TIE A BOW ON THE FIRST HALF
It has been a bit of a roller coaster of a first half for the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team. The month of November alone featured four weekend sweeps, two in favor and two against. Coming off the team's first shutout of the season on Tuesday, the Pioneers have a chance to head into the break on a good note this weekend, as they trek out to Western New York for the final Atlantic Hockey series of the first half. SHU travels to meet Canisius, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday at Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo. Both games will air live on FloSports.

TUESDAY NIGHT
SHU needed a bounce back effort at home on Tuesday and got it at the Martire Family Arena. Mikey Adamson and Matthew Guerra scored in quick succession late in the first period, and then Marcus Joughin provided the dagger in the third. Felix Trudeau tacked on an empty-net tally in the closing minutes to round out a 4-0 win over visiting Army, SHU's first shutout of the campaign. It was the first collegiate shutout for first-year goaltender Ajeet Gundarah, who finished the night with 22 saves.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN GRIFFINS
Canisius was also in action on Tuesday night, on the road at RIT. The Golden Griffins led 3-2 at the second intermission and then Alton McDermott struck twice in a span of just 22 seconds early in the third period, to key a three-goal final stanza and a 6-4 Canisius victory. Kyle Haskins and Kash Rasmussen had a goal and an assist each, and 12 different Golden Griffins recorded at least one point. Matteo Giampa has 5-10-15 through 14 games to lead the way for the offense. Canisius has generated just over 20% of its offense (8 of 39 goals) via a power play which currently sits at the top of Atlantic Hockey, at 21.1% (8-for-38).

PREVIOUSLY AGAINST CANISIUS
The two teams have not met since they played a pair at Sacred Heart in mid-November a year ago. The Pioneers swept Canisius out of Martire Family Arena, with a 4-1 win on Friday and a 3-2 victory on Saturday. On Friday, Marcus Joughin scored twice, including the game-winner, as SHU erased a 1-0 first-intermission deficit with two goals in the second and two more in the third. Joughin also opened the scoring on Saturday, when the Pioneers built a 3-0 lead midway through the contest and then held on down the stretch for the one-goal victory.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Canisius holds a 34-28-9 advantage across 71 all-time meetings, in a series which dates back to SHU's inaugural season in the MAAC, in 1998-99. SHU has taken five of the last six contests between the two, after a stretch which saw the Pios win once in just 10 tries against Canisius (1-6-3). Buffalo has not been kind to SHU over the years, with the red and white holding just a 9-21-2 record in 32 all-time road games at Canisius. The Pioneers are 3-6-1 in 10 games at Harborcenter.

UP NEXT
This weekend marks SHU's final games before the semester break. The team has two open weekends ahead and will return to the ice in three weeks' time for a one-off trip to American International on Dec. 28. Puck drop is set for a 1 p.m. Saturday matinee in downtown Springfield, Mass.