FAIRFIELD, Conn. (January 9, 2024) – Despite surrendering an extra-attacker goal to Army with just 23 seconds to play to send the game to overtime, the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team bounced back to secure the extra point on Tuesday night with a 1-0 victory in the shootout, following a 3-3 (OT) tie with the Black Knights. Kevin Lombardi (Schwenksville, Pa.) had the shootout's only goal and Chase Clark (Williamsville, N.Y.) stopped all three shootout shots he faced after a 28-save outing at Martire Family Arena, as the first-place Pioneers opened up a three-point lead atop the Atlantic Hockey standings.
 
"I thought the guys competed hard," said senior associate head coach Scott McDougall after the game. "All in all, a good effort and a good result, and now we'll turn our attention to the points coming up in the conference [this weekend against Bentley]."
 
SHU (9-9-2, 9-4-1 AHA) came out like a house afire, to the tune of a 15-2 shots advantage in the first period. Dante Fantauzzi (North York, Ontario) set up Braeden Tuck (Calgary, Alberta) at the middle of the blue line. Tuck put a long shot through traffic from there which found paydirt for his fourth goal of the season at 5:25.
 
Each team found a goal in the middle frame. Army (5-14-1, 3-9-1 AHA) struck first, at 3:47, to level the game at 1-1. John Driscoll had the feed from the right side, which was tipped at the top of the crease by Joey Baez. The puck continued on to the left post for Brent Keefer, who hammered home his 10^th of the campaign.
 
Sacred Heart reclaimed the lead on the power play at 11:11. Once again, it was a long shot through traffic, as Marcus Joughin (Tecumseh, Ontario) and TJ Walsh (Shrewsbury, Mass.) worked the puck to Mikey Adamson (Quincy, Mass.) at the top of the zone. Adamson slipped a shot all the way through to the target, where it rang off the right post and rattled in for his second of the year.
 
The Pios got what seemed to the be the dagger at 7:14 of the third, with another shot from distance. This time it was Hunter Sansbury (Lomita, Calif.), who put his shot through traffic from the right point to notch his fourth of the season.
 
From there though, the third period was nothing but trouble. The Pios would be outshot 13-4 in the stanza, and Army needed just 57 seconds to answer the Sansbury goal. Driscoll held in a clearance attempt at the left point and found Baez in front of the right post, where the latter ushered home his ninth of the year on a one-time finish.
 
SHU nearly held on until the final horn, but could not outlast Army's efforts with the extra attacker over the final 90 seconds. With just 23 seconds to go, Ricky Lyle found the puck amid a scramble out front and popped home his seventh of the year to even things up.
 
After overtime went scoreless, Lombardi converted on the very first attempt of the shootout, with a nifty deke to the left and a backhand finish. It would be the only goal of the shootout. Clark turned aside all three shots he saw at the other end, including a stop against last year's AHA Rookie of the Year, Max Itagaki, to seal the deal in the third round.
 
"Fun night at Martire Family Arena; getting a shootout win in front of a home crowd is very exciting," added McDougall. "We're always trying for three points, but points are hard to come by in our league, so we will take them and add the two tonight to our total."
 
Clark (8-8-1) made 28 saves against 31 shots across the three periods and overtime in the SHU crease. Evan Szary made 25 saves against 27 shots before departing with an apparently injury in the third period. Gavin Abric (1-8-1) made eight stops against nine shots the rest of the way for Army.
 
Sacred Heart has a home-and-home on the schedule against Bentley this weekend, on Jan. 12-13. The Pios will visit Bentley Arena on Friday, for a 7 p.m. puck drop in Waltham, Mass. Saturday's game is back home at Martire Family Arena, also at 7 p.m., and tickets are available through Ticketmaster.