2023–24 Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey season

The 2023–24 Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey season was the 31st season of play for the program, the 26th at the Division I level and the 21st in Atlantic Hockey. The Pioneers represented Sacred Heart University, played their home games at the Martire Family Arena and were coached by C. J. Marottolo in his 15th season.
==Season==
With a sizable amount of roster turnover, including three of its top four goal-scorers, Sacred Heart had many unanswered questions entering the season. The team was expecting to use Chase Clark as its starting goaltender, but the Quinnipiac transfer had a tough time getting to his game. The Pioneers began poorly, losing four of their first five matches but the team appeared to have sorted itself out by the end of October. Over several weeks, the team went 6–1, not allowing more than 2 goals in any of its games. The offense, too, got off to a slow start but then picked up the pace in the second month of the season. The line of Walsh-Joughin-Lombardi proved to be the most successful with those three finishing in the top four for team scoring.
In spite of their winning record, Sacred Heart was unable to fins any success in their non-conference schedule. Though they had a fairly weak slate of opponents, the Pioneers couldn't get a single win in eight games, only managing one tie to Princeton. That terrible mark made it impossible for SHU to make the NCAA tournament without a conference title. Fortunately, however, the team was still able to perform well in Atlantic Hockey. Though they had a rather poor second half, winning just 5 of 17 games after January 1, Sacred Heart managed to finish 3rd in the conference. The struggles began with shaky play from Clark, who was replaced as the starter by Justin Robbins. While Robbins' numbers were only marginally better than Clark's the graduate netminder played more consistently in the latter half of the year. Unfortunately, the offense slowed down as the season went on and the Pioneers could only manage 3 goals in three of the final thirteen game to end the regular season.
Though they had backed into a quarterfinal bye, Sacred Heart was hoping to use home ice to their advantage and make a run in the conference tournament. However, despite getting a week-long break to resolve their troubles, SHU saw both of its main problems recur against Niagara. The team got a 2-goal lead in the opening match but could only watch as the Purple Eagles swiftly erased the advantage. Niagara scored four goals in under 9 minutes of game time, including 3 in a 43-second span, to take hold of the match. SHU opened the scoring in the second game as well but wasn't able to get a second marker in the final 59 minutes despite outshooting NU nearly two to one. Robbins was in net for both games and allowed 9 goals on 53 shots (both matches had empty-net goals), ending the Pioneers' season on a low note.
==Departures==
Logan Britt 	Defenseman		Graduate transfer to North Dakota
Tim Clifton 	Forward 		Graduation (retired)
Patrick Dawson 	Defenseman		Graduate transfer to Northeastern
Todd Goehring 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Atlanta Gladiators)
Cody Hoban 	Forward 		Left program (retired)
Julian Kislin 	Defenseman		Graduation (signed with South Carolina Stingrays)
Luke Lush 	Goaltender		Graduate transfer to RIT
Austin Magera 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with South Carolina Stingrays)
Brandon Milberg 	Goaltender		Left program (retired)
Neil Shea 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Chicago Wolves)
Ryan Steele 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with South Carolina Stingrays)
Jeppe Urup Mogensen	Defenseman		Graduate transfer to Northern Michigan
==Recruiting==
Mikey Adamson 	Defenseman		22	Quincy, MA; transfer from Massachusetts
Jake Bongo 	Forward 		20	Ridgefield, CT
Mark Cheremeta 	Forward 		21	Minsk, BLR; transfer from Ohio State
Chase Clark 	Goaltender		21	Williamsville, NY; transfer from Quinnipiac; selected 183rd overall in 2021
Blake Dangos 	Defenseman		21	St. Louis, MO; transfer from Arizona State
Cullen DeYoung 	Goaltender		21	Canton, MI
Brendan Dumas 	Forward 		21	North Attleborough, MA
Cole Galata 	Forward 		21	Barrie, ON
Rylee Hlusiak 	Forward 		21	Barrie, ON
Liam Izyk 	Forward 		24	Blackie, AB; transfer from Boston College
Tyler Spott 	Defenseman		23	Toronto, ON; graduate transfer from Northeastern
Garrett Sundquist	Defenseman		22	South Glastonbury, CT; transfer from Providence
T. J. Walsh 	Forward 		23	Shrewsbury, MA; graduate transfer from Rensselaer
==Roster==
As of September 15, 2023.
==Standings==
==Schedule and results==
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!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
|-
!colspan=12 ! style=""; | 
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | 
==Scoring statistics==
 	LW	36	13	13 	26 	6
 	F 	35	10	16 	26 	14
 	RW	36	11	14 	25 	19
 	F 	34	8 	13 	21 	16
 	D 	34	4 	16 	20 	12
 	F 	33	6 	11 	17 	6
 	D 	36	5 	10 	15 	37
 	D 	35	2 	11 	13 	32
 	LW	31	9 	3 	12 	19
 	LW	17	1 	10 	11 	6
 	D 	36	5 	5 	10 	14
 	F 	36	3 	7 	10 	4
 	F 	34	4 	4 	8 	33
 	C 	23	2 	4 	6 	4
 	D 	14	1 	4 	5 	2
 	D 	27	1 	4 	5 	16
 	D 	19	1 	3 	4 	16
 	D 	34	0 	3 	3 	11
 	F 	12	2 	0 	2 	18
 	RW	28	2 	0 	2 	6
 	F 	20	0 	2 	2 	4
 	RW	25	0 	2 	2 	10
 	F 	35	0 	2 	2 	16
 	D 	9 	1 	0 	1 	2
 	G 	19	0 	1 	1 	0
 	C 	2 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	G 	3 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	17	0 	0 	0 	0
Total	 	 	91	158	249	325
==Goaltending statistics==
 	3 	104:01 	0 	0 	1	3 	50 	0	.943	1.73
 	17	956:20 	6 	9 	1	47 	401	0	.895	2.95
 	19	1090:20	8 	10	1	55 	482	0	.898	3.03
Empty Net	- 	32:07 	- 	- 	-	8 	- 	-	- 	-
Total 	36	2182:48	14	19	3	113	933	0	.892	3.11
==Rankings==
Poll 	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week 	Week
Poll 	Pre 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 	22 	23 	24 	25 	26 (Final)	
USCHO.com	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	– 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	– 	NR 	
USA Today	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	– 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25.Note: USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.
==References==
Category:Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey seasons
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