The Holy Cross men's ice hockey team will open the Atlantic Hockey Association Tournament when it travels to American International College for the quarterfinal round. The best-of-three is set for Friday, March 3, Saturday, March 4, and, if necessary, Sunday, March 5 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass. The games between the Crusaders and Yellowjackets are set for 1:05 p.m. and will stream live on FloHockey. 

Holy Cross finished the regular season with a 13-18-3 overall record, while going 12-12-2 in the AHA, good for the No. 7 seed in the AHA tournament. The Crusaders have won six of their last nine games, while going 5-3 in the month of February alone. 

Junior Jack Ricketts has led the team in goals (15), assists (16) and points (31). Junior netminder Jason Grande holds a team-best 8-4-1 record, while sophomore Thomas Gale finished the regular season with a .902 save percentage and 2.61 goals-against average.

AIC finished the regular season with a 17-12-7 overall record with a 14-8-4 conference record, good for the No. 2 seed in the AHA tournament after going 4-2-2 in the final month of the regular season.

The Yellowjackets are led on offense by Blake Bennett, who carries 20 goals and 32 points into the playoff series. Netminder Alexandros Aslanidis holds a team-best 8-3-1 record, 2.14 goals-against average, and .923 save percentage.

The Crusaders enter the matchup 10-5-2 against AHA opponents since December, while the Yellowjackets went 9-3-3 in the same frame.

All time, the Crusaders are 58-38-11 against the Yellowjackets. The teams split the two meetings this season, with Holy Cross taking the October meeting in Springfield, 7-3, and AIC taking the November meeting, 4-1. Despite the commanding lead in the all-time series, the Crusaders are 2-8 in the last ten meetings between the two teams.

The winner of the series will move on to the AHA semifinals next weekend, March 10-12.

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