ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Holy Cross men's ice hockey team fell to No. 20 RIT, 4-3 in overtime, Saturday night at the Gene Polisseni Center.
 
The Tigers got on the board first halfway through the first period on a power play goal by Cody Laskosky.
 
Freshman Devin Phillips responded with a goal of his own at the 10:40 mark of the second period to tie the game at 1-1. Junior Jake Higgins sent a shot towards RIT netminder Tommy Scarfone that Phillips was able to redirect for the goal. The tie would not last long as Carter Wilkie took the lead back for the Tigers just under two minutes later.
 
The Crusaders were able to draw back-to-back penalties with 5:33 and 4:46 remaining, respectively, to give themselves a 5-on-3 opportunity. Sophomore Liam McLinskey continued his magical March during the two power play opportunities, scoring two goals in a 26 second span.
 
The first goal, at the 4:32 mark, saw McLinskey tap the puck into a wide-open net. Junior Tyler Ghirardosi passed the puck down to senior Alex Peterson, which drew the three defenders to the right side of the net. Peterson made a quick pass to junior Matt Guerra who bumped the puck over to an unmarked McLinskey for the easy goal.
 
McLinskey's second goal, at 4:06, came off a scrum in front of the net. Guerra sent the puck in towards Scarfone. The puck trickled by him but was batted out by the RIT defense. Ghirardosi found the open puck, bumping it to McLinskey, who lifted it past the out-of-position Scarfone.
 
The two goals marked the seventh and eighth of the tournament for McLinskey, tying and breaking the record for most goals in an AHA tournament, last set by AIC's Blake Bennett in the 2022 tournament.
 
RIT tied the game at 3-3 with 1:18 remaining in the second period on a strike by Gianfranco Cassaro. Both teams failed to score in the third period, sending the two teams to overtime for the second night in a row. RIT's Elijah Gonsalves was the hero in overtime, scoring with 11:51 remaining in the extra frame.

Junior netminder Jason Grande recorded a 37 saves in the loss, bringing him to a two-game total of 77. Scarfone posted 24 in the win.
 
The two teams will meet again tomorrow, Sunday, March 12, at 5:05 p.m. for a winner-take-all game three.
 
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