WALTHAM, Mass. — The Holy Cross men's ice hockey team defeated Bentley University, 3-2 in overtime, in Atlantic Hockey Association action Saturday afternoon at Bentley Arena.
 
Holy Cross improves to 10-15-3 (9-9-2 AHA), while the Falcons fall to 8-19-1 (5-14-1 AHA).

THE GOALTENDERS:

• Crusaders: sophomore Thomas Gale – 3-9-2, 15 saves, .882 save percentage.
• Falcons: Connor Hasley – 3-10-1, 37 saves, .925 save percentage.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Junior Lucas Thorne opened the scoring for the Crusaders with 7:29 remaining in the first. Thorne won the offensive zone face off back to junior Alec Cicero, who, after a short pass to junior Jack Ricketts, created a lane for a shot in, which Thorne tipped past Hasley for the power play goal.
• Bentley tied the game at 1-1 on a strike by Arlo Merritt halfway through the second period.
• After a battle on the boards, sophomore Liam McLinskey dropped the puck back to senior Nick Hale at the blue line. Hale sent a pass to freshman Devin Phillips on the left side of the net, who sent a pass across to a streaking McLinskey. McLinskey's shot went wide of the net but took a perfect bounce off the end boards, finding Phillips' stick, who was able to jam it past Hasley to take a 2-1 lead with 11:59 remaining in the third period.
• Bentley tied the game at 2-2 on a power play goal with 3:03 remaining in the game.
• Ricketts was the hero once again in overtime this week. Junior Jack Robilotti tipped a shot by Bentley that Ricketts poked away at the defensive blue line before out-skating the defense to send the puck through Hasley to secure the win.

 
BEYOND THE BOX:

• The Crusaders penalty kill unit went 22-for-23 over the last seven games, allowing only 19 shots in those 23 opportunities.
• Holy Cross is now 8-1-1 when Ricketts scores a goal.
• This was the fourth game in the last 11 meetings between the Crusaders and Falcons that was decided in overtime.

 
UP NEXT:

• Holy Cross will head to West Point, N.Y. for a two-game set with Army on Friday, Feb. 10, and Saturday Feb. 11.
• Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on Friday, and 4 p.m. on Saturday.

 
FOLLOW THE CRUSADERS 
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