BRIGHT LIGHTS AND CITY NIGHTS
Downtown Hartford is the scene this weekend, as Connecticut's four Division I men's ice hockey programs meet in the state's capital city for the fourth annual CT Ice tournament. The Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team will open play against host Connecticut on Friday, with both teams receiving votes in this week's USCHO national poll. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m. at the XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum. No. 7/8 Quinnipiac takes on Yale in the nightcap at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, the third-place game will be contested at 3:30 p.m., followed by the title bout at 7 p.m. The entire tournament will air live in the tri-state area on SNY. Sacred Heart was the 2020 CT Ice champion.

LAST WEEKEND
SHU split a home-and-home Atlantic Hockey series with Holy Cross last weekend. The Pios notched a 2-1 (OT) victory on home ice on Friday night, courtesy of John Jaworski's overtime winner. Holy Cross responded with a 5-2 victory in Worcester on Saturday night. Jaworski factored in on all four goals (2-2-4) on the weekend for the Pioneers.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
The Pios open play against Connecticut (10-11-2, 6-8-1 Hockey East), which has been up and down out of the break, to the tune of a 3-2-1 record in the second half. The Huskies have split their last two weekends, against Maine and New Hampshire. Meanwhile, defending national champion Quinnipiac (15-6-2, 9-2-1 ECAC) had been unbeaten in seven (6-0-1), before being swept on a trip through central New York by Colgate, 2-1, and Cornell, 3-2 (OT), last weekend. For its part, Yale (7-12-0, 5-8-0 ECAC) has split six games (3-3-0) coming out of the semester break, but has lost its last three. The Bulldogs were swept in North Country last weekend, falling at Clarkson, 5-3, and St. Lawrence, 4-2.

PREVIOUSLY AT CT ICE
Last year, host Quinnipiac posted a 5-0 victory over SHU in first-round action at CT Ice, behind a pair of goals from Collin Graf and a 17-save shutout from Yaniv Perets. Sacred Heart responded in the third-place game, with a 4-3 win over Yale. Hunter Sansbury scored the eventual winner early in the third period after picking up an assist earlier, as the Pios built a 4-1 lead and held off a late charge from the Bulldogs.

ALL-TIME AT CT ICE
This is the fourth edition of the CT Ice tournament, and Sacred Heart holds a 4-2-0 record across six games in its three previous appearances. The Pios have beaten Yale all three times the two have met at the tournament, and are 1-2-0 against Quinnipiac. Friday night will mark the first time SHU and UConn will meet at CT Ice, though the former Atlantic Hockey rivals have met 67 times all-time, with the Huskies holding a narrow, 31-30-6 advantage. Sacred Heart is 4-2-0 in six games all-time at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, most recently dropping a 6-3 contest at UConn in October of 2021.

UP NEXT
It's all Atlantic Hockey the rest of the way for SHU, beginning with a pair of pivotal games against American International at Martire Family Arena on Feb. 2-3. SNY will air both games, and tickets are available through Ticketmaster.