SNY Connecticut Ice will take place on Jan. 29 and 30 at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com.

Sacred Heart’s hockey program has been around since 1993 and has been playing in Division I since 1998. This past November, the school had its first-ever alum make the NHL, when Justin Danforth debuted for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“I think we have more to come,” said coach C.J. Marottolo. “But having him doing it was a real sense of pride for everybody that knew Justin.”

Team record

The Pioneers are 9-11-3 and 7-8-2 in the Atlantic Hockey Association this year.

They most recently lost to AIC on Jan. 22.

This season

Aside from one three-game win streak in four nights in November, Sacred Heart has failed to string together more than one win in a row.

Thoughts from the coach

“This story for this team has yet to be written as we have goals that we’ll keep to ourselves,” Marottolo told SNY. “We have things we want to accomplish as a group, and I think that’s kind our team-to-team thing, leaving it at a better spot, and I think we are well on that road this year to doing that.”

Players to watch

D Logan Britt: He leads the team in assists with 13 and is tied for the lead in points with 16. He “can play a lot of minutes,” Marottolo said. “He’s playing in every situation for us right now.”

F Braeden Tuck: He is tied for the team lead in goals with eight. “I think guys see Braeden and how he conducts himself and they understand that’s the way they have to do it,” Marottolo said of his captain.

CT Ice history

The Pioneers are the one and only CT Ice champions, having beat Yale in the first round in 2020 and nationally ranked Quinnipiac in the final.

What did a CT Ice Trophy mean to Sacred Heart?

“We were the underdogs going in, so that group felt that they had a chip on their shoulder,” Marottolo said. “They wanted to prove that we belong, and I think they did that over the course of that weekend and it meant a lot to our community, it meant a lot to our alums, and it meant a lot to our team as we continue to show growth in our team every year.”

When Sacred Heart plays in CT Ice

The Pioneers play Quinnipiac in the first round on Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. at Webster Bank Arena on SNY. The two first-round winners will play in the same arena on Jan. 30.

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