The Spectrum

Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: The Spectrum/Kate Brindisi Jason Smith will be honored Saturday on Senior Day and will be remembered as one of the best goaltenders in school history.

After completing a home-and-home series sweep of Holy Cross on Saturday night in Milford, the men's ice hockey team looks to clinch second place in Atlantic hockey needing just one point to do so. Seems simple, right?

Look deeper into this final phase of the Pioneers' book, that hopefully has a better ending than last year, and you can see the multiplying subplots that litter this coming weekend's home-and-home series against Army.

The past two weekends against Mercyhurst and the Crusaders (both sweeps), coach Shaun Hannah has created a two-headed monster of splitting time between Jason Smith and Stefan Drew in goal. Both have proved to be vital parts of a championship puzzle even if only one can be in between the pipes during a playoff game.

In 2005-06, Smith carried the team on his back for the latter part of the season and some suggested his tired out too quickly as UConn jolted the Pioneers from the playoffs exterminating any hope of raising a trophy. Hannah has given Smith the breather he desperately needed and Drew couldn't have been better.

This weekend, the Black Knights play host in the confines of Tate Rink but travel to the Milford Ice Pavilion for Saturday, where the Sacred Heart seniors will be honored. Pierre-Luc O'Brien, who broke the school's scoring record last week, and Smith, who tied the school's all-time win record, will receive a big ovation. As a matter of fact, they deserve more than that.

Peter Ferraro, Charlie Veilleux, Drew Sanders, Kalen Wright, Todd Spencer and Louis Gentile will join the two record holders in the group who will be recognized for their efforts wearing the red and white vests. However, they will also attempt to solve Army's net minder Josh Kassel, who was named the AHA Goaltender of the Week.

One point is all it takes.

After that, the Pioneers can look forward to entering the playoffs with a clean slate they have desperately coveted for over a year, a rested star goaltender, and prolific scorers who will do everything in their power to achieve a small goal that can lead to the biggest one of all.

One point.

And then, the first chapter can begin with ease.

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