SHU PIONEERS EARN SECOND SEED IN AHA PLAYOFFS
By: Lauren McQuillan, Howlings
The Sacred Heart Pioneers men’s hockey team rode the strong net play of freshman goaltender Ajeet Gundarah to a 2-0 shutout win over the Bentley Falcons before 3,733, the third-largest attendance figure since the Martire Family Arena opened. The Senior Night win earned the Pioneers the #2 seed in the Atlantic Hockey Playoffs.
Five Seniors and four Graduate Students were honored as part of the Senior Night celebration.
After a quiet first period, both teams combined to take only ten shots, six for the home Pioneers and four for the visiting Falcons.
The game-winning goal came in the second period, at 9:30. Felix Trudeau, a Senior, passed to Junior, Ried Pabich. He, in turn, found another Junior, Mikey Adamson, who was just below the blue line and put the puck in a perfect position for an Adamson one-timer. Adamson is currently ranked 6th in the NCAA for goals by a defenseman, with 11 goals this season.
When the second period concluded, shots were even at 12 as the Pioneers continued to use the momentum from their first goal and carry it over into the third.
The Pioneers sealed that deal on the power play at 5:55 of the third period. With Ethan Leyh in the penalty box for Bentley on a hooking call, another of the honored seniors, Hunter Sansbury, received a cross-ice pass from Junior, John Driscoll. Sansbury one-timed it. Bentley netminder, Connor Hasley, tried to cover the loose puck, but it was Matthew Guerra, who got to it first and fed another of the honored on the Senior Night players, grad student Tyler Ghiradosi, who put it home for the 2-0 lead.
NOTES:
Martire Family Arena has a seating capacity of 3,600 fans. The only games to have a larger attendance in the building’s short history were UConn with 4,177, Yale, which saw 4,002, and UMass-Amherst, where 3,940 attended the contest.
The Pioneers look to finish the season 19-10-5. The last season with that much success came in the 2019-2020 campaign, which saw the Pioneers attain a record of 21-10-3.
Earlier, it was announced that the Pioneers will have home ice for the AHA Playoffs. Last season, the Pioneers hosted the AHA Playoffs as the #3 seed and lost to Niagara, the #6 seed.
At 16:58, Sansbury became the first Pioneer to hit 300 blocked shots. Sansbury is the tenth in NCAA History to attain 300 career blocks. Sansbury ended the contest with 301, just two shy of the Atlantic Hockey record, 303.
The Pioneers will have a bye in the first round and will host the Quarterfinals against the winner of Robert Morris University and Air Force on March 7th.
