HERE WE GO
Three weeks into the season, and it's time for things to get real. The Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team -- which is receiving votes in this week's USCHO media poll -- opens Atlantic Hockey play on home ice this weekend, and it's straight into the deep end for the Pioneers. SHU will host Holy Cross -- receiving votes in both national polls -- in a two-game series which is a matchup of teams which finished second and third in the league a year ago, with the Crusaders edging out Sacred Heart down the stretch. Puck drop is 7 p.m. on both nights at Martire Family Arena and tickets are available through Ticketmaster. Randy Brochu has the call both nights on FloSports. Paul Pacelli will join him on Friday night, while Jason Cotton is alongside on Saturday.

LAST WEEKEND
The Pioneers reverse split a home-and-home series with No. 15/17 nationally ranked Massachusetts in their final non-conference tune up last weekend. On Friday night, Mikey Adamson had a second-period assist and then tallied the eventual winner in the third period, as SHU chalked up a 4-3, upset win on the road at Mullins Center. The Pios were competitive through two periods in their home opener on Saturday, but the wheels fell off in the third and UMass pulled away for a 6-1 victory. Adamson scored the team's lone goal on Saturday to cap a 2-1-3 week against his former team, which earned him Atlantic Hockey Defenseman of the Week honors.

SCOUTING THE CRUSADERS
Holy Cross is already one week deep into Atlantic Hockey play, after the Crusaders split a pair of home games against Army at Hart Center last weekend. On Saturday night, Barron Woodring scored the game's only goal at 14:45 of the third to lift Army to a 1-0 victory. Holy Cross bounced back with a 5-3 win on Sunday, behind two goals and an assist from Jack Seymour. Seymour has 3-3-6 through the season's first five games.

PREVIOUSLY AGAINST HOLY CROSS
The two teams met for a home-and-home series in mid-February last season, with Holy Cross taking both games as part of its late-season surge past the Pios to a second-place finish in Atlantic Hockey. Costly turnovers led to a three-goal first for Holy Cross on the way to a 5-1 win in Worcester on Friday night. Saturday's game was a lot tighter, but the Crusaders rallied for a 2-1 victory on Liam McLinskey's third-period power-play winner.

ALL-TIME SERIES
The two longtime Atlantic Hockey members have met 93 times in a tightly-contested series which dates back to 1994. Holy Cross holds a slim, 46-41-6 advantage in the all-time series, including a 25-20-5 mark across the last 50 meetings, dating to 2010. The Crusaders have won the last three contests, but SHU has a 4-3-1 edge over the previous two seasons. Sacred Heart is 25-17-4 in 46 all-time meetings at home against Holy Cross, including 2-1-1 at Martire Family Arena.

UP NEXT
This is the first of seven straight weekends of AHA play through the rest of the first half for SHU. The Pios have a home-and-home against Bentley on the docket next weekend, Nov. 1-2.