked a shot into the top-right corner from the middle of the left circle for his fourth of the year, to send the Falcons spilling off the bench in celebration.
 
Clark (8-9-1) finished with 22 saves against 25 shots in the SHU crease. Connor Hasley (5-7-0) stopped 17 of 19 shots for Bentley.
 
SHU has another short week ahead, with a Tuesday night trip to Army, to wrap up the season series with the Black Knights. Puck drop is 7 p.m. at Tate Rink in West Point, N.Y.
 
"We got four out of six points on the weekend, which we are happy with," concluded Marottolo. "We are going to go over the game film and prepare for Tuesday night for our game against Army."