Sacred Heart D2 hockey was back in action this weekend hosting the Montclair State University Red Hawks on Friday night for their annual charity game, before the reigning national champions UMass Amherst Minutemen came to town on Saturday afternoon.

Friday's game was for a good cause as the Pioneers raised money for the Brick Stars Challenger hockey program. It was a slow start to the game but sophomore James Dillon got the scoring started with 15 seconds left in the first period. The Pioneers would explode in the second with junior Solon Mihas putting Sacred Heart up by two before the Red Hawks would battle back to tie the game at two. The Pioneers had a monster second half of the period with junior Christos Caminis, senior Ryan Oechsner, and freshman Rob Moliterno put the Pioneers up by three heading into the third period. Dillon recorded his second of the night enroute to Sacred Hearts 6-2 victory behind junior Conor Higgins 28 save performance.

On Saturday afternoon the Minutemen traveled to Fairfield and although the final score didn't go in the Pioneers favor this was a game to remember. The Pioneers got off to a slow start finding themselves down 3-1 going into the second period with their lone goal of the frame coming from senior Nick Chiurazzi. In the middle period, Sacred Heart found themselves in a hole down 5-1 but the game would be far from over. With goals from seniors Jake Antonucci and Ryan Oechsner and junior Christos Caminis the pioneers found themselves only down by one heading into the final 20 minutes of the weekend. The Pioneers would pick up right where they left off in the second scoring three more unanswered goals including one by freshmen Thomas Franzosa followed by goals from sophomores James Dillon and Jake Abrami to give the Pioneers a 7-5 lead with 7 minutes to go in the game. Although their six unanswered goals were impressive, it would not be enough as the minutemen would tie up the game before the final horn. The teams would go through a scoreless 5 minute overtime, which would then lead to a shootout where the pioneers would eventually lose by a final score of 8-7.

The Pioneers are back in action this weekend for their final two regular season games before they get ready for playoffs. They head up to Troy, NY to face RPI Engineers before hosting CCSU for their final home game of the season where they will honor the six seniors on the squad.