WORCESTER, Mass. - The Holy Cross men's ice hockey team will continue its quest for an Atlantic Hockey Championship when it hosts no. 5 seeded AIC for the semifinal round this weekend. The best-of-three series is set for Friday, March 15, Saturday, March 16, and, if necessary, Sunday, March 17 at the Hart Center Rink.
Friday and Saturday's matchups are set for 7 p.m., with the if needed tie-breaking game on Sunday at 5 p.m. All three games will be broadcast on FloSports.
Holy Cross finished the regular season with a 18-12-4 overall record, while going 13-10-3 in conference play, good for the no. 2 seed in the Atlantic Hockey tournament. The Crusaders have won nine of their last ten games, sweeping no. eight-seed Canisius in the quarterfinal round last weekend, taking game one on Friday, 4-3, before taking game two in double overtime, 2-1.
The Crusaders benefitted from 11 different points-getters over the two games - including six different goal scorers. Senior
Jack Ricketts, junior
Liam McLinskey, sophomore
Jack Seymour, and freshman
Jack Stockfish recorded multi-point weekends. Senior netminder
Jason Grande earned Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week honors following the series, thanks to his 63 save performance over the two wins.
McLinskey's four-point weekend extended his team and league lead in points with 44 so far this season. His 28 assists also lead the Crusaders. With his goal on Friday, Ricketts is now tied for the Atlantic Hockey lead in goals with 19. Grande holds a team-best 12-4-2 record and a league-leading 2.01 goals-against average and .930 save percentage.
AIC finished the regular season with a 16-14-4 overall record with a 12-10-4 conference record, good for the no. 5 seed in the Atlantic Hockey tournament. The Yellowjackets swept Air Force, 3-1, 3-2 (in overtime) to move on to the semifinal round.
AIC is led on offense by Dustin Manz, who has recorded a team-leading 30 points this season. Netminder Nils Wallstrom holds a team-best 17-10-2 record, 2.34 goals-against average, and .916 save percentage.
The Crusaders enter the matchup 11-3-1 against Atlantic Hockey opponents since the turn of the calendar, while the Yellowjackets went 6-6-4 in the same frame.
All time, Holy Cross is 61-41-12 against AIC. The two teams have met four times this season, in which AIC held the edge, 2-1-1. In November, AIC swept the home-and-home set, 4-1, 3-2. When the two teams met in early January, game one went to a shootout after a 3-3 tie, with AIC picking up the extra point. The next night, in Worcester, Holy Cross won by a commanding 6-2 score.
The two teams have met five times in the postseason. The Crusaders hold the edge in the all-time series, 6-1, with the lone loss coming in last year's Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinal Round in Springfield. In playoff games at the Hart Center against the Yellowjackets, Holy Cross is 3-0.
The winner of the series will move on to the AHA Championship game next Saturday, March 23.
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