The 2025–26 Holy Cross Crusaders men's ice hockey season was the 60th season of play for the program, the 28th at the Division I level and the 2nd in Atlantic Hockey America. The Crusaders represented the College of the Holy Cross in the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at the Hart Center and were coached by Bill Riga in his 5th season.

Season After the departure of the best player in program history (Liam McLinskey) as well as the team's starting goaltender, Holy Cross was all but guaranteed to take a step back this season. Louden Hogg got a turn as the starter early in the year but his appearances largely resulted in missed opportunities. The two incoming netminders both fell flat in their first outings but came around during their second appearances. By November, Connor Mackenzie and Danick Leroux were rotating starts and the team appeared to right itself, going nine games without a loss. The veteran lineup was able to take advantage of the opportunities they received once the Crusaders got a stretch of competent goaltending. Jack Stockfish quickly established himself as the offensive leader and, though he could not replicate the numbers McLinskey put up, he was nonetheless able to keep Holy Cross competitive in most of its matches.

After new year's, the team entered a skid that saw them win just once over an 8-game span. During that time, Leroux took over as the primary netminder but it was the lack of depth scoring that proved to be the Crusaders' downfall. The team was able to pull out of its tailspin by the end of January but they could only manage an even record over the final month of the regular season. The losses ended any chance of Holy Cross defending its conference title but they were just able to hold on to a home stand for the quarterfinal round.

RIT proved to be a tough out for Holy Cross, pushing the Crusaders to the brink in two overtime games. Fortunately, Stockfish came through in the clutch and had a hand in both winning goals. Holy Cross ten took on the league champions, Bentley, and were nearly able to pull off an upset in the first game. Twice leading in the third period, the Crusaders saw their hopes dashed when the Falcons netted the winning goal in the latter stages of the first overtime. Unfortunately, three consecutive overtime games proved a bit too much for the Crusaders and they were unable to conjure up any scoring in the rematch and their season came to a close.

Departures Thomas Gale Goaltender Graduation (signed with Wheeling Nailers) John Gelatt Forward Graduation (signed with Utah Grizzlies) Michael Hodge Forward Graduation (signed with EC Lauterbach 2012) Malachi Klassen Goaltender Left program (retired) Liam McLinskey Forward Graduation (signed with Charlotte Checkers) Edward Moskowitz Forward Transferred to Middlebury Nic Petruolo Defenseman Graduation (retired) Mathew Shatsky Defenseman Graduation (retired)

Recruiting Anthony Biakabutuka Defenseman 19 Longueuil, QC Anthony Carone Forward 22 Pittsburgh, PA; joined mid-season Noah Eyre Forward 21 Vienna, VA; transfer from Quinnipiac David Hymovitch Forward 22 Phoenix, AZ; transfer from Arizona State Owain Johnston Defenseman 21 Toronto, ON; transfer from St. Francis Xavier Danick Leroux Goaltender 20 Candiac, QC Connor Mackenzie Goaltender 23 Toronto, ON; transfer from Vermont Quinn McCall Defenseman 20 St. John, IN Will Reardon Forward 21 Philadelphia, PA Dax Williams Defenseman 20 Calgary, AB

Roster As of August 11, 2025.

Standings

Schedule and results

!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season

!colspan=12 style=";" |

Scoring statistics C 38 14 21 35 30 C 37 11 12 23 58 W 32 12 10 22 26 C/LW 31 6 15 21 30 F 33 8 12 20 24 F 23 6 13 19 0 D 38 2 16 18 6 RW 38 9 8 17 51 F 37 6 11 17 22 D 38 5 12 17 10 F 36 8 8 16 15 RW 38 5 11 16 48 F 35 5 7 12 24 D 37 2 8 10 16 D 38 2 8 10 88 F 31 4 4 8 6 D 38 4 4 8 30 D 35 2 5 7 4 D 32 0 5 5 50 F 18 1 2 3 8 F 11 1 1 2 0 C 13 0 2 2 27 D 15 0 2 2 0 F 1 0 0 0 0 D 1 0 0 0 0 D 1 0 0 0 0 D 1 0 0 0 0 G 9 0 0 0 0 G 12 0 0 0 0 G 22 0 0 0 0 Bench – – – – – 10 Total 113 197 310 560

Goaltending statistics 23 1301:05 12 9 1 56 552 2 .908 2.58 12 616:25 5 4 1 32 261 0 .891 3.11 10 395:07 1 5 0 21 164 1 .886 3.19 Empty Net - 14:31 - - - 7 - - - - Total 38 2327:08 18 18 2 116 977 3 .894 2.99

Rankings

PollWeekPre 1 23456789101112131415161718192021222324252627 (Final) USCHO.comRVNRNRNRNRNRRVRVRVRVRVRV–RVRVNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR USA HockeyNRNRNRNRNRNRRVNRRVNRRVRV–RVNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR Note: USCHO did not release a poll in week 12.Note: USA Hockey did not release a poll in week 12.

References