MILFORD CT - The Sacred Heart Pioneers hosted the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers (RIT) on Saturday night for Game Two at the Milford Ice Pavilion. RIT was favored to win the match due to their preseason rank of number two but left empty handed when the Pioneers shut them down.

The reason for ranking number two in preseason polls was evident when the Tigers came out with a vengeance on the ice, keeping the puck in Pioneer territory for the first three minutes of the game. The game ended with a Pioneer win, 4-2.

The first period started out with the Tigers coming out at full force. At 3:40 into the first period, Alan Mazur scored the first goal of the game with an assist from Tyler Brenner and Andrew Favot. The Pioneers however pulled ahead with a goal at 9:50 from Evan Mladenoff and another at 16:25 from Nick Johnson with an assist from Chris Brown and Patrick Knowlton to end the first with a 2-1 lead.

Period two saw less action, however, the 20 minutes saw a few penalties being called. Sacred Heart had a roughing call while RIT had both a hooking and tripping call. At the end of the second period, the shots on goal for the game were both 30 proving that both teams were taking their turns on offense.

SHU seemed to have a more successful night with their power plays winning 42 to the Tigers 29. But the best was yet to come.

The third period started out with the Tigers Cameron Burt putting the puck in the net with the help of Brennan Sarazin at 2:35. However, 11 seconds later the Pioneers Matt Gordon cut the Tigers joy short by knocking the puck into the net with help from Matt Gingerea and Dave Grimson. The crowd went nuts.

“It was huge to have the back to back goals within 11 seconds of each other” said Sacred Heart coach Shaun Hannah. “We moved the puck better up the ice and did a good job being physical.”

Making their plans of winning known, the Pioneers Eric Giosa scored another goal with 9:31 on the clock with an assist from Evan Mladenoff. The Pioneers could see victory in their future.

“It feels good to win tonight” said Sacred Heart coach Shaun Hannah. “We did a good job limiting their offense, numerous goalie saves tonight and there was no garbage, just great skating.”

Sacred Heart proved to be the winner even with only having taken four shots to the Tigers 14 shots on goal during the third period. Pioneer goalie Stefan Drew had an amazing game with 42 saves to the Tigers Jared Demichiel’s 30.

The win brings the Pioneers Atlantic Hockey Conference record to a 1-2-1 with games against Air Force and RIT included.

Next week the Pioneers travel Friday night to West Point, NY to face Army, returning home Saturday night for game two.