WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross men's ice hockey team defeated Army, 5-1, Saturday night in game two of the Atlantic Hockey semifinals in front of a packed Hart Center Rink to earn a spot and the right to host the Atlantic Hockey Championship game next weekend.
Holy Cross moves to 24-13-2 on the season with win, while Army finishes their season at 16-20-2.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Freshman Matt Kursonis opened the scoring with 9:09 to play in the first period on the power play. Grabbing a pass across by junior Matt DeBoer, Kursonis unleashed a wrist shot into the back of the net for the score.
- Junior Michael Abgrall extended the lead to 2-0 four minutes later, finishing off a give-and-go in front of the net with senior John Gelatt by sending the puck into the back of the open net.
- Junior Jack Seymour scored the Crusaders' third goal of the game just under seven minutes into the second period, picking up a pass from DeBoer and sending it past the outstretched Army netminder.
- Sophomore Ty Gagno picked up his first career shorthanded goal, grabbing a backhand pass from Abgrall and sending it into the top corner of the net for the 4-0 lead.
- Army netted their first and only goal of the game with 1:27 to play in the middle period.
- Senior Liam McLinskey forced a turnover at the defensive blue line and found the empty net to solidify the Crusader win at 5-1.
BEYOND THE BOX:
- Senior Thomas Gale recorded 29 saves in the contest, extending the Holy Cross single-season victories record to 24.
- With his three points tonight, McLinskey became the first Crusader to hit the 50-point mark in a season since Tyler McGregor in the 2005-06 season.
UP NEXT:
- Holy Cross will host No. 3 seed Bentley in the Atlantic Hockey Championship on Saturday, March 22 at 7 p.m. at the Hart Center Rink.
FOLLOW THE CRUSADERS
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