Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey

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. 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.
==Season-by-season results==
== Records vs. current Atlantic Hockey teams ==
As of the completion of 2018–19 season
School	Team	Away Arena	Overall Record	Win %	Last Result
 	 	 	12–23–7 	 	2-2 T
 	 	 	30–21–7 	 	1-4 L
 	 	 	23–26–10 	 	3-3 T
 	 	 	32–26–6 	 	2-3 L
 	 	 	19–25–8 	 	2-3 L
 	 	 	29–36–5 	 	1-4 L
 	 	 	24–27–5 	 	0-3 L
 	 	 	8–13–2 	 	6-3 W
 	 	 	3–23–1 	 	3-1 W
 	 	 	13–27–2 	 	1-3 L
==Coaches==
As of completion of 2019–20 season
Tenure 	Coach 	Years 	Record 	Pct.
1993–1994 	Pete Downey 	1 	4–15–0 	
1994–1996 	John Glynne 	2 	21–25–2 	
1996–2009 	Shaun Hannah 	13 	191–204–38	
2009–Present	C. J. Marottolo	11 	136–227–43	
Totals 	4 coaches 	27 seasons	352–471–83	
==Statistical leaders==
===Career points leaders===
Player	Years 	GP 	G 	A 	Pts	PIM
 	2003–2007	142	67	91	158	141
 	2005–2009	139	56	99	155	228
 	1999–2003	129	65	77	142	198
 	2004–2008	143	54	87	141	105
 	2006–2010	147	47	87	134	122
 	2001–2005	139	55	69	124	233
 	2013–2017	147	42	82	124	125
 	2009–2013	143	46	72	118	65
 	2008–2012	142	61	48	109	113
 	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
 	2018–Present	57 	3298	33	17	5 	138	5 	.902	2.51
 	1999–2003 	88 	5160	36	35	13	126	7 	.917	2.63
 	2003–2007 	71 	4291	38	29	4 	196	2 	.912	2.74
 	2015–2019 	109	6438	39	56	12	314	5 	.904	2.93
 	2001–2005 	71 	4162	28	34	7 	214	3 	.902	3.08
Statistics current through the start of the 2020-21 season.
==Current roster==
.
==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
===Atlantic Hockey===
====Individual awards====
Best Defensive Forward
*Dave Jarman: 2010
Rookie of the Year
*Pierre-Luc O'Brien: 2004
*Bear Trapp: 2006
*Justin Danforth: 2014
Coach of the Year
*C. J. Marottolo: 2010
Individual Sportsmanship Award
*Alexandre Parent: 2008
*Eric Delong: 2013
====All-Conference Teams====
First Team All-Atlantic Hockey
*2004–05: Pierre-Luc O'Brien, F
*2005–06: Jason Smith, G; Pierre-Luc O'Brien, F
*2006–07: Jason Smith, G; Scott Marchesi, D; Pierre-Luc O'Brien, F
*2007–08: Alexandre Parent, F
*2009–10: Nick Johnson, F
*2016–17: Justin Danforth, F
*2017–18: Cameron Heath, F; Dylan McLaughlin, F
*2018–19: Dylan McLaughlin, F
Second Team All-Atlantic Hockey
*2003–04: Konn Hawkes, D; Garrett Larson, F
*2004–05: Kalen Wright, F
*2005–06: Alexandre Parent, F
*2007–08: Scott Marchesi, F; Bear Trapp, F
*2015–16: Justin Danforth, F
*2016–17: Cameron Heath, D; Ryan Schmelzer, F
*2017–18: Lester Lancaster, D
Third Team All-Atlantic Hockey
*2009–10: Paul Ferraro, D; Dave Jarman, F
*2011–12: Matt Gingera, F
*2012–13: Eric Delong, F
*2018–19: Austin Magera, F
Atlantic Hockey All-Rookie Team
*2003–04: Pierre-Luc O'Brien, F
*2004–05: Scott Marchesi, D; Alexandre Parent, F
*2005–06: Bear Trapp, F
*2009–10: Steven Legato, G; Eric Delong, F
*2013–14: Mitch Nylen, F; Justin Danforth, F
*2017–18: Marc Johnstone, F
*2018–19: Josh Benson, G; Austin Magera, F
==Pioneers in the NHL==
Although several alumnus have played professional, Sacred Heart has yet to have an alumnus reach the NHL.
==See also==
*Sacred Heart Pioneers women's ice hockey
==References==
==External links==
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Category:Ice hockey teams in Connecticut