Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey


The Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association 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. 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 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.

Season-by-season results

Records vs. Current Atlantic Hockey Teams

As of the completion of 2018–19 season

Coaches

As of completion of 2018–19 season
TenureCoachYearsRecordPct.
1993–1994Pete Downey14–15–0
1994–1996John Glynne221–25–2
1996–2009Shaun Hannah13191–204–38
2009–PresentC. J. Marottolo10115–217–40
Totals4 coaches26 seasons331–461–80

Statistical Leaders

Career points leaders

PlayerYearsGPGAPtsPIM
2003–20071426791158141
2005–20091395699155228
1999–20031296577142198
2004–20081435487141105
2006–20101474787134122
2001–20051395569124233
2013–20171474282124125
2009–2013143467211865
2008–20121426148109113
1998–20021204960109138

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 500 minutes
PlayerYearsGPMinWLTGASOSV%GAA
1999–20038851603635131267.9172.63
2003–2007714291382941962.9122.74
2015–201910964383956123145.9042.93
2001–2005714162283472143.9023.08
2005–2009794615333872395.9053.11

Statistics current through the start of the 2019-20 season.

Current roster

Awards and honors

NCAA

AHCA Second Team All-Americans

Individual Awards

Goaltender of the Year
Offensive Rookie of the Year
Coaches of the Year
First Team All-MAAC
Second Team All-MAAC
MAAC All-Rookie Team

Individual Awards

Best Defensive Forward
Rookie of the Year
Coach of the Year
Individual Sportsmanship Award
First Team All-Atlantic Hockey
Second Team All-Atlantic Hockey
Third Team All-Atlantic Hockey
Atlantic Hockey All-Rookie Team
Sacred Heart has yet to have an alumnus reach the NHL.