The Sacred Heart Pioneers collected 12-of-12 possible points through November, and they’re in first place in Atlantic Hockey.

The Pioneers opened the month with a nonconference loss to Long Island, but they now sit in the midst of a four-game winning streak, following sweeps of Canisius and Robert Morris.

“Our leadership has been really, really good,” Sacred Heart head coach CJ Marottolo said. “We’ve hit adversity this year – an 0-3 start on the road at RIT – but our leaders really navigated that ship.”

That ship has since sailed to a 7-1-0-1 conference record (7-5 overall) heading into December, with a five-point gap over RIT.

Pios win! That's 6 straight in @Atlantic_Hockey play#WeAreSHU pic.twitter.com/BYZTeQKRRi

— SHU Hockey (@SHUHockey) November 25, 2023

Including exhibition, the Pioneers played nine games across 24 days in October; in other words, a lot of college hockey.

On paper, a five-game November accounts for more rest, but for Marottolo, it halted the integration of new players.

“We didn’t like the rest,” he said. “We felt we were finally getting into our groove a little bit with all the new players we’ve had and trying to integrate them with how we want to play. We felt over the [previous] month, we finally have become familiar with each other, and with that familiarity, you get to play faster within our structure.”

The list of players Marottolo mentioned includes transfers TJ Walsh, Mark Cheremeta, Liam Izyk and goaltender Chase Clark.

Walsh, a fifth-year graduate student, leads the Pioneers with seven goals and 15 points through 12 games.

Forwards Cheremeta and Izyk have contributed another nine assists and five points (three goals, two assists), respectively.

“We have a blueprint of how we want to play, and my assistant coaches do a great job of knowing the players in the [transfer] portal, so we’ve been fortunate with getting great kids that want to be a part of something,” Marottolo added.

That blueprint begins with defensive accountability and discipline.

The Pioneers had the sixth-fewest penalty minutes per game during the 2022-2023 season. Marottolo said they simply don’t like taking penalties because it takes away from the team philosophy.

The group seems to have heard the message, as the Pioneers sit with the fifth-fewest penalty minutes per game this season, which goes a long way in surrendering goals.

That supports the Pioneers’ standing in goals against per game this season (10th), but also requires a nod to another transfer in goaltender Chase Clark.

“We knew of Chase’s game before he committed to [Quinnipiac],” Marottolo said. “He was just caught behind a kid at Quinnipiac who was tremendous.”

Clark has played the entire season for the Pioneers, earning a 7-5 record, while sitting one win behind his total games played as a freshman last season with the Bobcats.

He ranks 20th this year in minutes played, and his 2.35 GAA and .919 SV% rank in the top 10 among goalies who have played a minimum 10 games

Big save by Chase Clark to keep us even earlier in the third! pic.twitter.com/Z9pOIXdmwl

— SHU Hockey (@SHUHockey) November 6, 2023

As Clark and the other transfers have settled in, Marotollo credits his leadership with creating a sense of community in their inaugural season at the Pioneers brand new arena Martire Family Center.

The Pioneers moved into the new arena during the winter semester, but Marottolo said pregame habits took a while to form with everything being new to them.

“Something we’ve never had, but now have in the new rink, is a lounge with TVs and NHL Tonight is on,” Marotollo said. “We have a beautiful state-of-the-art training room, and now our guys spend so much time at the rink together that I think it has brought our group together even more.”

Marotollo said their previous home rink was a rink they played in, but their new rink feels like a home rink, with guys studying, training and playing ping pong together, always having fun.

As the group continues to blend and find chemistry, the season will only ramp up following a five-game December.

In the new year, the Pioneers are slated for 10 games in 24 days through January and another seven games in 22 days in February.

Do not miss a second of Pioneers action. You can watch every Atlantic Hockey game – and much more – right here on FloHockey, all season.

Have a question or a comment for Jacob Messing? You can find him on Twitter @Jacob_Messing.