FAIRFIELD, Conn. (October 31, 2023) – Working on just two days of rest after its weekend series against Niagara, the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team put together its most complete effort of the season thus far on home ice on Halloween night. The power play went 3-for-7, the penalty kill went 6-for-7, and six different Pios found the back of the net, as SHU rolled to a 6-1 Atlantic Hockey win over Army at Martire Family Arena.
 
"Real good effort by our guys tonight against a very competitive Army team," said head coach C.J. Marottolo after the game. "They tested us with their physicality, and I think we responded well. We had six different guys who had goals tonight, so it showed the balance in our lineup."
 
Sitting on 99 career points, Braeden Tuck (Calgary, Alberta) wasted no time hitting the century mark on Tuesday night, with an assist just 3:36 into the proceedings. Mark Cheremeta (Parkland, Fla.), who had three assists on the night, carried things through the neutral zone to get the play started. Cheremeta sent Tuck down the right-wing half-wall, and the latter fed out front to a crashing Hunter Sansbury (Lomita, Calif.), who hammered home his second of the season.
 
"It's a pretty cool milestone, and I thought it was a really good game for us too," said Tuck, regarding his 100^th collegiate point (31-69-100). "We have some things to learn from, but it was a good night overall." Tuck is the 14^th Pioneer to reach 100 career points in the program's Division I era.
 
Sacred Heart (3-4-0, 3-2-0 AHA) would get a second before the first period was out, at the 15:26 mark. As a SHU power play was expiring, Army (0-4-0, 0-1-0 AHA) sent the puck down the ice in the direction of the Pioneer goal. Chase Clark (Williamsville, N.Y.) came out of his crease to corral it and fire ahead to Cheremeta in the neutral zone. Cheremeta tore off down the left wing and eventually slipped a pass out front to Kevin Lombardi (Schwenksville, Pa.) for an easy, one-time finish on the latter's fourth of the campaign. It was Clark's first collegiate point and the 25^th goaltender assist in the team's Division I history.
 
The power play got cooking in the second period and struck twice to extend the lead to 4-0. The first one went right around the horn, from TJ Walsh (Shrewsbury, Mass.) on the right wing, up top for Mikey Adamson (Quincy, Mass.), and into the left circle for Marcus Joughin (Tecumseh, Ontario), who buried his first of the year from there, at 11:39.
 
Adamson, who also had three assists on the night, did the quarterbacking on the next tally as well. From the middle of the blue line, he sent the puck towards the net, but outside the left post, looking for a deflection. A deflection he got, as John Jaworski (Grinnell, Iowa) deftly redirected it home for his third of the season.
 
"It was awesome, we had a lot of fun out there," said Adamson regarding the game and his career-best three assists. "I think our execution was really good on the power play and we got some 5-on-5 goals too; I think we did really well overall."
 
Cole Galata (Newmarket, Ontario) got on the scoresheet for his first collegiate point in the middle of the third frame. Off a faceoff on the left-wing side, he tracked down a loose puck and fed it out front for Liam Izyk's (Blackie, Alberta) second goal of the year, at 9:14
 
The two teams then traded 5-on-3 goals in the final eight minutes to round out what turned into a penalty-filled affair late. Army went around the horn from Michael Sacco to Max Itagaki to Joey Baez in the left circle for his second of the season at 12:57. SHU tied a bow on things at 15:40, as Walsh pumped home a rebound from the right circle for his team-leading fifth of the season.
 
"An area we need to clean up is our discipline with and without the puck," concluded Marottolo. "I was not pleased with the amount of penalties we took tonight, but overall, a huge three points for us in the league tonight."
 
Clark (3-4-0) was beaten by just the 5-on-3 tally and finished with 21 saves against 22 shots in the SHU crease. Gavin Abric (0-3-0) stopped 26 of 32 in defeat for Army.