A Look at Sacred Heart Hockey with Forward Todd Goehring
One of the most up-and-coming programs in all of college hockey is Sacred Heart University. Sacred Heart is based out of Fairfield, Connecticut, but they play their home games at Bridgeport’s Webster Bank Arena, home of the Sound Tigers.
Sacred Heart Hockey had its most defining moment last season by winning the first Connecticut Ice tournament in Bridgeport. Todd Goehring was on that team and scored for the Pioneers in the championship game against the Quinnipiac Bobcats.
“That was something really special,” Goehring said. “To score on SNY where a lot of my family was watching back home in Jersey was really cool and to win on home ice in front of our fans was something that none of us will ever forget.
After beating the Bobcats, the Pioneers were ranked in the national Top 20 for the first time in program history.
Going into the playoffs, the Pioneers were keen on battling for the program’s first Atlantic Hockey championship. They knew that one of the teams to beat was going to be the Yellow Jackets of AIC, who beat the #1 overall seed St. Cloud State. When the season was cut short by the pandemic, Goehring and the Pioneers thought that the season was ripped from them.
“We had a good group last year and learned a lot,” Goehring said. “Last year our season kinda got ripped from us. It did not sit well with anyone. And we’re looking to be stronger this year.”
Before Sacred Heart
A native of Wayside, NJ, Goehring grew up playing in the New Jersey Junior Titans organization before spending time with the North Jersey Avalanche. He played high school hockey for Red Bank Catholic and also played for his hometown Titans in the NAHL.
“It was really cool to go from AAA then to play in the NAHL program,” Goehring said. “I was able to live at home and play junior hockey with my family nearby. Being able to have my friends and family come to every junior game was really cool.”
In the 2017-18 Season after a good start with the Titans, Goehring was picked up by the USHL’s Chicago Steel.
“Everything about it was so professional,” Goehring said. “From the weight rooms to the locker rooms to the makeup of the organization. It was a really good learning curve for me to play for such an organization. A lot of it also goes to the Titans as well, they do a great job with the coaching staff there.”
Playing in Bridgeport
Another interesting thing about the Pioneers program is the chance to play at Webster Bank Arena.
“Playing there and being close with the Sound Tigers is really cool,” Goehring said. “You get to be close to guys who are just steps away from the NHL and being able to watch their games and play at a facility that is just first class.”
The Pioneers played in Bridgeport for a couple seasons in the early 2010s before going back to Milford Ice Pavilion, a community rink in Milford, Connecticut. The Pioneers returned to Bridgeport permanently in 2015, sharing the arena with the Sound Tigers and Fairfield University, who play their home basketball games in Bridgeport.
A Bright Future
While playing in Bridgeport is something that the Pioneers like, a major key was to not only get new recruits but also more fans is an arena on campus. However, Webster Bank Arena is 15 minutes from the campus. On January 25, 2020, Sacred Heart Athletic Director and former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine announced that a new $60 million dollar facility was in the works on the university’s Fairfield campus. The new facility will hold 4,000 people and host both the men’s and women’s Division 1 programs.
“That rink will change the university for the better obviously,” Goehring said. “That’s going to be so big in recruiting to play in a very nice on-campus arena and you know it has been tough to get some of the students to Webster [Bank Arena] because of it being tough to get to. Now that will change, people will come to games and that will change the campus for sure.”
The future is certainly bright for the Pioneers as they look for their first NCAA Tournament berth.
A Native of Danbury, CT. Christian is one of the longest tenured Drive4Five writers, Christian Gardecki began writing for Drive4five In May of 2017. Christian covers Minor League Hockey and the Bridgeport Islanders for Drive4Five. Outside of Drive4Five, Christian was the captain of his High School Hockey team and currently attends Hofstra University with a major in journalism. Christian was the play by play broadcaster for the Danbury Westerners summer collegiate baseball team during their 2021 NECBL Championship. Christian also was the Public Address Announcer for the Danbury Hat Tricks Minor Pro Hockey team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League and NAHL Junior team from 2019-21.
