Junior Pierre-Luc O’Brien scored two goals and added two assists and freshman Bear Trapp had four assists as goal as Sacred Heart beat Brown 5-1 in the first round of the Providence College Hockey Holiday Classic Wednesday at Schneider Arena.
The Pioneers built a three-goal lead after the first period by scoring early and late. Freshman Kyle Tyll got the Pioneers started 2:47 into the game with a power-play goal. After Kalen Wright’s initial shot was saved by Bears goaltender Kevin Kliman, Tyll popped home the rebound for his first career goal.
The teams went back and forth for much of the first period until freshman Dave Grimson put the Pioneers up 2-0 with 1:24 to go. Grimson took a drop pass from O’Brien and flipped a shot just under the crossbar in the left corner of the net. It was the first career goal for Grimson.
O’Brien capped off the three-goal first with a tally with one second left in the period. As time ticked down the Pioneers put on an aggressive forecheck and it paid off as O’Brien netted his ninth goal of the year just as time expired.
After a scoreless second period that saw the Bears unable to score on four power plays, the Pioneers put the game away with two goals in the third.
First, O’Brien netted his second goal of the game, finishing off a picture-perfect give-and-go with Trapp at 13:31. The goal gave O’Brien the sole lead in goalscoring on the team with 10.
Sophomore Alexandre Parent then put the Pioneers up 5-0 with his fifth goal of the year 1:21 later.
Brown ended the Pioneers’ shutout bid with 3:31 to go in the game. Senior Cory Caouette netted his first goal of the season to put the Bears on the board.
The Bears outshot the Pioneers 30-18, but junior Jason Smith was solid in goal, making 29 saves.
The Pioneers will play in the championship game of the Providence Hockey Holiday Classic Thursday night against either Providence or Colgate. Faceoff at Schneider Arena is set for 7:30 p.m.
