FAIRFIELD, Conn. (February 3, 2024) – For a team which has had one of Atlantic Hockey's best power-play units for most of the season, it was the penalty kill that did the heavy lifting on Saturday night for the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team. The Pioneers went a perfect 8-for-8 on the kill and blocked 22 shots in front of a near-capacity crowd at Martire Family Arena, including a seven-minute shorthanded stretch in the second period. Justin Robbins (New York, N.Y.) collected 32 saves, three players had two points apiece and SHU posted a 3-1 win over American International to cap a five-point Atlantic Hockey weekend.
 
"That was as gusty as we've had here in a long time," said SHU head coach C.J. Marottolo after the game. "From the net out, the sacrifice, the blocking shots, I can't say enough. I'm really proud of them taking five out of six points from a really good AIC team, one of the most-skilled teams in this league."
 
SHU (13-14-2, 13-7-1 AHA) was coming off a dramatic, come-from-behind, overtime victory on Friday night, but it was AIC (14-13-1, 10-9-1 AHA) which threw the first punch on Saturday in Fairfield. Hunter Jones and Austen Long worked to dig the puck out in the left-wing corner and Long centered for a wide-open Evan Stella out front. Stella put away his third of the season just 38 seconds into the proceedings to get the Yellow Jackets started.
 
It was the only thing anybody heard from the AIC offense all night.
 
Sacred Heart got things level in the back half of the first, in a delayed-penalty, extra-attacker situation at the 14-minute mark. On the right wing, Kevin Lombardi (Schwenksville, Pa.) got the puck to Hunter Sansbury (Lomita, Calif.) along the half wall, and Sansbury in turn sent it to Dante Fantauzzi (North York, Ontario) at the top of the zone. Fantauzzi put a long shot through traffic and on target to pick up his second of the campaign. All three players would finish the night with two points. Sansbury added seven blocks at the other end to match his career high.
 
The Pioneers came out of the first intermission buzzing and got the assembled crowd on its feet twice in the first two minutes of the second frame to surge out front. The first came off a faceoff in the left circle, which Marcus Joughin (Tecumseh, Ontario) won to Lombardi on the left side. Lombardi quickly fed it across to Sansbury at the right point. Sansbury held for a beat, found a shooting lane and ripped a shot inside the far post for his fifth of the season, just 71 seconds into the stanza.
 
It took just 44 seconds for the Pios to strike again. Fantauzzi did the heavy lifting this time, as he cut through the left circle, carried behind the net and tried to stuff the puck home on the wraparound at the right post. His attempt was stymied by AIC goaltender Alexandros Aslanidis, but TJ Walsh (Shrewsbury, Mass.) was on the scene to clean things up at the left post at 1:55, for his team-leading 13^th of the year.
 
From there, the SHU penalty kill saw things out. Grant Anderson (Plymouth, Minn.) was whistled for a major penalty for boarding at 9:28, and Fantauzzi went off for a tripping minor with just one second remaining on the first penalty. No worries though, as the Pios killed off the entire 6:59 shorthanded stretch.
 
Sacred Heart killed off one further minor in the second, plus three more in the third, including a pair inside the final five minutes which threatened to let AIC back in the game. The Yellow Jackets pulled Aslanidis inside the final three minutes, but could not find any further scoring, as SHU went 11-of-11 on the penalty over the weekend to take five of six points from AIC.
 
"Disappointed in the penalties we took tonight, it really put us behind the eight ball," added Marottolo. "But on the flipside, our penalty kill was unbelievable this weekend."
 
RIT and Holy Cross both won on Saturday as well to finish weekend sweeps, which means the Pioneers remain in second place, two points behind RIT and one ahead of Holy Cross. RIT has a game in-hand on SHU, which has two in-hand on Holy Cross.
 
"This is the most fun time of the year; games are going to get really emotional and there's a lot on the line," concluded Marottolo. "We're happy with the five points and we'll enjoy it tonight, but we'll be studying video, getting ready for a really good Air Force team on the road next weekend."
 
Robbins (5-4-0) tallied 32 saves against 33 shots, to finish the weekend 62-for-66 in the Sacred Heart crease. Aslanidis (1-2-0) made 22 stops against 25 shots in defeat for AIC.
 
The Pios head out west for two more pivotal games next weekend, with a trip to fourth-place Air Force on Feb. 9-10. Puck drop is set for 9:05 p.m. (EST) on Friday and 7:05 p.m. (EST) on Saturday at Cadet Ice Arena in USAF Academy, Colo.