FAIRFIELD, Conn. — The Pioneers return to home ice this weekend as the Sacred Heart University women's ice hockey team prepares to host the third installment of the Ice Breaker Tournament on Friday, October 20 through Saturday, October 21. The Pios begin the tournament with a matchup against Lindenwood at 7 p.m. on Friday night and will face either Northeastern or St. Cloud State on Saturday with game time set for either 2 p.m. or 5 p.m. Friday's matchup between SHU and the Lions will be televised regionally on SNY while all games will be available on NEC Front Row. 
 
ICEBREAKERS
The 2023 Women's Ice Breaker Tournament makes its way to Connecticut for the first time in its short history as the Hockey Commissioners Association picked Sacred Heart to host the third installment of the tournament at Martire Family Arena on October 20-21.
 
The Pioneers join a list of first-time participants alongside Lindenwood (CHA), Northeastern (Hockey East) and St. Cloud State (WCHA). St. Cloud State and Northeastern kick off the tournament at 4 p.m. on Friday evening, followed by SHU versus Lindenwood in the nightcap. The third-place game is slated for 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon with the Championship game scheduled for 5 p.m.
 
Clarkson won last season's installment at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y., over St. Lawrence, 3-1, with Syracuse and Holy Cross battling to a 3-3 tie in the third-place game after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19. 
 
Minnesota Duluth won the inaugural Ice Breaker Championship in Buffalo, N.Y., back in 2019, defeating hosts Mercyhurst before downing Colgate in the championship game, 3-1. Mercyhurst took third place with a 3-1 win over UConn in the consolation game.  
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Pios turned their attention to conference play last weekend, competing hard but ultimately falling to defending-NEWHA champions LIU by identical 3-1 score lines. Kailey Smith and Julianna Koman had the lone goals on the weekend for the Pioneers as the Red & White fell to 1-4 on the young season. 
 
On Friday, SHU made things interesting early in the third period with Smith's first power-play tally of the season to cut the deficit in half, but a goal from LIU's Bri Eid five minutes later negated the comeback attempt as the Pios dropped their first conference game of the season at home. On Saturday night, the Pios found themselves on the board first but could not hold off a hungry Sharks power-play that capitalized on two of their nine opportunities on the night, as LIU tacked on three-straight goals to earn the series sweep. 
 
LOOKING AT LINDENWOOD
Lindenwood heads to the Nutmeg state for the only time this season, taking on the Pioneers for just the third time in program history in the nightcap on Friday night. The Lions head into the tournament sitting at 2-4 having dropped their last four games after starting the season off with a sweep of Bemidji State at home. 
 
Taylor Wasylk leads the Lions in her first season after spending the previous five seasons at DIII Suffolk University, amassing a 64-44-7 record and leading the Rams to a Commonwealth Coast Conference title and NCAA Tournament appearance a season ago. Following a five win campaign last year, the Lions were slotted fifth in the College Hockey America (CHA) preseason poll with Penn State picked to win the conference. 
 
Preseason All-CHA team forward Morgan Neitzke leads the Lions with eight points heading into the weekend slate and has earned points in four games this season. Sophomore Sarah Davies is having a breakout season tallying six points points through six games this season after recording nine points in her first year with the Lions. In goal, Emily Finach and Natalie Ferenc have split the starts this season with Ferenc earning most of the minutes so far. Ferenc's 59 saves in Lindenwood's 6-0 loss to #1 Wisconsin earlier this season remains the nation's most saves in a game in both men's and women's DI college hockey. 
 
SCOUTING ST. CLOUD
#13/13 St. Cloud State makes its first appearance in the Ice Breaker Tournament following a program-record 18 wins in 2022-23 and is off to a 5-2 start this season after posting wins in five of its first six games of the season before dropping a close contest to No. 4 Minnesota, 2-1, on Tuesday night. The Huskies currently rank third in the country in scoring defense and have yet to allow more than two goals in a game this season. 
 
The Huskies are led by Brian Idalski who enters his second season with St. Cloud after a 10-year stint with North Dakota, leading the Fighting Hawks to a 169-156-39 record. Idalski picked up his 300^th career victory with St. Cloud's 3-0 win over Bemidji State on October 14. 
 
The Huskies are led by a pair of transfers as graduate student CC Bowlby (Dartmouth) and Ella Anick (Bemidji State) lead the team in scoring this season with each posting six points through seven games. In goal, the Huskies have split time between the senior tandem of Jojo Chobak and Sanni Ahola with both goalies combining for the nation's third best goals against average (.833). 
 
ON NORTHEASTERN
#10/10 Northeastern heads to Connecticut having dropped its last contest to Merrimack, 1-0, on Friday, October 13, ending what was a four-game win streak for the Huskies through the first month of the season. In that span, the Huskies shutout LIU on consecutive nights before taking both ends of a home-and-home against Boston University to start conference play, outscoring their opposition, 14-1. 
 
Dave Flint enters his 15^th season as the bench boss at Northeastern, commanding the Huskies to a 326-142-42 record during his tenure. The Huskies are coming off their sixth-straight Hockey East Championship and were picked to repeat as champions in this season's preseason poll, receiving eight of a possible 10 first place votes. 
 
The Huskies return reigning National Goaltender of the Year and First-Team All American Gwyneth Phillips who carries in an NCAA leading four shutouts into this weekend's tournament. Phillips backstops a Northeastern squad that is second in the nation in scoring defense and goals against average (0.57) and have yet to surrender a power-play goal. The Huskies are led by graduate student Peyton Anderson and junior Skylar Irving with both players tallying six points this season through the first seven games. 
 
AND THEY WERE SISTERS
This weekend's tournament features the possibility of two sisters playing against each other as SHU's Sydney Antonakis and Northeastern's Alyssa Antonakis could square off in either of the two games on Saturday afternoon, depending on Friday night's results. 
 
Alyssa is currently entering her sophomore season at Northeastern after playing in three games last season and earning her lone point on an assist in Northeastern's 6-1 win over Maine on October 21, 2022. Sydney is in her junior season at Sacred Heart after spending one season at RIT, garnering an 8-6-14 line last season in her first year with the Red & White. 
 
Sydney & Alyssa come from a hockey family as their brother, Ryan, currently plays DIII hockey for Lake Forest College, while grandfather, Wayne Muloin, played professional hockey for 14 seasons and made appearances with the Edmonton Oilers, Detroit Red Wings, California Golden Seals and the Minnesota North Stars. 
 
FOLLOW THE PIONEERS
Live statistics and livestream information will be available on sacredheartpioneers.com.