Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey

Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey
	Current season
University	Sacred Heart University
Conference	AHA
Head coach	C. J. Marottolo; 12th season, 136–227–43 (.388)
Captain(s)	Evan Jasper ; Mitch Nylen
Alternate captain(s)	Connor Doherty
Arena	Webster Bank Arena; Capacity: 8,525
Location	Bridgeport, Connecticut
Colors	Red and White[1];

The Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Sacred Heart University. The Pioneers are a member of Atlantic Hockey. They play at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.[2] From 1993-2016, the Pioneers home arena was the Milford Ice Pavilion in Milford, Connecticut.

History

Division III

Sacred Heart began sponsoring men's ice hockey as a varsity sport in 1993. The team was placed in the South Division of ECAC North/South/Central and because they were not able to schedule all of their ECAC South opponents twice the Pioneers played half a conference schedule in their inaugural year. With a full conference slate the following year, Sacred Heart greatly improved their record which continued in year three.

For the 1996–97 season Shaun Hannah was brought in as head coach and the Pioneers finished with their first winning record and 2nd in the division, narrowly missing the conference postseason.

In the late 1990s the MAAC was mandated to form an ice hockey conference. Two of the ECAC South programs would have to promote themselves to Division I and soon after they were joined by Sacred Heart. With an eye for their new conference, Hannah began offering scholarships to incoming students, a violation of Division III rules, which caused the Pioneers (along with two other ECAC South teams) to be ruled ineligible for any postseason play. Additionally all of their conference games would not be counted in the standings, through they would still be able to play the matches and count the results towards their overall standings.

MAAC

Despite the influx of scholarship athletes, Sacred Heart finished 7th in the first year of MAAC conference play. The team rebounded in the second year, doubling their win total and finishing with a winning record. Postseason success was a little slower in coming with the Pioneers unable to win a playoff game until year 4 of D-I play. During the 2002–03 season Iona and Fairfield, the two original MAAC programs, both announced that they would end their sponsorship of ice hockey at the end of the season. With only one full-time member still active the MAAC terminated their ice hockey division. The remaining 9 programs banded together and formed Atlantic Hockey which began the following year.

Atlantic Hockey

Sacred Heart played well for the first few years of Atlantic Hockey, reaching the championship game in 2004 and 2010 but after Hannah left in 2009, the team took a tumble down the standings. From 2011 through 2018 the Pioneers never finished higher than 8th in the conference. Bench boss C. J. Marottolo was finally able to push the Pioneers out of the basement in 2019 with a 4th-place finish, ending 1 win shy of .500 on the year.

The school announced in 2020 that it would build a $60 million facility for its men's and women's ice hockey programs. It will be the first on-campus ice arena for Sacred Heart.[3]

Season-by-season results[4]

Records vs. Current Atlantic Hockey Teams

As of the completion of 2018–19 season[5]

School	Team	Away Arena	Overall Record	Win %	Last Result
Air Force Academy	Falcons	Cadet Ice Arena	12–23–7	.369	2-2 T
American International College	Yellow Jackets	MassMutual Center	30–21–7	.578	1-4 L
Army West Point	Black Knights	Tate Rink	23–26–10	.475	3-3 T
Bentley University	Falcons	Bentley Arena	32–26–6	.547	2-3 L
Canisius College	Golden Griffins	LECOM Harborcenter	19–25–8	.442	2-3 L
College of the Holy Cross	Crusaders	Hart Center	29–36–5	.450	1-4 L
Mercyhurst University	Lakers	Mercyhurst Ice Center	24–27–5	.473	0-3 L
Niagara University	Purple Eagles	Dwyer Arena	8–13–2	.391	6-3 W
Robert Morris University	Colonials	Colonials Arena	3–23–1	.130	3-1 W
Rochester Institute of Technology	Tigers	Gene Polisseni Center	13–27–2	.333	1-3 L

Coaches

As of completion of 2019–20 season

Tenure	Coach	Years	Record	Pct.
1993–1994	Pete Downey	1	4–15–0	.211
1994–1996	John Glynne	2	21–25–2	.458
1996–2009	Shaun Hannah	13	191–204–38	.485
2009–Present	C. J. Marottolo	11	136–227–43	.388
Totals	4 coaches	27 seasons	352–471–83	.434

Statistical Leaders[6]

Career points leaders

Player	Years	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Pierre-Luc O'Brien	2003–2007	142	67	91	158	141
Bear Trapp	2005–2009	139	56	99	155	228
Martin Paquet	1999–2003	129	65	77	142	198
Alexandre Parent	2004–2008	143	54	87	141	105
Dave Jarman	2006–2010	147	47	87	134	122
Garrett Larson	2001–2005	139	55	69	124	233
Justin Danforth	2013–2017	147	42	82	124	125
Eric Delong	2009–2013	143	46	72	118	65
Matt Gingera	2008–2012	142	61	48	109	113
Lloyd Marks	1998–2002	120	49	60	109	138

Career Goaltending Leaders

GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Minimum 30 games

Player	Years	GP	Min	W	L	T	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Josh Benson	2018–Present	57	3298	33	17	5	138	5	.902	2.51
Eddy Ferhi	1999–2003	88	5160	36	35	13	126	7	.917	2.63
Jason Smith	2003–2007	71	4291	38	29	4	196	2	.912	2.74
Brett Magnus	2015–2019	109	6438	39	56	12	314	5	.904	2.93
Kevin LaPointe	2001–2005	71	4162	28	34	7	214	3	.902	3.08

Statistics current through the start of the 2020-21 season.

Current roster

As of September 3, 2019.[7]

No.	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
1	Drennen Atherton	Sophomore	G	6' 1" (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1997-06-17	Winter Haven, Florida	Northern (NCDC)	—
2	Colin Bernard	Sophomore	D	5' 10" (1.78 m)	172 lb (78 kg)	1997-10-14	Stamford, Connecticut	Langley (BCHL)	—
3	Mike Lee	Senior	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1996-04-25	Hamden, Connecticut	Vermont (HEA)	—
4	Jeppe Urup	Freshman	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	176 lb (80 kg)	1999-03-14	Odense, Denmark	Youngstown (USHL)	—
6	Max Luukko	Junior	D	6' 3" (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1995-12-28	Avalon, New Jersey	Philadelphia (USPHL)	—
7	Ruslan Rakhmatov	Senior	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1995-04-25	Moscow, Russia	Chicago (USHL)	—
8	Tim Clifton	Freshman	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	1998-02-23	Farmingdale, New Jersey	Shreveport (NAHL)	—
9	Jason Cotton	Senior	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1995-02-07	Parker, Texas	Youngstown (USHL)	—
10	Alex Bates	Junior	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1997-06-17	Parker, Colorado	Wenatchee (BCHL)	—
11	Ryan Steele	Sophomore	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	182 lb (83 kg)	1997-09-13	Stratford, Prince Edward Island	West Kelowna (BCHL)	—
12	Kevin Lombardi	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	234 lb (106 kg)	1998-08-12	Schwenksville, Pennsylvania	Sioux City (USHL)	—
13	Jordan Kaplan	Junior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	1997-05-19	Bridgewater, New Jersey	New Jersey (NAHL)	—
14	Nick Boyagian	Sophomore	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	181 lb (82 kg)	1997-07-16	East Greenbush, New York	New Jersey (NAHL)	—
15	Evan Wisocky	Junior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1998-03-20	Hoboken, New Jersey	Connecticut (HEA)	—
16	Marcus Joseph	Junior	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1997-05-08	Mountain Top, Pennsylvania	Nanaimo (BCHL)	—
17	Daniel Petrick	Freshman	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	199 lb (90 kg)	1999-04-06	Wilbraham, Massachusetts	Madison (USHL)	—
18	Michael Gilroy	Junior	D	6' 3" (1.91 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1996-10-10	North Bellmore, New York	P. A. L. (USPHL)	—
19	Matt Tugnutt	Junior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1996-05-14	Peterborough, Ontario	Kemptville (CCHL)	—
20	Vito Bavaro	Senior	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1997-10-01	Sarasota, Florida	Brooks (USHS–MA)	—
21	Josh Allan	Junior	D	5' 10" (1.78 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	1997-05-02	Orillia, Ontario	Trenton (OJHL)	—
22	Derek Contessa	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	206 lb (93 kg)	1999-03-03	Freehold, New Jersey	Dubuque (USHL)	—
23	Braeden Tuck	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	183 lb (83 kg)	1998-04-15	Calgary, Alberta	Trail (BCHL)	—
24	Austin Magera	Sophomore	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1998-07-19	Suwanee, Georgia	Lincoln (USHL)	—
25	Austin McIlmurray	Senior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1996-09-08	Coral Springs, Florida	Coquitlam (BCHL)	—
26	Marc Johnstone	Junior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1996-06-19	Cranford, New Jersey	Chicago (USHL)	—
27	Patrick Dawson	Freshman	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-01-14	Medway, Massachusetts	Odessa (NAHL)	—
28	Marcel Godbout	Junior	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1996-06-04	St. Clair Shores, Michigan	Sioux City (NAHL)	—
29	Todd Goehring	Sophomore	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1997-07-08	Wayside, New Jersey	Chicago (USHL)	—
30	Josh Benson	Sophomore	G	6' 1" (1.85 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1997-11-04	Stillwater, Minnesota	Fairbanks (NAHL)	—
33	Luke Lush	Freshman	G	6' 2" (1.88 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	1998-02-15	Sherwood Park, Alberta	Drayton Valley (AJHL)	—

Awards and honors

NCAA

AHCA Second Team All-Americans

2009–10: Nick Johnson, F
2019–20: Mike Lee, D; Jason Cotton, F

MAAC

Individual Awards

Goaltender of the Year

Eddy Ferhi: 2003

Offensive Rookie of the Year

Martin Paquet: 2000

Coaches of the Year

Shaun Hannah: 2000

All-Conference Teams

First Team All-MAAC

2002–03: Eddy Ferhi, G; Les Hrapchak, D; Martin Paquet, F

Second Team All-MAAC

1999–00: Alexis Jutras-Binet, G; Martin Paquet, F
2000–01: Eddy Ferhi, G
2001–02: Eddy Ferhi, G; Martin Paquet, F

MAAC All-Rookie Team

1999–00: Les Hrapchak, D; Martin Paquet, F