By: Lauren McQuillan, Howlings
FAIRFIELD, CT – The Sacred Heart Pioneers men’s hockey returned home to the Martire Family Arena following a 4-3 upset win over the UMass Minutemen (Ranked #15/17) on Friday night. A three-point night (2g, 1a) from freshman defenseman Francesco Dell’Elce and a four-goal third period by the Minutemen finished off the Pioneers and gave the visitors a 6-1 win.
After a solid first period in which they outshot the visitors 10-5, neither team could strike gold, but that changed early in the second period.
At 2:20 of the second period, Dell’Elce scored the first of his two goals exactly seven minutes apart (2:20 and 9:20), with the second proving to be the game-winner.
SHU graduate student forward Max Dorrington was whistled for kneeing just 22 seconds into the second frame.
The Minutemen capitalized on their second power play. Ryan Lautenbach took a shot from the left circle and retrieved the rebound. Lautenbach then sent the black biscuit out to Dell’elce at the point. Dell’elce fired the puck to the net through traffic and beat SHU starting netminder Cullen DeYoung, who struggled throughout the game, allowing six goals on 14 shots. Lautenbach and Daniel Jencko were issued the assists.
Seven minutes later, Cole O’Hara shot on DeYoung from the middle of the blue line, with Dans Locmelis screening the SHU goalie. DeYoung made the save, but the rebound came right to Dell’Elce in the left circle. He sent a laser past DeYoung to score at 9:20 with what proved to be the game-winner.
As they headed into the final quarter of the second period, SHU found a way to get on the board.
Kenny Connors was in the penalty box for UMASS for a Delay of Game call at 15:19.
SHU tallied when Mikey Adamson put the Pioneers on the board at 16:26. Adamson picked off a clearing attempt at the top of the slot at the blue line. Adamson advanced the puck to the left side, finding Marcus Joughin, who returned the puck to Adamson for a shot. With traffic in front of UMASS goalie Micheal Hrabal, who stopped 19 of 20, Adamson’s shot found the back of the net to make it 2-1.
That would be as close as SHU would get.
The wheels came off for the home team in the third period.
A top-corner Minutemen goal came at 3:50. Senior forward Lucas Mercuri tallied with assists from O’Hara and Lautenbach, beginning the third-period scoring frenzy for the Minutemen and making it 3-1.
It became 4-1 just 1:05 later when sophomore forward Jack Musa went 5-hole, with Dell’Elce getting the assist.
Connors and Jencko won a puck battle below the goal line, and when they fed Cam O’Neill at 6:29, he tucked it in past Hrabal, and it was 5-1.
A tic-tac-toe passing play on the power play led to the 6th goal when Connors sent the puck to Aydar Suniev in the right circle. Suniev made a pretty pass through traffic and found O’Hara at the bottom of the left circle.
CJ Marottolo, SHU Head Coach, stated positively after the game about the past weekend, “I think this team should believe that they could play with anybody in the country. I certainly got that feel from the bench going into the third, it was a 2-1 game.” When looking down the road, Marottolo has high expectations for the season: “Keep building on the positive, clean up the things that we need to work on, and I think down the stretch we will be a very hard team to beat.”
SHU has a pair at Matire Family Arena games starting at 7 pm on the 25th and 26th against Holy Cross.
DID YOU KNOW…
The Minutemen have 9 NHL draftees on their roster.
Locmelis – Boston Bruins
Hrabal – Utah Hockey Club
Connors – Los Angeles Kings
Cam O’Neill – Ottawa Senators
Larry Keenan – Detroit Red Wings
Mercuri – Carolina Hurricanes
O’Hara – Nashville Predators
Aydar Suniev – Calgary Flames
Adamson played for the Minutemen his freshman year before transferring to Sacred Heart. Afterward, he reflected on playing against his former team: “I mean, obviously, it’s my old team and everything, but at the end of the day, it’s just another game for me.”
The last time the Pioneers upset a team was in 2021 against the 12th-ranked Boston University.
It was 11:51 into the first period before UMASS could get off their first shot.
After the first period, the Pioneers were outshooting Minutemen 10-5.
After two periods, shots still favored the Pioneers, 19-8.
SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY HOCKEY
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