Sacred Heart vs. Air Force
Feb. 10-11, 2023 - 7 p.m.
Martire Family Arena - Fairfield, Conn.
SNY / FloHockey
It's time to make hay for the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team. Five points clear of third place with six games to play, the Pios have four straight games on the docket against bottom-three teams in Atlantic Hockey. Taking care of business over the next two weekends could go a long way towards allowing SHU to lock down a second-place finish.
It's home-ice action this weekend for the red and white, as Air Force pays its first-ever visit to Martire Family Arena on Friday and Saturday. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. both nights. Randy Brochu and Bryan Leitch have the call both nights on FloHockey, with Friday's game available on SNY as well.
LAST TIME OUT
The first period was a problem again on Tuesday night at Martire Family Arena. SHU would go on to post a 28-10 shots advantage over the final 40 minutes of the evening's Atlantic Hockey contest against Army. Unfortunately for the Pios, it came after they were outshot 12-5 and conceded a pair of goals in the first period. Army made things stand up the rest of the way and skated away with a 4-1 victory.
A LOOK AT THE PIOS
SHU (14-12-2, 12-6-2 AHA) has seen a seven-game Atlantic Hockey unbeaten streak (6-0-1) snapped with back-to-back 4-1 losses on home ice, to AIC and Army. AIC dropped a midweek contest of its own, against Bentley, which has allowed the Pios to maintain a five-point lead over the Yellow Jackets in the race for second place. Neil Shea is fifth in the AHA in shots (95) and shots per game (3.39), and the team is third in the league in goals-against average (2.75).
SCOUTING THE FALCONS
Air Force (10-16-2, 6-11-1 AHA), took five of six points at home against Mercyhurst over the weekend, and has won its last three Atlantic Hockey contests, but still sits 10th and last in the league, after suffering an eight-game AHA winless streak (0-7-1) from mid-November through mid-January. Air Force is tops in Atlantic Hockey in shots per game (31.36), but is also bottom-10 in the country in discipline (12.82 penalty minutes per game) and seventh in the AHA on the penalty kill (78.5%). It all adds up to a squad which concedes the second-most goals per game in the league (3.54).
LAST MEETING
The two have not met since the Pios traveled to the Centennial State for an unorthodox, pandemic-necessitated, four-game series Nov. 19-23, 2022. Air Force took the opener, 3-2, but then SHU rattled off three straight victories to make it a 3-1-0 trip: 3-1, 4-2 and 3-1. Kevin Lombardi scored a goal in each of the four games and added an assist along the way as well, to tally 4-1-5.
ALL-TIME SERIES
The SHU/AFA all-time series is one which has seen the tide turn in the recent past. Since the calendar turned to 2018, Sacred Heart is 10-2-1 in 13 games against Air Force. Prior to that though, it was all Falcons, to the tune of a 26-9-6 margin from 2000-2017. Add it all together, and Air Force still holds a 28-19-7 adavantage in 54 all-time meetings. SHU has fared somewhat better on home ice, where it holds an 8-10-4 record in 22 contests. This weekend will mark Air Force's first trip to Martire Family Arena.
