Sacred Heart junior Hunter Sansbury has been named the Atlantic Hockey Defensive Player of the Month.

Sansbury played in all 10 games the Pioneers played last month and piled up 30 blocked shots, far and away the highest total on the team and the nation’s best in the month as well. He also contributed five points (goal, four assists) and 26 shots on goal at the offensive end of the ice, with the latter number ranking third on the squad. He blocked at least four shots on four separate occasions in January.

The Lomita native was at his best in SHU’s home-and-home series with Holy Cross on Jan. 19-20. At home on Friday night, he established a new career high with seven blocks in a 2-1 OT win. Sansbury equaled the new career best with seven more blocks on the road the very next night.

Sansbury capped the month with the 100th game of his collegiate career, last Saturday against Yale at CT Ice. He has played in all 27 of Sacred Heart’s games this season and is second among team blueliners in scoring, with four goals and eight assists for 12 points. Sansbury leads not just Atlantic Hockey, but the entire country, with 76 blocked shots.

It is Sansbury’s second career selection as Atlantic Hockey Defensive Player of the Month (Feb. 2023).

During his youth hockey days, Sansbury played for the Los Angeles Jr. Kings and St. John Bosco High School.

Photo/Josh Gee

(February 1, 2024)