FAIRFIELD, Conn. (November 22, 2024) – Flying high after sweeps each of the last two weekends, the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team kept right on going through 38 minutes on home ice on Friday night. The Pioneers used goals from Reid Pabich (Verona, Wis.), Daniel Ebrahim (Brooklin, Ontario) and Hunter Sansbury (Lomita, Calif.) to build a 3-0 lead against visiting Rochester Institute of Technology at Martire Family Arena. Things got a little dicey down the stretch, but ultimately SHU did enough to come away with its fifth Atlantic Hockey victory in a row, 3-2.
 
SHU (7-5-1, 6-3-0 AHA) would never trail on the night and took the lead for good with the first period's only goal, at 14:59. Charles Tardif (Quebec City, Quebec) gained possession behind the RIT net and got the puck to Pabich. Pabich turned towards the corner, then found space to curl into the bottom of the left-wing circle and snap home his fourth of the season.
 
Despite playing against the most-penalized team in Atlantic Hockey, it was Sacred Heart which found itself shorthanded on five occasions on Friday. The Pioneers had to kill off three minors in the first 12 minutes of the second period, but kill them off they did. Once it was able to stay out of the box for any length of time, SHU went back to work at the offensive end, pushing the lead out to 3-0 with two goals in just 90 seconds.
 
The first came in transition, as Cole Galata (Newmarket, Ontario) and Marcus Joughin (Tecumseh, Ontario) found themselves on a 2-on-2 into the offensive end. Galata took a shot from the right side, which was blocked, but came right back to his stick. Galata then found the trailing Ebrahim in the left circle and the latter buried his second of the campaign, at 16:01.
 
SHU's third goal of the game came in transition as well, at 17:31. Tardif paid the price on the play, as he was laid out by RIT's Douglas Scott after gaining the blue line. However, as the two were meeting in a collision which left both shaken, Tardif was able to lay the puck off for Sansbury, who had started the play at the other end and was now catching back up on the left side. Sansbury steamed into the left circle and put away his fourth of the year to make it a three-goal game.
 
RIT (3-10-0, 2-6-0 AHA) – which has now lost three in a row and eight of nine – got one back just 37 seconds later, before the period was out. Kevin Scott's point shot was blocked by Sansbury, but the puck ricocheted directly to Tyler Fukakusa on the doorstep at the right post, for an easy finish on his third of the season.
 
The Tigers would make things interesting in the third, as they pulled within one at the 10:50 mark. After initially turning the puck over in the neutral zone, SHU nearly reclaimed possession in its own end, but then Christian Catalano was the first to figure out where a loose puck was in the left circle. He then managed to dance his way to the top of the crease and salt away his third of the season.
 
SHU was able to bear down from there though, and conceded just three further shots on goal the rest of the way. All three came after RIT pulled the goaltender in favor of the extra attacker, and Ajeet Gundarah (Richmond, British Columbia) turned aside all three to preserve the 3-2 victory.
 
Gundarah (5-1-0) made 27 saves against 29 shots, including all 12 shots he faced in the first period, to pick up the win in the SHU net. Trent Burnham (0-5-0) started for RIT, made 10 saves against 13 shots over 37:31, and was relieved of his duties for the night after the third Sacred Heart goal. Ethan David stopped all 12 shots he faced the rest of the way.
 
The two teams wrap up the weekend series on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Martire Family Arena.