WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross men's ice hockey team defeated Robert Morris, 4-1, Friday night at the Hart Center Rink.
 
With the win, Holy Cross improves to 9-11-1 (8-4-1 AHA), while Robert Morris moves to 8-10-2 (5-6-1) with the loss.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the opening period, though Robert Morris held the slight edge in shots, 11-7.
• Junior Timothy Heinke got the Crusaders on the board with 5:09 remaining in the second period. Carrying the puck into the zone, junior Michael Abgrall found Heinke for the short pass through traffic, which Heinke carried to the faceoff dot before unleashing a wrist shot past the Colonials netminder.
• Robert Morris tied the game at 1-1 with 3:06 remaining in the third period.
• With 1:08 remaining in the third, junior Devin Phillips gave the Crusaders the 2-1 lead with what would stand as the game-winning goal. Abgrall sent the puck into the zone from the blue line, finding senior Liam McLinskey against the end boards. McLinskey found Phillips streaking in towards the goal unmanned and sent him a slip pass which he lifted into the top of the net for the score.
• McLinskey wasted no time getting a goal of his own, finding the back of the net just seven seconds after he assisted on Phillips' goal. Senior John Gelatt won the faceoff back to junior Lachlan Getz, who carried the puck to the blue line before finding McLinskey for the pass. McLinskey carried the puck to the faceoff dot before sending a wrist shot onto net that found its way through the Robert Morris netminder.
• With 34 seconds remaining in regulation, the Colonials pulled their netminder in favor of the extra skater. Gelatt and Getz forced the Colonials to turn the puck over behind the net, Gelatt sent the free puck to senior Nic Petruolo who was open along the end wall, who then fired the puck the length of the ice into the open net to cement the Crusader win at 4-1.

 
BEYOND THE BOX:

• Senior Thomas Gale recorded 23 saves in the win.
• The Crusaders two goals in a seven second span in the third period were the fastest consecutive goals in program history. The previous program record of nine seconds was achieved on Jan. 25, 2002 against Sacred Heart.
• The Holy Cross penalty kill unit successfully killed all three of the Robert Morris opportunities, holding the Colonials to just one shot over the six minutes that they were on the man advantage.

 
UP NEXT:

• The two teams will faceoff again tomorrow night, Saturday, Jan. 11 at 6 p.m.

 
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