2021–22 Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey season explained

The 2021–22 Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey season was the 29th season of play for the program, the 24th at the Division I level, and the 19th season in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Pioneers represented Sacred Heart University and were coached by C. J. Marottolo, in his 13th season.

Season

Sacred Heart spent the entire season hovering around the .500 mark. The team was effectively average in all aspects of the game; neither their offense nor defense were particularly strong, but both couldn't be called weaknesses either. Over the course of the season, Sacred Heart's longest losing streak was just three games but they weren't able to put together any long stretches of winning hockey. The Pioneers got mostly reliable goaltending from junior Justin Robbins but also buoyed his efforts with stints from both Josh Benson and Luke Lush.

Probably the best performance from the team came in the Connecticut Ice semifinal when they lost to #2 Quinnipiac into overtime. The Pioneers had led late, only to see the Bobcats tie the score after pulling their goalie.

The Pioneers' 5th-place finish in Atlantic Hockey earned them an automatic bid into the conference quarterfinals. Despite outplaying RIT for a majority of the three-game series, Sacred Heart's offense was lacking and scored just once in their two losses.

Departures

Josh Allan	Defenseman	Graduation (retired)
Derek Contessa	Forward	Transferred to Endicott
Carson Gallagher	Forward	Transferred to Plattsburgh State
Michael Gilroy	Defenseman	Graduation (retired)
Marcel Godbout	Forward	Graduation (signed with Pensacola Ice Flyers)
Marc Johnstone	Forward	Graduation (signed with South Carolina Stingrays)
Marcus Joseph	Defenseman	Graduation (retired)
Max Luukko	Defenseman	Graduation (retired)
Emil Öhrvall	Forward	Signed professional contract (BIK Karlskoga)
David Tomeo	Goaltender	Signed professional contract (Utica Comets)
Evan Wisocky	Forward	Graduation (retired)

Recruiting

Logan Britt	Defenseman	22	Crystal Lake, IL transfer from Quinnipiac
Troy Conzo	Forward	24	Nesconset, NY graduate transfer from Colorado College
Daniel Ebrahim	Forward	21	Brooklin, ON
Dante Fantauzzi	Defenseman	21	Woodbridge, ON transfer from Alaska Anchorage
Conner Hutchison	Defenseman	20	Hicksville, NY transfer from Vermont
Dante Palecco	Forward	23	Whippany, NJ graduate transfer from Yale
Dakota Raabe	Forward	24	Capistrano Beach, CA graduate transfer from Michigan
Justin Robbins	Goaltender	22	Alpine, NJ transfer from Arizona State
Rourke Russell	Defenseman	23	Long Beach, CA graduate transfer from Miami
Hunter Sansbury	Defenseman	20	Lomita, CA
Neil Shea	Forward	22	Marshfield, MA transfer from Northeastern

Roster

.^[1]

Schedule and results

Scoring statistics

		37	11	20	31	10
		35	12	15	27	2
		30	10	14	24	25
		34	10	11	21	29
		37	3	18	21	30
		37	9	8	17	13
		35	6	10	16	17
		34	3	10	13	2
		36	9	3	12	10
		18	5	6	11	6
		33	3	7	10	10
		36	0	10	10	18
		25	3	6	9	8
		36	2	7	9	26
		34	3	5	8	2
		34	2	6	8	2
		27	2	5	7	4
		37	2	3	5	35
		19	0	2	2	0
		5	0	1	1	0
		9	0	1	1	2
		15	0	1	1	12
		21	0	1	1	4
		28	0	1	1	0
		2	0	0	0	0
		2	0	0	0	0
		5	0	0	0	0
		6	0	0	0	0
		9	0	0	0	0
		11	0	0	0	0
		21	0	0	0	21
Bench	-	-	-	-	-	0
Total			95	171	266	288

^[2]

Goaltending statistics

	6	202	1	3	0	8	99	0	.925	2.37
	29	1539	10	12	3	61	609	1	.909	2.38
	13	491	4	3	1	25	196	0	.887	3.05
Empty Net	-	25	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-
Total	37	2258	15	18	4	100	904	1	.900	2.66

Rankings

See main article: 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings.

Poll	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 (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	bgcolor=FFFFFF	-	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 week 24.^[3]

Awards and honors

Neil Shea	Atlantic Hockey Regular Season Scoring Trophy	^[4]
Logan Britt	Atlantic Hockey Second Team	^[5]
Neil Shea	Atlantic Hockey Second Team	^[5]
Braeden Tuck	Atlantic Hockey Third Team	^[6]

Notes and References

Web site: 2020–21 Sacred Heart Men's Ice Hockey Roster . Sacred Heart University Department of Athletics . July 27, 2017 .
News: Sacred Heart Univ. 2021-2022 Skater Stats . Elite Prospects . June 20, 2020.
Web site: USCHO Division I Men's Poll . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.
Web site: Atlantic Hockey Announces 2021-22 Regular Season Awards . Atlantic Hockey . March 17, 2022 . March 17, 2022.
Web site: Atlantic Hockey Announces 2021-22 All-Conference Teams . Atlantic Hockey . March 16, 2022 . March 16, 2022.
Web site: Atlantic Hockey Announces 2021-22 All-Conference Teams . Atlantic Hockey . March 16, 2022 . March 16, 2022.