The 2025–26 Sacred Heart Pioneers men's ice hockey season will be the 33rd season of play for the program, the 28th at the Division I level and the 2nd in Atlantic Hockey America. The Pioneers will represent Sacred Heart University in the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, play their home games at the Martire Family Arena and be coached by C. J. Marottolo in his 17th season.
Season Sacred Heart entered the season with high expectations. The Pioneers were ranked as the top team in the conference in the preseason poll thanks in no small part to returning three all-conference players. Félix Trudeau, Mikey Adamson and Ajeet Gundarah gave the Pioneers potential star power at all three positions. Despite retaining their leading scorer from last season (Trudeau), Sacred Heart lost five of its top nine point producers. Those departures took with them more than a third of the Pioneers' goals from '25 and the early results were affected by their absences. In the first five weeks of the season, Sacred Heart managed more than 2 goals just once. Gundarah was able to get a few wins in spite of the scoring dearth, including a mild upset over #14 Ohio State, but the team was still under water by mid-November. Around Thanksgiving, the offense finally rounded into shape and began to capitalize on their netminder's steady goaltending. Just as the team was setting itself up for a run, disaster struck when Gundarah was felled by a high ankle sprain in late-November and would mix the next two and a half months.
While the team could have spiraled after losing their netminder, Teagan Kendrick stepped in to save the day. The freshman acted like an experienced hand in goal and led the team on a 6–1–2 run while allowing around 2 goals per game. Trudeau's gaudy scoring totals helped shoot the Pioneers up the conference standings and had the club well-situated when they began the Connecticut Ice tournament. Sacred Heart underperformed against their in-state rivals and then went through a skid of intermittent scoring. Inexplicably, the team that had pretentions of competing in the NCAA tournament lost to Mercyhurst, the lowest-ranked team in the nation, during that time.
However, the club was buoyed by the return of Gundarah in the middle of February. The Pioneers won the final four games on their schedule to finish second and guarantee themselves a home stand for at least two rounds of the postseason. Gundarah's strong play continued into the playoffs and Niagara was limited to just one goal per game as Sacred Heart swept their way into the semifinals. After a relatively easy win in the first game, the Pioneers found themselves in a win-or-die position when Robert Morris won the rematch. Gundarah refocused and posted a 36-save shutout to send the team to their first conference title game in 16 years.
Getting a solid performance from their netminder, Sacred Heart had trouble getting on the scoreboard and found itself down early in the second period. Undaunted, Vitaly Levyy and Gavin Bryant combined to give the Pioneers a lead heading into the third. Unfortunately, the team ran out of steam in the final 20 minutes. Bentley scored twice in the final frame and Sacred Heart could only muster 5 shots in the period as their chance at a tournament berth slipped away.
Despite the sour end, this season saw the team set a new program record for wins, breaking the previous high of 21 that they had achieved on four separate occasions.
Departures Gabe Blanchard Defenseman Graduation (signed with Greensboro Gargoyles) Cullen DeYoung Goaltender Transferred to Vermont Max Dorrington Forward Graduation (signed with Bridgeport Islanders) Brendan Dumas Forward Transferred to Trinity Daniel Ebrahim Forward Graduation (signed with Adirondack Thunder) Willyam Gendron Forward Transferred to McGill Tyler Ghirardosi Forward Graduation (retired) Matthew Guerra Forward Graduation (signed with Wichita Thunder) Rylee Hlusiak Forward Transferred to Toronto John Jaworski Forward Graduation (signed with Cincinnati Cyclones) Brendan Kennette Defenseman Left program (retired) Jack O'Dea Goaltender Graduation (retired) Cole O'Donnell Goaltender Left program (retired) Hunter Sansbury Defenseman Graduation (signed with Florida Everblades) Garrett Sundquist Defenseman Left program (retired)
Recruiting Joshua Barnes Forward 23 Cornwall, ON; transfer from American International David Brandes Defenseman 21 Toronto, ON Gavin Bryant Forward 21 Ingersoll, ON Noah Ellis Defenseman 23 Urbandale, IA; transfer from Omaha; selected 184th overall in 2020 Ray Fust Forward 22 Bellinzona, SUI; transfer from Clarkson Jack Hillier Forward 20 Petawawa, ON Stéphane Huard Forward 23 Blainville, QC; transfer from McGill Teagan Kendrick Goaltender 21 St. Albert, AB Liam Lesakowski Defenseman 21 Buffalo, NY; transfer from Maine Chase Ramsay Defenseman 22 Granite Springs, NY; transfer from Quinnipiac Connor Smith Goaltender 22 West Haven, CT; joined from club team Noah Van Vliet Defenseman 21 Toronto, ON Ethan Wolthers Forward 24 Valencia, CA; transfer from Western Michigan
Roster As of August 2, 2025.
Standings
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
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Scoring statistics LW 39 25 23 48 87 F 40 8 26 34 40 D 40 4 30 34 18 C 40 15 18 33 14 C 34 10 11 21 10 C 35 6 14 20 38 D 40 9 10 19 12 LW/RW 39 8 10 18 4 F 39 8 8 16 4 D 39 3 13 16 24 D 40 4 7 11 12 F 38 4 5 9 14 D 36 3 5 8 16 C 21 3 3 6 2 F 36 3 3 6 14 F 37 1 5 6 4 F 23 1 3 4 6 C 22 0 4 4 29 D 34 1 2 3 44 D 13 0 3 3 10 F 19 0 3 3 12 F 19 0 3 3 14 F 12 2 0 2 4 D 6 0 1 1 0 G 1 0 0 0 0 D/F 4 0 0 0 0 D 16 0 0 0 2 G 20 0 0 0 0 G 22 0 0 0 0 Total 118 210 328 440
Goaltending statistics 1 1:51 0 0 0 0 2 0 1.000 0.00 22 1260:57 13 7 1 44 570 2 .928 2.09 20 1142:27 10 7 2 46 531 2 .920 2.42 Empty Net - 13:44 - - - 6 - - - - Total 40 2418:59 23 14 3 96 1103 4 .915 2.38
Rankings
Note: USCHO did not release a week 12 pollNote: USA Hockey did not release a week 12 poll
References