WEST POINT, N.Y. – The ninth-seeded Army hockey team opens the postseason this weekend with a visit to eighth-seeded Sacred Heart in the first round of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament. The best-of-three series features 7:05 p.m. starts on Friday and Saturday, with a Sunday night matchup if necessary.
THIS WEEK: TOURNAMENT TIME
Army knew its opponent for the first round of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament before many. The Black Knights will head across the Connecticut state line and face Sacred Heart in a best-of-three series, starting on Friday night. Army hasn’t seen the Pioneers since the first weekend of the season, when the teams split a two-game set at Tate Rink. The two teams are different than they were in early October, but similar in some ways as Army is 3-3-2 in its last eight games, while Sacred Heart is 4-2-3 in its previous 10. The Pioneers closed out their season on a rare Thursday night game against Bentley and came away with a 4-1 win on Senior Night.
NEXT WEEK: ATLANTIC HOCKEY TOURNAMENT CONTINUES
The tournament jumps into the quarterfinal round next weekend with the only given matchup already settled coming from Bentley as the Falcons host Mercyhurst for three in a series between the fourth and fifth seeds. The top three seeds are waiting for the results of the three first round series as the conference re-seeds prior to the next step in the tournament. top-seeded Robert Morris will host the lowest seed that make it through to the next round and that could be any team from Sacred Heart or Army, while also American International and Niagara could be in the mix.
LAST TIME OUT: A SERIES SPLIT WITH AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL
Army exploded for five goals in the second period and cruised to a 5-1 win over American International on Senior Night at Tate Rink last Saturday. The Black Knights were led by Brendan McGuire, who recorded a career-high three points on two goals and an assist, while C.J. Reuschlein and Tyler Pham tallied two points with a goal and an assist each. Joe Kozlak was the other goal scorer for the Black Knights in the big second frame. Parker Gahagen stopped 34 shots in the win with double-digit stops in all three frames. Army honored its six seniors on Saturday night, including managers Rob Tadazak and Tyler Bonfe. The five-goal second period was the most goals in a frame this season and the first time since Jan. 4, 2013 that Army had five unanswered goals in a game and that was against No. 19 Robert Morris in a 5-0 win. The four-goal margin of victory was the highest for the Black Knights this season. The Class of 2018 finished the regular season with 26 points on 13 goals and 13 assists. The Black Knights fell 4-0 in the first game of the two-game set on Feb. 27 at AIC. The Yellow Jackets scored three goals in the third period to pull away from Army on their Senior Night at the Olympia Ice Center.
MCGUIRE STEALS SENIOR SHOW
Rookie Brendan McGuire tallied a career high three points on two goals and an assist in the 5-1 win on Saturday night. On an evening when honoring seniors, he earned Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week honors with the third multi-goal game of the season for the Black Knights, joining Tyler Pham and Joe Kozlak. He got the five-goal second period started with his sixth of the year and then assisted on Kozlak’s tally to make it 2-0. Exactly 10 minutes after scoring his first goal of the night, he netted his second of the evening to push the lead to 4-0.
GAHAGEN PLAYING WELL
There might not be a hotter netminder in Atlantic Hockey over the last month than Parker Gahagen. The sophomore from Buffalo might not have an undefeated record, but his 1.80 goals against average over the last six games has allowed Army to earn league points in the last four weekends. he has made an average of 28 saves per game during the six-game stretch. He is 2-2-2 in the six contests and has a .939 save percentage. He has doubled his wins from his rookie campaign and he finished the regular season in the top 10 in save percentage in league contests.
SECOND PERIOD SUCCESS
The five-goal output last Saturday was not much of a surprise for the Black Knights as all season long the second period has been its best. Army has scored 31 of its 66 goals this year in the middle frame, which is a 12-goal improvement from the first period. The third stanza has been a difficult one as the Black Knights have been outscored 35-15 in the final 20 minutes.
TOP ROOKIE SCORERS
So far this season, the Black Knights have been led by the Class of 2018 as they have accumulated 81 points this season, which is just under half of the scoring output for the 2014-15 roster. The rookies have 29 total goals and 52 helpers on the year. The 52 assists are half the team’s output in the helper column as the Black Knights have a total of 105 on the year. The rookie class had three of the five goals scored on Senior Night, and overall the plebes posted eight points in the game and factored in all five goals.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
The first round has been set with Niagara heading to Holy Cross, while American International has to hop on a plane to Air Force for its best-of-three series. With the departure of UConn this year, the tournament has shrunk to 11 teams and Mercyhurst and Bentley are the fourth and fifth seeds that get a bye and will face each other in the quarterfinals. That matchup is the only one that has been set for the next round. The league re-seeds after the first round, so top-seeded Robert Morris, Canisius and RIT are awaiting their opponents.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Sacred Heart enters the postseason with an 11-17-6 overall record and a 10-12-6 conference mark. The Pioneers have finished the regular season with a 5-2-3 to get to the eighth spot and host a playoff series. They have scored a lot during the stretch by tallying four or more goals in five of the 10 games, including nine in the last two games with victories over Holy Cross and Bentley. Sacred Heart was last in action on Feb. 26 against the Falcons and came away with a 4-1 victory on Senior Night. The Pioneers score just over 2.5 goals a game and allow over three. The power play has been a struggle with 18 goals on 162 chances for an 11 percent efficiency. The penalty kill has been steady, but has allowed 32 goals on 173 opportunities.
Zach Lucyk leads the way for Sacred Heart with 25 points on 11 goals and 14 assists and 20 of his total points have come in league play. The junior entered this year with four career points, so it has been a breakout season for the forward. Jordan Minello has a team high 13 goals with five coming on the power play, which is tied with Drew George for the team lead. Ben Lake is even with Minello with 23 points and leads the squad with 15 helpers.
In net, Alex Vazzano has appeared in 22 games with 19 starts and finished his final regular season with a 7-10-3 mark between the pipes. He has a .915 save percentage and a 2.68 goals against average. Classmate Andrew Bodnarchuk has seen action in 15 games and is 4-7-3 on the year. He has an .893 save percentage and a 3.41 goals against average.
SERIES HISTORY
This is the first meeting in the postseason between Army and Sacred Heart. Overall, the Pioneers lead the series with a 25-23-6 record. The series began in 1995-96 and the two teams split the first two matchups this year on the first weekend of the season. Army halted a two-game winning streak for the Pioneers with a 2-1 win in the season opener, but Sacred Heart came back and won 5-1 a couple of days later. Zak Zaremba scored the gamewinner on Oct. 10 in the third period and Parker Gahagen made 34 saves. The Pioneers tallied three goals in the second period on Oct. 12 to earn a 5-1 win in the second game of the weekend.
