Video: Postgame Comments From Coach Pearl
ERIE, Pa. – Sophomore Adam Schmidt (Warrington, Pa.) scored two goals as the Holy Cross men's hockey team defeated Mercyhurst, 3-1, in the second game of a best two-out-of-three Atlantic Hockey Tournament quarterfinal round series on Saturday evening at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The third and deciding game of the best two-out-of-three quarterfinal series will be on Sunday, March 11 at 7:00 p.m. at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The Lakers won the first game of the series by a 2-1 score on Friday. With the win, the No. 5 seeded Crusaders improve 20-14-4 overall, while the No. 4 seeded Lakers fall to 19-15-4 overall. This is now the sixth time in program history that the Crusaders have posted 20 wins in a season as they went 21-9-0 in 1979-1080, 20-10-2 in 1982-1983, 22-9-4 in 1998-1999, 22-10-4 in 2003-2004 and 27-10-2 in 2005-2006. The Crusaders are 1-2-1 versus the Lakers this season.
The first period went scoreless as the Crusaders went 0-1 on the power play and the Lakers went 0-2. Holy Cross outshot Mercyhurst, 8-5.
The Crusaders took a 1-0 lead at 14:18 of the second period when Schmidt netted his 17th goal of the season. A shot by Schmidt from the right face-off circle ricocheted off the upper left post and over the goal line. Senior captain Mike Daly (South Burlington, Vt.) and senior Matt Clune (Toronto, Ontario) tallied assists. Just 1:17 later, senior Andrew Cox (Lombardy, Ontario) stole the puck and went on a breakaway as he then buried the puck in back of the net for the shorthanded goal. The goal was his 15th of the season. The Crusaders outshot the Lakers by a 24-10 margin.
At 7:41 of the third period, Tyler Shiplo cut the Crusader lead to 2-1 when he found back of the net. The Lakers went with an empty-net with 20 seconds left, but four seconds later Schmidt found the back of the empty-net for his team-leading 18th goal of the season. Schmidt's 18 goals are tied for fourth for a Division I season at the school.
Freshman goalie Matt Ginn (Lindsay, Ontario) made 25 saves and is now 17-7-2 on the season. His 17 wins are tied for second all-time for a season in the Division I history of the program. Max Strang posted 41 saves for the Lakers and is 15-13-3. The Crusaders went 0-4 on the power play and the Lakers went 0-6. Holy Cross outshot Mercyhurst, 44-26.
