Feb. 14, 2004

Final Stats

MILFORD, CT (February 13, 2004) - The Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team swept their third straight weekend series and extended their winning streak to six games and improved to 10-14-3 on the season and 10-6-3 in Atlantic Hockey contests. The Pioneers had seven different goal scorers in the 8-1 win over American International.

The game started similarly to last nights contest as Sacred Heart jumped out to a 1-0 lead 6:55 into the game on a shorthanded goal from sophomore Erik Roos. Freshman Pierre-Luc O'Brien and sophomore Rocco Molinaro scored 1:20 apart just a few minutes later and the Pioneers never looked back as they ran away with the win.

Sophomore Andrew Billinghurst added two goals in the second period, both on the power play, while seniors Marc-Andre Fournier and Chuck Metcalfe as well as junior Garrett Larson added one goal each, giving SHU a 8-0 lead.

AIC got on the board with a power play goal of their own from sophomore C.J. McConnell with five minutes remaining in the second frame.

Pioneers freshman goaltender Jason Smith looked sharp in net as he made 28 saves in recording the first win of his collegiate career while the three Yellow Jacket net minders combined for 29 saves on the night.

Sacred Heart went 4/8 on the power play in the game while the Yellow Jackets were just 1/6 with the man advantage.

"Our team has a clear understanding of what we have to do to win hockey games," said head coach Shaun Hannah. "It's nice to see things come together for us, especially during the stretch run of the season. This is a big weekend for us coming up [at Mercyhurst and Canisius] and its nice to have some momentum going in."

The Pioneers return to action when they travel to Mercyhurst on Friday, February 20th, for a 7:00 pm game in Erie, PA and then travel to Buffalo, NY to take on Canisius on February 21st at 5:00 pm.