Jan. 31, 2004

Final Stats

STORRS, CT (January 31, 2004) - The Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team won back-to-back game for the first time in the new year after downing UConn 6-5 in a wide open contest at the UConn Ice Arena. Garrett Larson lead the Pionees attack with a hat-trick, giving him five goals and one assist in the series.

Things got going right off the opening face-off with end-to-end action that was a drastic contrast from the night before.

Larson opened the scoring at 6:15 of the first period as he carred the puck into the Connecticut zone and ripped a wrist shot over the glove hand of Huskies goaltender Scott Tomes. Rocco Molinaro had the lone assist on Larson's seventh goal of the season.

UConn tied the game just moments later on the power play on B.J. Crum's second goal of the season, his first with the man advantage.

The Pioneers regained the lead midway through the opening period when Peter Ferraro one-timed a pass past Tomes for his sixth goal of the season. Assisting on the play were Pierre-Luc O'Brien and Erik Roos.

Connecticut answered quickly once again as Tim Olsen threw the puck on net and managed to sneak it past Sacred Heart goaltender Kevin LaPointe. Scott McDougall assisted on Olsen's fifth goal of the season.

Larson gave the Pioneers the lead once more with his second goal of the night as he banged home a rebound for his second goal of the game. Marc-Andre Fournier took the initial shot and was credited with an assist.

The Huskies responded 15-seconds later when Chris Uber scored his sixth goal of the season, with assist going to Olsen and Matt Scherer.

UConn took their first lead of the game with just under one-minute remaining in the first period when Scherer scored a goal to go with his earlier assist. Olsen and Magnuson assisted on Scherer's sixth goal on the season.

The period ended with Connecticut on top 4-3. Olsen was involved in the scoring of each of the Huskies goals.

The back-and-forth play continued into the second period with both team generating a number of scoring chances in the opening minutes.

Sacred Heart turned one of those chances into a goal as Chris Connerty scored his first goal as a member of the Pioneers at 8:50 of the middle frame with assists credited to Kalen Wright and Chuck Metcalfe. The goal, the second of Connerty's career, was his first since transferring from Iona after their program was dropped at the endof last season.

The Pioneers regained the lead just over a minute later as Larson scored his third goal of the game on a two-man advantage. Molinaro fed the puck to Larson in the middle of the slot and was credited with an assist, as was Chuck Metcalfe.

SHU continued to pressure, nearly expanding on their lead on several occasions.

UConn thought they had scored the game tying goal in the closing minutes of the second period as the puck went off the far-side boards and bounced into the net, but the goal was disallowed when the officials ruled they play offside.

The Pioneers took a 5-4 lead into the locker room after two periods of play, out shooting the Huskies 18-7 in the period.

SHU did extend their lead to two goals when Pierre-Luc O'Brien put home his own rebound for his seventh goal of the season. The unassisted goal proved to be the game-winner as things got interesting in the closing minutes of play.

The action continued to back-and-forth into the closing minutes of play when UConn was awarded a penalty shot after the puck was covered in the goal crease by a Pioneers skater. Olsen was awarded the shot and converted for his second goal of the game.

The Huskies pulled Tomes for the extra attacker, but were unable to tie the game as Sacred Heart held on for a wild 6-5 win.

LaPointe made 17 saves in goal for the Pioneers while Tomes stopped 24 shots for the Huskies.

Sacred Heart will return to action next Friday night when they host Mercyhurst in the first game of a weekend set at the Milford Ice Pavilion. Friday's game is scheduled for 7:00 pm and Saturday's game is set for a 5:00 pm opening face-off.