2020-21 Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey season

The 2020-21 Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey season was the 28th season of play for the program, the 23rd at the Division I level, and the 18th season in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Pioneers represented Sacred Heart University and were coached by C. J. Marottolo, in his 12th season.
The start of the college hockey season was delayed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As a result, Sacred Heart's first scheduled game was in late-November as opposed to early-October, which was the norm.
==Season==
As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Sacred Heart's players would lose a season of play. However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required. 
Coming off of the best season in the history of the program, Sacred Heart saw a bit of a decline. The team finished 6–10–2 but the record does not reflect the difficulties that the team faced during the season. The Pioneers were not alone in suffering through COVID-related cancellations, but Sacred Heart saw their opposition increase in difficulty as a result. Many of their cancelled games were against weaker teams and the Pioneers added a set of games with Quinnipiac, a team that was ranked throughout the season. Additionally, Sacred Heart played Army (another ranked team) six times during the season, a full third of their games. While SHU kept most of those matches close they did lose to the Black Knights 5 times during the season, which accounts for half of the team's losses. It would be difficult to come away with any conclusions about Sacred Heart's season other than the team had to weather several storms during the year.
==Departures==
Player 	Position 	Nationality	Cause
Drennen Atherton 	Goaltender	 	Transferred to Norwich
Vito Bavaro 	Forward 	 	Graduation
Colin Bernard 	Defenseman	 	Left program
Jason Cotton 	Forward 	 	Graduation (Signed with Carolina Hurricanes)
Jordan Kaplan 	Forward 	 	Transferred to Vermont
Mike Lee 	Defenseman	 	Graduation (Signed with Indy Fuel)
Austin McIlmurray	Forward 	 	Graduation (Signed with Fort Wayne Komets)
Matt Tugnutt 	Forward 	 	Transferred to Providence
==Recruiting==
Player 	Position 	Nationality	Age	Notes
Grant Anderson 	Defenseman	 	21 	Plymouth, MN
Ryan Doolin 	Forward 	 	21 	Hanover, MA
Carson Gallagher 	Forward 	 	21 	Courtice, ON
Cody Hoban 	Forward 	 	19 	Guilford, CT
John Jaworski 	Forward 	 	20 	Grinnell, IA
Andrius Kulbis-Marino	Defenseman	 	20 	Methuen, MA
Emil Öhrvall 	Forward 	 	22 	Växjö, SWE; transfer from Michigan
Adam Tisdale 	Forward 	 	21 	Cochrane, AB; transfer from Clarkson
David Tomeo 	Goaltender	 	21 	West Caldwell, NJ
==Roster==
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==Standings==
==Schedule and Results==
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!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
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!colspan=12 style=";" | 
|- align="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
|colspan=12|Sacred Heart lost series 0–2
==Scoring Statistics==
Name 	Position	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	
 	RW 	16 	6 	10 	16 	12
 	F 	18 	6 	10 	16 	0
 	C 	17 	7 	7 	14 	10
 	RW 	17 	8 	4 	12 	2
 	F 	17 	4 	8 	12 	12
 	C/RW 	18 	5 	6 	11 	6
 	D 	18 	1 	6 	7 	10
 	D 	18 	1 	5 	6 	4
 	F 	12 	1 	3 	4 	4
 	D 	13 	1 	3 	4 	11
 	LW 	10 	1 	2 	3 	8
 	F 	17 	1 	2 	3 	4
 	D 	14 	0 	2 	2 	4
 	C 	16 	0 	2 	2 	0
 	F 	17 	0 	2 	2 	17
 	C 	14 	1 	0 	1 	21
 	D 	4 	0 	1 	1 	0
 	RW 	6 	0 	1 	1 	2
 	C 	10 	0 	1 	1 	0
 	F 	10 	0 	1 	1 	6
 	D 	12 	0 	1 	1 	4
 	F 	16 	0 	1 	1 	0
 	F 	4 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	5 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	C 	5 	0 	0 	0 	2
 	D 	6 	0 	0 	0 	4
 	G 	6 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	10 	0 	0 	0 	6
 	G 	14 	0 	0 	0 	0
Bench	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	6
Total	 	 	43 	78 	121 	154
==Goaltending statistics==
Name 	Games	Minutes	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals Against	Saves	Shut Outs	 	
 	14 	853 	4 	7 	2 	43 	383 	1 	.899	3.02
 	6 	292 	2 	3 	0 	16 	125 	0 	.887	3.29
Empty Net	- 	6 	- 	- 	- 	0 	- 	- 	- 	-
Total 	18 	1152 	6 	10 	2 	59 	508 	1 	.896	3.07
==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
Poll 	Pre 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 (Final)	 	 	
USCHO.com	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 	 	 	
USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.
==Awards and honors==
Player 	Award 	Ref
Marc Johnstone	Atlantic Hockey First Team 	
Braeden Tuck 	Atlantic Hockey Second Team	
==References==
Category:Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey seasons
Sacred Heart Pioneers 
Sacred Heart Pioneers 
Sacred Heart Pioneers