WORCESTER, Mass. – Holy Cross men's ice hockey is set to face Atlantic Hockey rival American International in a home-and-home set. Game one of the series is set for 7 p.m. Thursday night at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass., while game two will be played at 7 p.m. on Friday night at the Hart Center Rink in Worcester, Mass. Both games will stream live on FloHockey, while Friday's game will also be broadcast on NESN+.
 
THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT HOLY CROSS (4-3-2, 1-3-2 ATLANTIC HOCKEY)

• Holy Cross continues to receive votes in the USCHO poll.
• Holy Cross fell to Canisius on Friday, 5-3, before tying in overtime on Saturday, 3-3. The Crusaders picked up the extra point in the standings by taking the shootout, 2-0.
• Senior Jack Ricketts is on a nine-game point streak to start the 2023-24 campaign, having picked up at least one point in each game this season. His five goals and 11 points leads the team, while his nine-game point streak is tied for the third longest in program history. Rickett's 11 points this season is the highest mark by an individual in Atlantic Hockey.
• Junior Matt Shatsky earned Atlantic Hockey Defensive Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career. Shatsky recorded two points on a goal and an assist last weekend, while adding two blocked shots and playing on the Crusaders penalty kill unit that held Canisius to two-for-six over the weekend. On Friday, Shatsky picked up his third assist of the season on senior Alec Cicero's power play strike that cut the Golden Griffin's lead to two. On Saturday, Shatsky scored his first goal of the season, and second of his collegiate career, to give the Crusaders a 2-1 lead in the second period.
• Cicero earned Crusader of the Week honors for the first time in his career for his efforts against Canisius. Cicero posted three points on two goals and an assist, while blocking three shots in Holy Cross' weekend set. The Williamsville, N.Y. native also skated in his 100th game as a Crusader on Saturday night. Cicero's powerplay goal on Friday cut the Canisius lead to two, while his goal on Saturday tied the game at one-all. He picked up a primary assist on Shatsky's four-on-four goal that gave the Crusaders the 2-1 lead in the second period.
• Senior netminder Jason Grande recorded 28 saves in Friday's loss, while junior goaltender Thomas Gale made 27 saves in Saturday's shootout win.
• Grande's 2.11 save percentage ranks him 14th nationally, while his .924 places him 21st in the national rankings.
• Holy Cross owns the nations 12th-best scoring defense, holding opponents to an average of 2.29 goals per game. The team is tied for second nationally in short-handed goals, with three this season.

 
SCOUTING AIC (2-5-0, 1-1-0 ATLANTIC HOCKEY)

• The Yellowjackets have started the season 2-5-0, after dropping their opener to UMass, a weekend set to Quinnipiac and splitting with Penn State and Bentley.
• AIC returns 23 players, while adding ten freshmen and three transfers.
• Senior Brian Kramer leads the team in points with six, while graduate Dustin Manz leads in assists with five. Kramer and sophomore Josh Barnes lead in goals with two each.
• The goalkeeping duo of senior Alexandros Aslanidis and junior Cole Hudson have combined for a goals-against average of 3.68 and an .879 save percentage.

 
LAST TIME THEY MET:

• The last time the two teams met, in the 2023 Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinal round, the Crusaders took the series, 2-1, falling in game one to the Yellowjackets, before winning the next two games.
• Junior Liam McLinskey's nine-goal playoff tear began in game one of the series, as he recorded the lone goal for the Crusaders in the loss. Shatsky and senior Matt Guerra picked up assists in the score. In game two, the Crusaders scored four-straight goals, including three third period tallies to erase a 2-0 AIC lead. McLinskey scored twice, with Guerra and sophomore Matt DeBoer picking up the other two scores. Junior Devin Phillips tallied two assists in the game, with sophomore Charlie Spence picking up one.
• In the deciding game three, Holy Cross won in overtime to punch their ticket to their first Atlantic Hockey semifinal since 2011. McLinskey scored the first goal and the overtime winner, with Phillips and senior Tyler Ghirardosi tallying power play goals in the contest. Phillips, Shatsky, Cicero, and Guerra tallied assists in the game.
• The two teams met twice last year in the regular season, splitting the series. The Crusaders took the first meeting on Oct. 18, 2022, in Springfield, 7-3. McLinskey picked up his first three goals as a Crusader in the matchup, with Ricketts scoring twice and DeBoer scoring once. In their second meeting on Nov. 15, 2022, also in Springfield, AIC took the contest, 4-1

 
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