The 2024–25 Holy Cross Crusaders men's ice hockey season was the 59th season of play for the program, the 27th at the Division I level and the 1st in Atlantic Hockey America. The Crusaders represented the College of the Holy Cross, played their home games at the Hart Center and were coached by Bill Riga in his 4th season.
Season At the start of the season, Holy Cross had difficulty getting their offense in gear. Despite being led by All-American, Liam McLinskey, the Crusaders were wildly inconsistent in finding the back of the net. Evan with Thomas Gale giving the team a solid performance in goal, the club wasted several opportunities for wins in the first month and a half and found themselves under water around Thanksgiving. However, in the latter part of November the Crusaders began to find their game and finally were able to string a few good games together. A four game streak allowed the team to head into the winter break with a .500 record and decent chance at a conference title.
Holy Cross kicked off the second half of its season by losing three in a row. On a positive note, because all of those matches were against non-conference opponents, it did harm their chances at a league championship. On the other hand, it dropped the team record to 1–7 outside Atlantic Hockey America and left little chance for Holy Cross to earn an at-large bid. Knowing that their only shot at the tournament came with a tournament victory, Holy Cross raised their effort in the second half and went on a tear through league play. The Crusaders went undefeated over a 12-game span and were scoring in bunches, completely bowling over their opponents in many of those matches. Not only was the defense limiting the opposition to less than 2 goals on average but the offense was filling the net with an avalanche of pucks. McLinskey, led the team with 25 points in that stretch and was aided by much improved play by linemates Devin Phillips and Jack Stockfish. The extended winning streak placed the team atop the standings and kept them there until the end of the regular season, giving Holy Cross its first conference title in 19 years.
As the top-seeded team, Holy Cross received a bye into the quarterfinal round and began its postseason against a seemingly disheartened American International club. With the final conference games being played between the two, AIC pulled off a stunning upset in the first game when they built a 3-goal lead and were able to hold off the Crusaders despite being outshot 36–19. Emboldened by their victory, the Yellow Jackets overcame an early Holy Cross lead to tie the match in the second. Gale faced a barrage of shots in the middle frame and held his net to stop American International from pulling into the lead. The Crusaders finally woke up in the third and took over the match, controlling the puck for long stretched before Stockfish was able to score the winning goal with less than 4 minutes to play and send the series to a deciding third game. Special teams played a critical role in the final contest with both sides scoring two power play markers and Holy Cross adding another on the penalty kill. Despite a heavy shot advantage again, the Crusaders were unable to get the winning tally in regulation and the match headed into overtime. The extra session wasn't even a minutes old when McLinskey found Michael Abgrall streaking into the offensive zone and the junior forward found the top corner of the net to send Holy Cross into the semifinals.
The next round saw a surprisingly strong performance from Army that pushed Holy Cross to the brink. Gale was again called upon to save the Crusaders and make 44 saves is regulation just to allow the teams to head into overtime. This time it took Holy Cross just over 3 minutes to find the winning goal when Phillips found the twine. The win buoyed Holy Cross and the team came out firing in game two; the Crusaders scored the first four goals of the match, and built an unassailable lead that was capped off by an empty-netter from McLinskey. The senior forward had three points in the game and became just the second Crusader to score 50 points in a season at the Division I level.
For the league championship, Holy Cross faced off against Bentley and used the teams strong power play to build a 2-goal edge in the first period. The Falcons responded by attacking the Holy Cross net in the second but, unline the previous games, Gale was unable to stem the tide. Bentley scored three goals in the middle period and the Crusaders suddenly found themselves trailing. A third power play tally in the final period tied the game which had the side effect of McLinskey tying the single-season program record for points with 54, but the defense collapsed under the weight of the Falcons attack. Holy Cross allowed 3 more goals in the final 11 minutes to see a golden opportunity at a tournament appearance vanish before their eyes.
Departures Alec Cicero Forward Graduate transfer to Canisius Tyler Ghirardosi Forward Graduate transfer to Sacred Heart Jason Grande Goaltender Graduation (signed with Springfield Thunderbirds) Matthew Guerra Forward Graduate transfer to Sacred Heart Jake Higgins Defenseman Graduate transfer to Northeastern Jack Ricketts Forward Graduate transfer to Quinnipiac Jack Robilotti Defenseman Graduate transfer to Massachusetts Lowell Charlie Spence Defenseman Left program (retired) Lucas Thorne Forward Graduation (retired)
Recruiting Michael Abgrall Forward 20 Richmond, BC; transfer from Omaha Ryan Buckley Defenseman 20 Warwick, RI Anthony Carone Forward 21 Pittsburgh, PA Lachlan Getz Defenseman 22 Northfield, IL; transfer from Michigan Tech Timothy Heinke Forward 22 Kensington, CT; transfer from Quinnipiac Owen Kim Forward 20 North Vancouver, BC Malachi Klassen Goaltender 21 Winkler, MB Matt Kursonis Forward 20 Worcester, MA Ben LeFranc Defenseman 21 Penticton, BC Edward Moskowitz Forward 21 Toronto, ON Jarrod Smith Forward 20 West Vancouver, BC
Roster As of August 12, 2024.
Standings
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
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Scoring statistics F 40 24 30 54 18 F 34 11 20 31 6 W 40 11 20 31 46 D 36 3 26 29 4 C 36 15 12 27 30 C/LW 27 10 15 25 14 C 40 8 17 25 56 RW 39 12 7 19 24 RW 34 7 12 19 34 F 37 7 10 17 10 F 33 4 9 13 26 D 32 5 7 12 16 D 28 1 8 9 8 D 27 1 7 8 54 D 39 1 7 8 40 D 38 0 8 8 32 F 26 3 4 7 39 C 32 1 5 6 12 F 25 3 1 4 2 D 31 2 2 4 0 F 33 0 3 3 8 D 22 1 0 1 2 LW 7 0 1 1 0 D 14 0 1 1 4 F 14 0 1 1 8 G 1 0 0 0 10 G 1 0 0 0 10 G 39 0 0 0 0 Bench – – – – – 10 Total 130 233 363 503
Goaltending statistics 39 2324:39 24 13 2 83 1056 2 .927 2.14 1 19:45 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 3.04 1 60:33 0 1 0 4 18 0 .818 3.96 Empty Net - 21:40 - - - 6 - - - - Total 40 2426:37 24 14 2 94 1074 2 .920 2.32
Rankings
PollWeekPre 1 23456789101112131415161718192021222324252627 (Final) USCHO.comNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR-NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRRV20тRV19RV-RV USA HockeyNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR-NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRRV20RVRVRVRVRV Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 12 or 26.Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.
Awards and honors Liam McLinskey AHCA All-American East Second Team Liam McLinskey Atlantic Hockey America Player of the Year Liam McLinskey Atlantic Hockey America Forward of the Year Thomas Gale Atlantic Hockey America Goaltender of the Year Bill Riga Atlantic Hockey America Coach of the Year Thomas GaleAll-Atlantic Hockey America First Team Liam McLinskey Mack Oliphant All-Atlantic Hockey America Second Team Devin Phillips All-Atlantic Hockey America Third Team Matt Kursonis Atlantic Hockey America All-Rookie Team Liam McLinskey Atlantic Hockey America All-Tournament Team
References