WALTHAM, Mass. – On a night when the greater Waltham community came together to support Declan Lyons and his family, the Falcons hockey team battled until the end but came up just short against Sacred Heart, 4-3. 

Prior to the game, a ceremonial puck drop was held with Declan's siblings and parents. Throughout the night raffles and chuck a puck were held, in addition to proceeds from ticket sales, to benefit his fight.

Trailing 4-2 late in the 3^rd period, the Falcons pulled goalie Nicholas Grabko for an extra attacker with 3:39 remaining. The move paid off as captain Ethan Leyh fired in a shot from above the left faceoff circle to cut the deficit to 4-3. Nick Bochen and A.J. Hodges had the assists. 

Grabko went back in for a brief time after the goal and went off again for the extra attacker with 2:22 left. 

The Falcons kept the pressure on with the puck in its offensive zone over the next two minutes, and freshman Chase Davis saw a good scoring chance saved by SHU goalie Justin Robbins with 34 seconds remaining. That proved to be their final shot on goal as SHU drained the remaining time and held on for the win. 

"This was an opportunity for us to lift the community up," said head coach Andy Jones postgame. "Just giving an effort that would be inspirational and our effort tonight was pretty good."

"It was an honor to play for him tonight," said sophomore forward Stephen Castagna. "It put things into perspective a lot. We think that if we make a mistake on the ice it might mean the end of the world, but when you look at the big picture it really puts things into perspective."

"The result was unfortunate but he was playing with all of us tonight," Castagna continued.

SHU took an early 1-0 lead at 1:24 of the first period on a goal by Andrius Kulbis-Marino. 

But the Falcons evened the score six minutes later when Hodges netted his 6^th of the season. Freshman Peter Kramer had the assist after he dug the puck out along the boards and passed to Hodges, who beat Robbins from a tight angle on the goal line to light the lamp. 

The Pioneers went ahead 3-1 in the 2^nd period with goals at 6:51 and 14:44, both by Daniel Ebrahim. 

Just 24 seconds after Ebrahim's second goal, grad student Jonathan Bendorf pulled the Falcons closer with a goal. Kramer had an initial shot on goal that was saved by Robbins, but Bendorf was there on the doorstep to score off the rebound. 

The score stayed 3-2 in favor of SHU well into the 3^rd period, until TJ Walsh scored what would be the game-winner at the 13:11 mark. 

Both goalies Grabko and Robbins finished the night with 26 saves. 

These same two teams will be back at it Saturday night when they series shifts to Sacred Heart.