WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross men's ice hockey team is set to return to Atlantic Hockey play when it welcomes AIC for a two-game series on Thursday, Nov. 7 and Friday, Nov. 8 at the Hart Center Rink. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. and will stream live on FloHockey, while Friday's game will also air on NESN+.

THE CRUSADERS (3-6-0, 2-2-0 AHA):

• Holy Cross enters the weekend following its first weekend sweep of the season at the hands of then-no. 20/19 UMass Lowell and then-no.14/13 Quinnipiac.
• On Friday against UMass Lowell, the Crusaders fell in overtime, 5-4. On Saturday against Quinnipiac, the Crusaders were shutout, 3-0.
• Junior Timothy Heinke netted two goals on Friday, while senior Matt Shatsky picxked up two assists. Six other Crusaders also picked up a point in the matchup.
• Senior Thomas Gale recorded 35 saves on Friday night, following up the performance with 33 saves on Saturday. The two games marked his fourth and fifth 30+ save performances in his nine starts this season.
• Prior to Friday's matchup, Gale was announced as the Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Month for October. In seven games, Gale held opponents to three or fewer goals in six of the Crusaders' games in the month. Gale's then-season high 34 saves came in the Crusaders' 4-3 win over UConn on Oct. 11, and he posted 25+ saves in five of the seven matchups.
• Through the first month of the season, Gale posted a 3-4-0 record with a 2.47 goals-against average and .918 save percentage and boasted a 1.78 goals-against average and .935 save percentage in conference play.
• Holy Cross' kill percentage of 88.9% is good for 15th in the country, posting a 32-for-36 mark.
• On the other side, the Crusaders have converted on 18.8% of their power play opportunities, which ranks 28th nationally.
• Junior Matt DeBoer leads the Crusaders in points through the first nine games of the season with seven, while juniors Michael Abgrall and Jack Seymour are close behind with six each. Sophomore Ty Gagno leads the squad with 13 blocked shots.

SCOUTING AIC (1-5-1, 1-1-0 AHA):

• AIC enters the contest with a 1-5-1 record and a 1-1-0 Atlantic Hockey record.
• Sporting a difficult schedule to open their season, AIC's first seven games came against then-no. 12 Maine, RV Ohio State, then-no. 2 Boston College, and then-no. 17 UMass.
• AIC returns 17 players from last season's roster, adding eight freshmen and seven transfers. With an average age of 22.6 years old, AIC is tied for the 29th-oldest team in Division I hockey this season.
• Junior forward John Lundy leads the Yellowjackets with five points through seven games. Juniors Josh Barnes and Timofei Khokhlachev lead the team with three goals apiece.

ALL TIME SERIES:

• The two teams have met 117 times, with the Crusaders leading the all-time series, 62-43-12.
• The two teams met for seven games over three series' last season, racking up four games in the regular season and three in the Atlantic Hockey Semifinal Round. The Crusaders finished the 2023-24 season with a 2-4-1 record against the Yellowjackets.
• Ten current Crusaders recorded at least one point over the seven games last season, led by seniors Liam McLinskey and John Gelatt who posted five points each.
• Senior Thomas Gale played the four regular season games against AIC, recording 110 saves over the four matchups.

FOLLOW THE CRUSADERS 
Be sure to follow the Holy Cross men's ice hockey team — and all things Crusader Athletics — on social media!
Twitter - @HCrossMHockey | @goholycross
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