The reasons for Sacred Heart’s lack of success last season were obvious: an average offense paired with a defense that was the worst in the league by almost a full goal per game (4.52 goals against average).<\/p>\n
Some of that was due to an ineffective penalty kill, and some to goaltenders struggling, especially early in the season.<\/p>\n
“Our penalty kill put us in trouble all season,” Pioneers coach C.J. Marottolo said. “It was discouraging because it had been a strength. I think the season before we went 31 [chances] straight without allowing a power-play goal. We didn’t get those kind of streaks at all.<\/p>\n
“Things got better as the season went on and we’ll build on that. [Freshman goaltender] Andrew Bodnarchuk and [junior] Steven Legatto battled it out all season but in our last 10 games we went 5-5 and Bodnarchuk was in net for that stretch.”<\/p>\n
That means the now-sophomore will get the benefit of the doubt for now.<\/p>\n
“He’ll get that first chance for sure,” Marottolo said.<\/p>\n
Rookie Fredrik Melander, a Swede who played at Trinity-Pawling last season, may also be in the mix. Sacred Heart also picked up goaltender Alex Vazzano, a transfer from Vermont who won’t play this season.<\/p>\n
A transfer who will play is Nick Curry, who moved from Massachusetts-Lowell and sat out last season. Marottolo hopes he’ll pick up some of the scoring load now that Matt Gingera (109 career points) has graduated.<\/p>\n
“Nick has a very good hockey IQ and very good hands,” Marottolo said. “He’s got D-I experience already (16 games at Lowell, picking up two assists) so he can play right away.<\/p>\n
“Matt [Gingera] had to put the team on his back offensively the past two seasons, and we have to spread things around more to be successful. I think we have the ingredients for two good scoring lines, a third line that will be hard to play against and a high-energy fourth line. That formula spells success, provided we can keep the puck out of our net on a consistent basis.<\/p>\n
“The league will be tight again, so everybody is going to get their chance,” Marottolo said. “Every point is so valuable, whether it’s October or March.”<\/p>\n
2011-12 overall record:<\/strong> 6-28-3<\/p>\n 2011-12 AHA record:<\/strong> 4-20-3 (tie, 11th)<\/p>\n 2012-13 predicted finish (coaches poll):<\/strong> 12th<\/p>\n Key losses:<\/strong> F Matt Gingera<\/p>\n Players to watch:<\/strong> F Drew George, F Brian Sheehan, F Eric Delong<\/p>\n Impact rookie:<\/strong> Although not a rookie, new to SHU is Nick Curry, who played 16 games at Massachusetts-Lowell in 2010-11.<\/p>\n Why the Pioneers will finish higher than the coaches poll:<\/strong> Sacred Heart was young last season and was forced to put rookies into key roles. That could pay dividends this season.<\/p>\n Why the Pioneers will finish lower than the coaches poll:<\/strong> You can’t get any lower, but a return to the basement is possible unless the Pioneers can stop the puck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The reasons for Sacred Heart’s lack of success last season were obvious: an average offense paired with a defense that was the worst in the league by almost a full goal per game (4.52 goals against average). Some of that was due to an ineffective penalty kill, and some to goaltenders struggling, especially early in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[322],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n