Men’s Ice Hockey Falls in Thrilling AHA Title Game at Defending Champ Bentley, 3-2

Saturday, March 21

Waltham, Mass. / Bentley Arena

7:00 PM

Sacred Heart

23-14-3

Bentley

23-11-5

Sacred Heart

Bentley

Photo by: Mark Bolton

Men’s Ice Hockey Falls in Thrilling AHA Title Game at Defending Champ Bentley, 3-2

3/21/2026 11:00:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

Levyy and Bryant scored for SHU, while Gundarah made 32 saves

By: Josh Smith

WALTHAM, Mass. – The second-seeded Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team gave it their all against the defending Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) Champion and No. 1 seed Bentley in a classic title game on Saturday evening, but a pair of third-period goals propelled the Falcons to a 3-2 home victory and back-to-back championships.

The Pioneers were led by second-period goals from Vitaly Levyy and Gavin Bryant, while Mikey Adamson tallied two assists. Between the pipes, Ajeet Gundarah made 32 saves to keep the Pioneers within striking distance.

Records:
SHU: 23-14-3
Bentley: 23-11-5

How It Happened
The first period was dominated by the goaltenders, as the game went into the second tied at 0-0. Gundarah made 12 saves in the opening frame, making multiple saves to keep the high-power Falcons at bay.

Bentley opened tonight's scoring 2:43 into the second period.

It didn't take the Pioneers long to answer, evening the score at 1-1 at the 5:59 mark. Stephane Huard started the play with a pass to Adamson in the right faceoff circle. Adamson corralled the puck and sent it to Levyy, who had enough space in the slot to score five-hole.

SHU took a 2-1 lead at 15:15, cashing in on the game's first power play. Adamson again sparked the scoring opportunity, taking a shot from the blue line that Bryant tipped by the opposing goaltender.

Unfortunately for SHU, the Falcons would not go down without a fight, evening the score at 2-2 with a goal 3:12 into the third period.

The Falcons scored the game-deciding goal at 12:47 in the third on Kellan Hjartarson's second of the evening. Hjartarson tipped a shot in the air and got it by Gundarah with a wave of the stick in the crease to make it 3-2.

Gundarah was outstanding all night against the tough Bentley offense, finishing with 32 saves in a stellar effort. His night was highlighted by a 14-save second period that sent SHU into the third in the lead.

Notes

The Pioneers played in their first AHA Championship Game since 2010.
SHU finishes the season with a program-best 23 wins.
Adamson ends his collegiate career with 83 points (21G, 62A) in 111 career games with the Pioneers.
Adamson's 30 assists this season is third on the program's single-season leaderboard.
With an assist tonight, Felix Trudeau ends his collegiate career with 99 career points (46G, 53A).
Trudeau ends the season second on the program's single-season goals leaderboard and fourth on the points leaderboard.
Levyy scored his eighth goal as a sophomore.
Bryant ends his rookie campaign with 10 goals and 21 points.
Gundarah made 30+ saves in back-to-back games.

Postgame Quotes
"At the end of the day, I think we left a really good mark on Sacred Heart," said senior captain Mikey Adamson. "I love all of these guys, I treat them like a family. Like coach [Marottolo] said, we've been grinding at this for years now. This one stung for sure."

"These guys [Mikey and Marcus] when they came here," said head coach C.J. Marottolo, talking about building off this playoff run. "We have some great returns and some great incoming guys coming next year. These guys set the standard to what this program aspires to. We obviously have a little more work to do, but we'll get to that at another time. These guys had the best two-year run in Sacred Heart history. They had the most wins ever, and that's what we are going to celebrate."

"When Ajeet got healthy and got back in the net, it was obviously a boost to our group," said Marottolo. "With saying that, Tegan Kendrick was tremendous as well to get us to that point. Ajeet is such a competitor. He was tremendous in the last two series. We just didn't get enough offense for him tonight, you know, to make the game maybe a little bit easier for him... Ajeet is unbelievable and we are excited to have him back with our program, and I know he will take this loss and it'll propel him to even greater heights next year."