FAIRFIELD, Conn. (December 30, 2023) – The Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team survived a sluggish start on Saturday night. But the Pioneers could not survive four penalties in the first half of the game. Visiting and No. 16/16 nationally ranked New Hampshire cashed in three times on the man-advantage en route to a 6-2 victory in non-conference play at Martire Family Arena. Kevin Lombardi (Schwenksville, Pa.) had a goal and an assist in defeat for SHU.
 
Despite a slow start which saw them outshot 8-3, the Pios got out of the first period facing just a 1-0 deficit. UNH struck on the power play at 14:48, after Luke Reid put a shot on net from the right wing. Nick Ring stuffed home the rebound right out front for his second goal of the season.
 
SHU then outshot the Wildcats, 23-22, the rest of the way, but UNH struck four times in the middle frame to put things out of reach. The visitors got their second power-play goal of the night at 3:34, as Stiven Sardarian did the hard work to carry down the left wing and through the corner. From behind the net, he flipped a pass out front to Ryan Conmy, who popped home his eighth of the campaign.
 
Sacred Heart cut the deficit in half at 6:17, after Dante Fantauzzi (North York, Ontario) lofted a clearance out of the defensive end, which sprung Lombardi on a 2-on-1 the other way with Daniel Ebrahim (Brooklin, Ontario). Lombardi took the shot himself from the right circle and wired it to the top-left corner for his team-leading ninth of the year.
 
UNH needed just 3:12 to answer, and then responded twice in 40 seconds to stretch the lead to 4-1 and never looked back. At 9:29, Kristaps Skrastins pumped home a rebound from the left circle for his second of the season. On the power play at 10:09, Morgan Winters and Luis Lindner set up Nick Cafarelli in the high slot for the latter's fourth of the winter.
 
The Wildcats would add one more before the period was out, at 17:15. Winters took a shot from the top of the right circle on the rush, which cleanly beat Justin Robbins (Alpine, N.J.) for his sixth of the year.
 
"Overall, obviously, disappointed with the outcome, and we'll watch the video this week, but our first take, watching it live: we did a lot of good things tonight that we've been preaching to our guys," said SHU head coach C.J. Marottolo after the game. "I think we got caught a little bit behind the 8-ball with penalties, uncharacteristically. We took some penalties we normally don't take. With them playing last night, I thought they were pretty crisp on their power play."
 
The two sides traded goals in the front half of the third period to create the 6-2 final. SHU got a power-play goal of its own at the three-minute mark, as a big rebound came to the top of the right circle for TJ Walsh (Shrewsbury, Mass.). Walsh quickly rifled it home from there to match Lombardi with his ninth of the campaign. Cafarelli capped things for UNH at 9:14, as he ripped home a shot from the left circle for his second goal of the game.
 
Robbins (0-1-0) was making his first start in the SHU net since Oct. 13, 2022 at Holy Cross, and finished with 24 saves against 30 shots. Jakob Hellsten (5-2-1) stopped 24 of 26 shots at the other end for UNH.
 
"At the end of the day, I thought our guys competed to the end and there's a lot of good to build off of," continued Marottolo. "Really happy with a great crowd tonight, they really got behind us. I know our guys are excited about jumping back into league play, and we're looking forward to playing Mercyhurst next weekend."
 
SHU will host the Lakers of Mercyhurst on Jan. 5-6. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. on Saturday at Martire Family Arena. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.