Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey

Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey
Current season
University	Sacred Heart University
Conference	AHA
Head coach	C. J. Marottolo 13th season, 142–237–45 (.388)
Captain(s)	Evan Jasper Mitch Nylen
Alternate captain(s)	Connor Doherty
Arena	Webster Bank Arena Capacity: 8,525
Location	Bridgeport, Connecticut
Colors	Red and white[1]

The Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Sacred Heart University. The Pioneers are a member of Atlantic Hockey. They play at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.^[2] From 1993-2016, the Pioneers home arena was the Milford Ice Pavilion in Milford, Connecticut.

History[]

Division III[]

Sacred Heart began sponsoring men's ice hockey as a varsity sport in 1993. The team was placed in the South Division of ECAC North/South/Central and because they were not able to schedule all of their ECAC South opponents twice the Pioneers played half a conference schedule in their inaugural year. With a full conference slate the following year, Sacred Heart greatly improved their record which continued in year three.

For the 1996–97 season Shaun Hannah was brought in as head coach and the Pioneers finished with their first winning record and 2nd in the division, narrowly missing the conference postseason.

In the late 1990s the MAAC was mandated to form an ice hockey conference. Two of the ECAC South programs would have to promote themselves to Division I and soon after they were joined by Sacred Heart. With an eye for their new conference, Hannah began offering scholarships to incoming students, a violation of Division III rules, which caused the Pioneers (along with two other ECAC South teams) to be ruled ineligible for any postseason play. Additionally all of their conference games would not be counted in the standings, through they would still be able to play the matches and count the results towards their overall standings.

MAAC[]

Despite the influx of scholarship athletes, Sacred Heart finished 7th in the first year of MAAC conference play. The team rebounded in the second year, doubling their win total and finishing with a winning record. Postseason success was a little slower in coming with the Pioneers unable to win a playoff game until year 4 of D-I play. During the 2002–03 season Iona and Fairfield, the two original MAAC programs, both announced that they would end their sponsorship of ice hockey at the end of the season. With only one full-time member still active the MAAC terminated their ice hockey division. The remaining 9 programs banded together and formed Atlantic Hockey which began the following year.

Atlantic Hockey[]

Sacred Heart played well for the first few years of Atlantic Hockey, reaching the championship game in 2004 and 2010 but after Hannah left in 2009, the team took a tumble down the standings. From 2011 through 2018 the Pioneers never finished higher than 8th in the conference. Bench boss C. J. Marottolo was finally able to push the Pioneers out of the basement in 2019 with a 4th-place finish, ending 1 win shy of .500 on the year.

The school announced in 2020 that it would build a $60 million facility for its men's and women's ice hockey programs. ^[3] After a delayed start, construction began on the Martire Family Arena in March of 2021, with a new scheduled completion date of 2023 and a new price tag of $70 million. Martire Family Arena will be the first on-campus ice arena for Sacred Heart.^[4]

Season-by-season results[]

Records vs. current Atlantic Hockey teams[]

As of the completion of 2018–19 season^[5]

School	Team	Away Arena	Overall Record	Win %	Last Result
Air Force Academy	Falcons	Cadet Ice Arena	12–23–7	.369	2-2 T
American International College	Yellow Jackets	MassMutual Center	30–21–7	.578	1-4 L
Army West Point	Black Knights	Tate Rink	23–26–10	.475	3-3 T
Bentley University	Falcons	Bentley Arena	32–26–6	.547	2-3 L
Canisius College	Golden Griffins	LECOM Harborcenter	19–25–8	.442	2-3 L
College of the Holy Cross	Crusaders	Hart Center	29–36–5	.450	1-4 L
Mercyhurst University	Lakers	Mercyhurst Ice Center	24–27–5	.473	0-3 L
Niagara University	Purple Eagles	Dwyer Arena	8–13–2	.391	6-3 W
Robert Morris University	Colonials	Colonials Arena	3–23–1	.130	3-1 W
Rochester Institute of Technology	Tigers	Gene Polisseni Center	13–27–2	.333	1-3 L

Coaches[]

As of completion of 2020–21 season

Tenure	Coach	Years	Record	Pct.
1993–1994		1	4–15–0	.211
1994–1996		2	21–25–2	.458
1996–2009	Shaun Hannah	13	191–204–38	.485
2009–Present	C. J. Marottolo	12	142–237–45	.388
Totals	4 coaches	28 seasons	358–481–85	.433

Statistical leaders[]

Career points leaders[]

Player	Years	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
	2003–2007	142	67	91	158	141
	2005–2009	139	56	99	155	228
	1999–2003	129	65	77	142	198
	2004–2008	143	54	87	141	105
	2006–2010	147	47	87	134	122
	2001–2005	139	55	69	124	233
Justin Danforth	2013–2017	147	42	82	124	125
	2009–2013	143	46	72	118	65
	2008–2012	142	61	48	109	113
	1998–2002	120	49	60	109	138

Career goaltending leaders[]

GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Minimum 30 games

Player	Years	GP	Min	W	L	T	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
	2018–Present	57	3298	33	17	5	138	5	.902	2.51
Eddy Ferhi	1999–2003	88	5160	36	35	13	126	7	.917	2.63
	2003–2007	71	4291	38	29	4	196	2	.912	2.74
	2015–2019	109	6438	39	56	12	314	5	.904	2.93
	2001–2005	71	4162	28	34	7	214	3	.902	3.08

Statistics current through the start of the 2020-21 season.

Current roster[]

As of August 23, 2020.^[6]

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
2		Dante Fantauzzi	Sophomore	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2000-05-01	North York, Ontario	Sioux Falls (USHL)	—
3		Grant Anderson	Sophomore	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	187 lb (85 kg)	1999-09-15	Plymouth, Minnesota	Omaha (USHL)	—
4		Jeppe Urup	Junior	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	176 lb (80 kg)	1999-03-14	Odense, Denmark	Youngstown (USHL)	—
5		Andrius Kulbis	Sophomore	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	2000-02-16	Methuen, Massachusetts	Maine (NAHL)	—
6		Logan Britt	Junior	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-02-10	Crystal Lake, Illinois	Quinnipiac (ECAC)	—
7		Daniel Petrick	Junior	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	199 lb (90 kg)	1999-04-06	Wilbraham, Massachusetts	Madison (USHL)	—
8		Hunter Sansbury	Freshman	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2000-10-08	Lomita, California	Salmon Arm (BCHL)	—
9		Dante Palecco	Graduate	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1998-04-18	Whippany, New Jersey	Yale (ECAC)	—
10		Alex Bates (A)	Graduate	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1997-06-17	Parker, Colorado	Wenatchee (BCHL)	—
11		Ryan Steele	Senior	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	182 lb (83 kg)	1997-09-13	Stratford, Prince Edward Island	West Kelowna (BCHL)	—
12		Kevin Lombardi	Junior	F	6' 4" (1.93 m)	234 lb (106 kg)	1998-08-12	Schwenksville, Pennsylvania	Sioux City (USHL)	—
13		Cody Hoban	Sophomore	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	2001-04-26	Guilford, Connecticut	Danbury (NAHL)	—
14		Nick Boyagian	Senior	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	181 lb (82 kg)	1997-07-16	East Greenbush, New York	New Jersey (NAHL)	—
15		Troy Conzo	Graduate	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	1997-02-21	Nesconset, New York	Colorado College (NCHC)	—
16		Dakota Raabe	Graduate	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	1997-05-06	Dana Point, California	Michigan (Big Ten)	—
17		Ryan Doolin	Sophomore	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-02-06	Hanover, Massachusetts	Alberni Valley (BCHL)	—
18		John Jaworski	Sophomore	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	2000-03-20	Grinnell, Iowa	Chicago (USHL)	—
19		Daniel Ebrahim	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	186 lb (84 kg)	2000-07-12	Brooklin, Ontario	Jersey (NCDC)	—
20		Adam Tisdale	Senior	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	171 lb (78 kg)	1998-11-09	Cochrane, Alberta	Clarkson (ECAC)	—
21		Tim Clifton	Junior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	1998-02-23	Farmingdale, New Jersey	Shreveport (NAHL)	—
22		Conner Hutchison	Freshman	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	2000-06-02	Hicksville, New York	Tri-City (USHL)	—
23		Braeden Tuck	Junior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	183 lb (83 kg)	1998-04-15	Calgary, Alberta	Trail (BCHL)	—
24		Austin Magera	Senior	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1998-07-19	Suwanee, Georgia	Lincoln (USHL)	—
26		Neil Shea	Junior	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	198 lb (90 kg)	1999-07-29	Marshfield, Massachusetts	Northeastern (HEA)	—
27		Patrick Dawson	Junior	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-01-14	Medway, Massachusetts	Odessa (NAHL)	—
28		Rourke Russell	Graduate	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	188 lb (85 kg)	1998-02-25	Long Beach, California	Miami (NCHC)	—
29		Todd Goehring	Senior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1997-07-08	Wayside, New Jersey	Chicago (USHL)	—
30		Josh Benson	Senior	G	6' 1" (1.85 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1997-11-04	Stillwater, Minnesota	Fairbanks (NAHL)	—
31		Justin Robbins	Junior	G	5' 9" (1.75 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	1999-03-10	Alpine, New Jersey	Arizona State (NCAA)	—
33		Luke Lush	Junior	G	6' 2" (1.88 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	1998-02-15	Sherwood Park, Alberta	Drayton Valley (AJHL)	—

Awards and honors[]

NCAA[]

AHCA Second Team All-Americans

• 2009–10: Nick Johnson, F
• 2019–20: , D; Jason Cotton, F

MAAC[]

Individual awards[]

All-Conference Teams[]

First Team All-MAAC

Second Team All-MAAC

• 1999–00: , G; , F
• 2000–01: Eddy Ferhi, G
• 2001–02: Eddy Ferhi, G; , F

MAAC All-Rookie Team

Atlantic Hockey[]

Individual awards[]

All-Conference Teams[]

First Team All-Atlantic Hockey

Second Team All-Atlantic Hockey

Third Team All-Atlantic Hockey

Atlantic Hockey All-Rookie Team

Pioneers in the NHL[]

Although several alumnus have played professionally, Sacred Heart has yet to have an alumnus reach the NHL.^[7]

See also[]

• Sacred Heart Pioneers women's ice hockey

References[]

External links[]

• Official website