In front of a crowd half the size of the announced attendance of 2,367, Sacred Heart and Western Michigan played uneventful, scoreless hockey for 52:46 until WMU co-captain Mike Bishai scored the game-winner to break the deadlock, en route to a 2-0 Bronco victory over the Pioneers.<\/p>\n
WMU (8-4-3) extends its unbeaten streak to six games at 5-0-1, while SHU (4-7-1) suffered its fourth straight loss.<\/p>\n
Despite being victorious, WMU head coach Jim Culhane was still looking for improvement.<\/p>\n
“I think we can play better. Give them a lot of credit; Sacred Heart kept it close. I’m pleased about the fact we found a way to win; I think Mike (Mantua) played well in net for us. They didn’t get a lot of great scoring opportunities, but the ones they did get, the saves he was able to make were obviously the difference in the game.”<\/p>\n
Culhane gave credit to the hard work by SHU.<\/p>\n
“They played hard. No way did we outhustle Sacred Heart, by no means. I think maybe in the hustle department, they might be up on us.”<\/p>\n
SHU head coach Shawn Hanna was proud of the effort by his Pioneers.<\/p>\n
“I think our guys played their hearts out. I think they competed well; it’s been a problem as of late, we haven’t competed for 60 minutes, and I thought we did tonight. The goals they scored were great goals; I don’t think we gave them anything. Nothing came easy for Western tonight.”<\/p>\n
“I thought our guys played real well in front of the net, blocked some shots, played a solid defensive game, and got solid goaltending from Eddie Ferhi.”<\/p>\n
SHU junior goaltender Eddy Ferhi tallied 29 saves on the evening, coming 7:14 from shutting out the potent WMU attack until Bishai took a cross-slot pass from sophomore Jeff Campbell and one-timed it over the Frenchman’s left shoulder to put WMU up 1-0 at 12:46.<\/p>\n
After Ferhi was pulled for the extra attacker at 19:25 of the third period, sophomore Paul Davies iced the game with a shot from the red line that found its way through two Pioneer defenders.<\/p>\n
In a quick game that finished in a little more than two hours, the two squads combined for just six penalties. WMU’s Mantua finished with 12 saves to record his second shutout of the season.<\/p>\n
Hanna spoke about what it will take to win Saturday.<\/p>\n
“I thought, offensively, we had some chances to score and we didn’t put them in the net. I think offensively if we bear down on our opportunities, it’ll be different,” he said.<\/p>\n
The teams meet for the second game of their two-game series Saturday at Lawson Ice Arena. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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