Holy Cross defeats Air Force, 5-2

WORCESTER, Mass. – Holy Cross forward Tyler Ghirardosi scored with 5:00 left and the Crusaders added two empty-netters for a 5-2 win over Air Force in an Atlantic Hockey game Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Hart Center in Worcester, Mass. The Crusaders swept the series as Ghirardosi scored the game-winner in both games.

Holy Cross (16-11-4, 11-9-3 AHA) opened the scoring midway through the first period. The Crusaders won a faceoff in the offensive zone and a shot by Matt Shatsky was blocked in front. Lucas Thorne collected the loose puck and scored with a wrister from the slot at 12:17.

Air Force (14-15-1, 11-8-1 AHA) tied the game on the power play after Luke Rowe drew a penalty. Freshman defensemen Will Staring and Owen Baumgartner started the play in their own and Andrew DeCarlo gained the zone. DeCarlo skated into the high slot and snapped a wrister for his first power-play goal of the season at 9:21.
Baumgartner nearly gave the Falcons the lead when his wrister from the high slot went off the cross bar with six minutes left in the second. The Crusaders regained the lead with 27 seconds left in the second on a power-play goal from Jack Stockfish.

Late in the third period, the Falcons tied the game. Brendan Gibbons slid the puck to Nick Remissong at the right point. Remissong's shot was tipped in by Owen Dubois to tie the game with his fourth of the season at 13:13. With five minutes left, Ghirardosi scored with a wrister from the slot for a 3-2 lead. In the final two minutes, Liam McClinskey and Ghirardosi scored empty-net goals.

Holy Cross outshot Air Force, 34-33. The Falcons were 1-for-3 on the power play while HC was 1-for-4. Guy Blessing made 29 for the Falcons. Jason Grande finished with 31 for the Crusaders.

"This was a hard-fought game and a hard-fought series," head coach Frank Serratore said. "We were chasing the scoreboard and just could never get on the good side of that one. Give them credit. They found a way to get it done. They made the plays when they needed to and we didn't. We need to approach every game the rest of the way like a playoff game and figure out a way to get on the right side of these games. We'll regroup and be ready for next week."

Air Force returns home to host Sacred Heart for a pair of conference games, Feb. 9-10, at the Cadet Ice Arena.

--30--

Footer

The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the u.s air force of non-u.s. government sites or the information, products, or services contained therein. Although the u.s. air force may or may not use these sites as additional distribution channels for department of defense information, it does not exercise editorial control over all of the information that you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this website.

Next Event

Team Stats

Owen Dubois

Andrew DeCarlo

Brendan Gibbons

Owen Baumgartner

Players Mentioned

Owen Baumgartner

Guy Blessing

Andrew DeCarlo

Owen Dubois

Brendan Gibbons

Nick Remissong

Luke Rowe

Will Staring

Footer