WORCESTER, Mass. – The RIT Men's Hockey team lost a 2-1 overtime decision at Holy Cross in Game of the best-of-three Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) Quarterfinals, Friday.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Scoreless through two periods, RIT converted a 5-on-3 power play goal 2:24 into the third following Crusader tripping and holding penalties within a 25-second span. Junior forward
Christian Catalano faked a shot in the right faceoff circle before crossing a puck to first-year forward
Zach Wigle at the opposite dot. Wigle scored on a wrist shot over Crusader goaltender Daick Leroux's outstretched blocker.
Holy Cross scored a power play goal with 52.9 left in regulation after the Tigers were whistled for holding with 1:30 on the clock. Pulling Leroux for a 6-on-4 advantage, the Crusaders scored at the end of flurry after a puck deflected out to the slot for a wrist shot through traffic by Noah Eyre
Holy Cross scored the game-winning goal at 9:06 of overtime. Jack Stockfish dug a puck off the end boards to Devin Phillips in the right faceoff circle, who slid a puck to William Elias at the top of the slot. Elias took a one-timer that scored past a screened Krbecek.
GAME NOTES
- Making his first career postseason start, Krbecek totaled 42 saves, including 16 in the third period, for his fourth career 40-plus save effort.
- Holy Cross finished with a 44-34 advantage in shots on goal.
- RIT ended the night 1-for-3 on the power play while HC was 1-for-5.
- Wigle notched his team-leading 24th point of the season while Catalano added his 22nd.
- Senior defenseman Xavier Lapointe was also credited with a secondary assist on the Tigers' goal.
WHAT'S NEXT
The fifth-seeded Tigers and fourth-seeded Crusaders square off in game-two of the best-of-three series on Saturday (Mar. 7) at 7:02 pm.
