FAIRFIELD, Conn. (November 16, 2024) – It was a busy afternoon on Saturday at the Martire Family Arena, as the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team and Robert Morris combined for 13 penalties and nine goals in a back-and-forth affair. The Pioneers erased deficits in both the first and second periods and then threw a party in the third period to finish off an Atlantic Hockey weekend sweep. Felix Trudeau (Terrebonne, Quebec) scored twice in just 3:16 in the final frame to help carry SHU to a 6-3 victory.
 
While SHU (6-5-1, 5-3-0 AHA) had the last laugh, it was Robert Morris (4-3-2, 1-3-1 AHA) which got out of the gates first on Saturday afternoon. George Krotiris hammered his first of the year to the top-left corner from the top of the right circle on the power play at 7:49 of the first. Then, Walter Zacher walked out of the left-wing corner, danced out front and slipped a puck between the pads of Ajeet Gundarah (Richmond, British Columbia) to make it 2-0 just 10:39 in, on his seventh of the year.
 
Sacred Heart got level before the intermission though. In a 4-on-4 situation late in the frame, Max Dorrington (North Reading, Mass.) won a right-circle draw straight back to Garrett Sundquist (South Glastonbury, Conn.). Sundquist stepped into a shot from the top of the circle and picked the top-left corner for his first of the season, at 17:02. The Pios then cashed in on a delayed-penalty situation at 19:13 to make it 2-2. With the extra attacker on, Matthew Guerra (Orlando, Fla.) controlled at the right point and found a seam all the way across the attacking zone. He hit Mikey Adamson (Quincy, Mass.) in stride at the left post, as the latter crashed the back door to notch his fourth of the year.
 
The two sides traded special teams tallies in the middle frame. Working on a 4-on-3 advantage after the midpoint frame, RMU played tic-tac-goal, as Michael Craig fired the puck from the left wing across to Gabriel Lunn in the right circle. Lunn in turn found Tanner Limpke right on top of the crease, and the latter touched home his first of the season at 10:59.
 
SHU answered with its first shorthanded tally of the season at 14:47. After Reid Pabich (Verona, Wis.) worked the puck to John Jaworski (Grinnell, Iowa) inside the Pioneer blue line, a Robert Morris defender blew a tire in the neutral zone, which let Jaworski lead a 2-on-1 into the offensive end. The graduate student took care of business himself from the right circle, as he snapped his fourth of the campaign past Dylan Meilun on the short side.
 
Jaworski now has eight points (4-4-8) across a five-game point streak, which is the longest of the season for the Pioneers thus far.
 
The Pioneers broke out the brooms, with prejudice, in the third period. SHU amassed a 16-4 shots advantage in the frame and put home a trio of goals to make a statement on home ice and finish off its fourth straight victory. First, the Pios put together their own pretty passing play at 8:27 to pop the eventual game-winner. From up top, Adamson moved the puck to Marcus Joughin (Tecumseh, Ontario) on the left side. Joughin found a lane across the high slot to Trudeau, who buried his team-leading seventh of the year from the top of the right circle, to put SHU out front to stay.
 
Trudeau extended the lead at 11:43, after Hunter Sansbury (Lomita, Calif.) put the puck towards the net from the right point. The rebound sat outside the right post and an opportunistic Trudeau cleaned it up for his second multiple-goal game of the season.
 
The dagger came just 2:56 later, in transition. On a rush into the zone, Dorrington left the puck for Tyler Ghirardosi (Montrose, British Columbia) on the left side. Ghirardosi had some room to work with and put away his second of the year form the top of the left circle at 14:39, to make sure the Colonials went back to Western Pennsylvania empty-handed.
 
"We got contributions up and down the lineup, and that's what we need out of the team right now," said Jaworski, a co-captain, after the third-period explosion. "It's huge. That's what we look for, and that's what we expect of ourselves."
 
Gundarah (4-1-0) made 27 saves against 30 shots to pick up the win between the pipes for Sacred Heart. Meilun (0-1-1) stopped 30 shots, but also surrendered six goals for Robert Morris, before being yanked after the final SHU score. Dawson Smith stopped all three shots he faced over the final 5:22.
 
Sacred Heart is home again next weekend, for a pair of Atlantic Hockey games against RIT on Nov. 22-23. Puck drop is 7 p.m. both nights at Martire Family Arena.