C.J. Marottolo, in his 14th season at the helm of the Pioneers, got his first victory as a head coach in his second game as Sacred Heart’s bench leader on Oct. 24, 2009, a 6-5 decision at Union.
Many highlights have followed, like a 2-1 win at No. 1 UMass-Lowell in 2013, a 6-4 win at Notre Dame in 2017 and a victory over nationally ranked Quinnipiac in the 2020 CT Ice Championship game.
The 2019-20 season was the eighth consecutive double-digit win campaign for the Pioneers. They went 21-10-3, equaled a program best in wins and won the inaugural CT Ice title at Webster Bank Arena. Marottolo’s work that winter helped produce a Hobey Baker Top 10 Finalist, while he was named Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year for the second straight season by the New England Hockey Journal.
The 2019-20 team, which was ranked nationally for five consecutive weeks, finished the year third among Division I teams with 3.85 goals, while the Pioneers were sixth in power play and seventh in fewest penalty minutes.
Marottolo, named to the College Hockey Inc. Board of Directors in 2021, had an immediate impact on the SHU program. The 2009-10 Pioneers tied the program record for wins with a 21-13-4 overall finish in his first season as head coach. That squad also took second place in Atlantic Hockey and made it to the conference championship game.
The AHA named Marottolo the Bauer Coach of the Year for 2009-10, after SHU set a school record by having the nation’s longest unbeaten streak at 12 games before falling to RIT on Feb. 5.
Marottolo came to Sacred Heart after 13 years as an assistant and associate head coach at Yale, working under U.S. Olympic Coaches Tim Taylor and Keith Allain. During his tenure with the Bulldogs, Yale reached the NCAA tournament twice.
Marottolo has also built a reputation as an excellent recruiter. At Yale he brought in four All-Americans, nine All-ECAC selections, and four Ivy League Rookies of the Year.
The former Trinity College assistant coach for two winters before Yale, Marottolo graduated from Northeastern University in 1989. The following two years he served as player/head coach of the Hockey Club of Metz, France.
While overseas, he was also head coach of Euro-Sport/Drummond Hockey School in Amenville, France. Marottolo, who speaks French fluently, has also served as an assistant coach for Team New England at the 1997 Select 16 USA Hockey Festival and coached the 1998 Select 15 team before becoming head coach of the 1999 New England Select 15 squad that finished fourth.
He and his wife, Lynn, daughter, Kailey, and son, Jack, reside in North Haven.
Pronunciation: MARE-oh-toe-lo
