ERIE, Pa. (November 9, 2024) – After 23 career goals, all of them coming one at a time, John Jaworski (Grinnell, Iowa) of the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team found his first collegiate multiple-goal game on the road at Mercyhurst on Saturday afternoon. The graduate student forward potted tallies 24 and 25 in a span of 5:50 in the middle period, to erase a 1-0 deficit and put the Pios out front to stay. Mikey Adamson (Quincy, Mass.) dished out three assists in the game, as SHU finished off an Atlantic Hockey weekend sweep with a 4-1 victory at Mercyhurst Ice Arena.
 
It was Mercyhurst (2-10-0, 2-6-0 AHA) which struck first on Saturday night. At 7:57 of the first period, Steven Agriogianis found Sean James at the bottom of the right circle, and the latter one-timed home his second of the season to break the ice.
 
That was it for the Lakers on Saturday, though.
 
"Pretty complete effort; we challenged our guys, we needed a 60-minute effort tonight and, I think no question, our guys did it," said head coach C.J. Marottolo after the game. "We got contributions up and down our lineup from the net out, and special teams was spot on tonight."
 
SHU (4-5-1, 3-3-0 AHA) trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes, but then poured in three goals in the middle stanza, including a pair of power-play markers, to jump to a 3-1 lead. The fun started just 38 seconds into the period, when Hunter Sansbury (Lomita, Calif.) found a seam from the right point into the left circle and hit fellow co-captain Jaworski. Jaworski bought himself a one-way ticket to Snipe City and ripped home his second of the season from there.
 
The Pioneers tacked on power-play goals at 6:28 and 11:06, as part of a 2-for-5 night with the man advantage, to take the lead for good. First, Jaworski picked up his second of the night when he was between the hash marks and deflected home a shot from the middle of the blue line by Adamson, who picked up the first of his three assists. Later, Adamson played quarterback on the power play from up top and set up Sansbury in the left circle. The latter hammered home his second of the year with a big one-timer to make it a two-goal game.
 
"It's never easy going on the road; it's hard to beat teams," continued Marottolo. "I think Mercyhurst is a good team, they've got very dynamic players. I thought we did a good job of keeping them in front of us tonight and came out with a sweep on the weekend."
 
The dagger came early in the third, when Adamson kickstarted a rush out of the defensive end and Jaworski used a stretch pass through the neutral zone to spring Daniel Ebrahim (Brooklin, Ontario) in on a partial breakaway from the right wing. Ebrahim snapped a shot inside the left post from the slot for his first of the campaign, at 4:51.
 
Ajeet Gundarah (Richmond, British Columbia) finished with 34 saves against 35 shots to pick up the win (2-1-0) and his first career 30-save game. Simon Bucheler (2-7-0) stopped 46 of 50 at the other end for Mercyhurst. It was Sacred Heart's first 40-shot game since a 2-2 (OT) tie at home against Holy Cross on Jan. 20, 2023, and the first time the team eclipsed 50 shots in at least the last 15 years.
 
The Pioneers went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill to make it a perfect, 6-for-6 weekend, just one week after a 5-for-10 series against Bentley.
 
"So proud of the guys, how they responded today after winning last night, and coming back today with a real hard, 60-minute effort," concluded Marottolo.
 
SHU returns home for the next two weekends, beginning with an Atlantic Hockey series against Robert Morris on Nov. 15-16. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. on Saturday at Martire Family Arena in Fairfield.