FAIRFIELD, Conn. (November 10, 2023) – Defending Atlantic Hockey champs in town? Not a problem for the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team on Friday night. The Pios started slow and surrendered a shorthanded first-period tally to Canisius, but roared back from there. Two in the second put the home team ahead to stay and a pair of power-play goals in the third put things away, as SHU posted a 4-1 win at Martire Family Arena. Marcus Joughin (Tecumseh, Ontario) scored twice, including the second-period game-winner.
 
It was a bit of a sluggish start for the Pioneers (4-5-0, 4-2-0 AHA), who not only came up empty on two first-period power-play opportunities, but ceded a shorthanded goal to boot. Erik Urbank and Cody Schiavon headed a rush up the ice for Canisius (1-5-1, 1-1-1 AHA), with the latter putting the puck on net. Chase Clark (Williamsville, N.Y.) made the save, but the rebound came off him, then off the end boards and directly back out to the right post. Jackson Nieuwendyk had a couple whacks at it there and eventually stuffed home his first collegiate goal, at the 19:09 mark.
 
The Pios needed some time to even things up in the second, but once they got going, they never looked back. Just after the midpoint of the period, Blake Humphrey (Penfield, N.Y.) fired the puck out of his own end to Kevin Lombardi (Schwenksville, N.Y.) in the neutral zone, and Lombardi sent it farther ahead to TJ Walsh (Shrewsbury, Mass.), who gained the blue line. Walsh left the puck for Lombardi, which sprung the latter in on a partial breakaway. The big fella was stymied by Ethan Robertson, but Humphrey crashed the net as the trailer and put the rebound into the yawning net for his first of the campaign.
 
The game now tied, SHU needed just 3:07 to claim the lead, for good, thanks to a little stick-to-it-iveness in the offensive end. Lombardi was dispossessed in the right circle, but Canisius immediately played the puck behind its own net to Max Kouznetsov. Daniel Ebrahim (Brooklin, Ontario) closed quickly behind the cage and put a body on Kouznetsov, forcing the senior center into a costly mistake. He played a blind pass towards the left circle in search of his winger, but the puck never got there. Instead, it came straight to the stick of Joughin, who quickly put it past a startled Robertson to give the Pios a 2-1 lead, at 14:58.
 
"I thought we got off to a slow start in the first period, but bounced back in the second and third," said Walsh after the game.
 
Sacred Heart generated just four shots while going goalless on its first three power-play chances, but put together a good showing early in the third. Though the Pios also came up empty on their fourth man-advantage, they collected three shots, which set the tone going forward. SHU then cashed in on its fifth and sixth power plays of the night, to put the game away.
 
"We started playing our game and got [two] timely power-play goals," added Walsh. "We need to start on time, play the full 60 minutes and play to our identity, and I think we will be fine."
 
The Pioneers ran similar plays both times. First, Mikey Adamson (Quincy, Mass.) had the puck up high and sent it into the right circle for Walsh, and Walsh found an unmarked John Jaworski (Grinnell, Iowa) in the slot. Jaworski carried low on the right side and banked a sharp-angle shot home off the defense at 8:46, for his fourth of the year.
 
On the next power-play chance, the puck again went from Adamson up top to Walsh in the right circle. This time Walsh bypassed Jaworski in the middle, and instead found Joughin in the left circle. Joughin drifted down low as well and put his own bank shot home to notch his first career multi-goal game.
 
"It was a great atmosphere, we really want to make this place home, and other teams, we want it to be hard on them," said Joughin after the game. "So, great atmosphere, and a great win in front of our fans."
 
Clark (4-5-0) finished with 24 saves against 25 shots in the SHU crease. Robertson (1-2-0) stopped 25 of 29 at the other end for Canisius.
 
The two teams wrap up the weekend series at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Martire Family Arena.