WORCESTER, Mass. – Men's ice hockey defeated Sacred Heart, 5-1, Friday night at the Hart Center Rink. With the win, Holy Cross moves to 17-11-4 (12-9-3 Atlantic Hockey), while Sacred Heart falls to 14-16-2 (11-10-3 Atlantic Hockey).
 
Prior to the matchup, the Crusaders celebrated their eight-man senior class comprised of Jack Robilotti, Jake Higgins, Matt Guerra, Jack Ricketts, Alec Cicero, Lucas Thorne, Jason Grande, and Tyler Ghirardosi.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Junior Liam McLinskey got the Crusaders on the board just over four minutes into the contest. Forcing a turnover at the offensive blue line, sophomore Jack Seymour stripped the puck off the stick of a Sacred Heart defender, making a quick drop pass to McLinskey streaking into the zone. McLinskey hesitated, drawing a Sacred Heart defender to screen the goalie unknowingly, before unleashing a wrist shot into the top of the net.
• Senior Tyler Ghirardosi extended the Holy Cross lead to 2-0 at the 10:50 mark of the period. Chasing down the loose puck along the boards, Guerra made a quick pass to sophomore Matt DeBoer. Battling in front of the goalkeeper, Ghirardosi tapped the pass from DeBoer back to him beside the net, creating space for a quick pass back and lifted shot into the back of the net.
• DeBoer scored a goal of his own with 4:01 remaining to give the Crusaders the 3-0 lead going into the intermission. Junior John Gelatt won the faceoff back where DeBoer knocked the puck off a Sacred Heart stick to give himself an open lane to net for the quick wrist shot that went bar down behind the netminder.
• Seymour opened the scoring for both sides in the second period, capping off a perfectly executed three-man breakout on the four-on-four opportunity 5:21 into the frame. Forcing a turnover in the defensive zone, Holy Cross found themselves in a 3v2 situation on the breakout. Oliphant carried the puck up the ice, drawing one of the defenders, before sending a pass to the middle of the ice to Higgins. Higgins drew the last defender before pulling the puck around his stick, finding Seymour on the left side for the wide-open shot.
• McLinskey picked up his second of the game to extend the Crusaders' lead to 5-0 with 1:25 remaining in the middle frame. Robilotti found McLinskey in the defensive zone, where he passed the puck across the blue line to an open freshman Ty Gagno. Gagno carried the puck up the ice, drawing a pair of defenders, before dropping a pass back to an oncoming McLinskey. McLinskey picked up the puck and promptly unleashed a wrist shot into the opposite side of the net.
• Sacred Heart picked up their lone goal of the night with 7.9 seconds remaining in regulation.

 
BEYOND THE BOX:

• Senior Jason Grande recorded 30 saves in his 59:51 minutes of work, allowing just one goal. The Sacred Heart tandem of Justin Robbins and Cullen DeYoung recorded a combined 24 saves.
• The Crusaders extended their win streak to six games and have outscored opponents 31-13 over the stretch. The last time that Holy Cross won six straight was in the 2011-2012 season.

 
UP NEXT:

• The two teams will meet again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Martire Family Arena in Fairfield, Conn.

 
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