# 2020–21 Holy Cross Crusaders men's ice hockey season

The 2020–21 Holy Cross Crusaders men's ice hockey season was the 55th season of play for the program, the 23rd at the Division I level, and the 18th season in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Crusaders represented the College of the Holy Cross and were coached by David Berard, in his 7th season.
The start of the college hockey season was delayed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As a result, Holy Cross's first scheduled game was in mid-November as opposed to early-October, which was the norm.

## Season

Despite several COVID-related changes to the schedule, Holy Cross began the season well, winning 4 of their first 6 games and sat near the top of the conference in early December with a 4–1 mark in Atlantic Hockey play. The team added a series against Quinnipiac just before Christmas and the two losses seemed to reverse the Crusaders' fortunes. Holy Cross lost all of their remaining games with the offense being dormant for most of those contests. In their final 10 matches, Holy Cross scored just 10 goals and were shut out 4 times. With their schedule being rearranged in February, the Crusaders played only two games in the entire month and sat at the bottom of their conference when the Atlantic Hockey tournament was set to begin.
Four days before they were to play Sacred Heart in the first round, Holy Cross received a positive Covid test and immediately suspended all team activities. This caused the team to withdraw from the conference tournament and cancel the remainder of their season.
Erkka Vänskä sat out for the season.

## Departures

| Player | Position | Nationality | Cause |
| Charlie Barrow | Defenseman | United States | Graduation |
| Will Brophy | Defenseman | United States | Graduation |
| Beau Collins | Goaltender | United States | Graduation |
| Kevin Darrar | Forward | United States | Graduation |
| Christian Hayes | Forward | United States | Transferred to Trinity |
| Patrick O'Leary | Defenseman | United States | Graduation |
| Neil Robinson | Forward | Canada | Graduation |
| Dalton Skelly | Defenseman | United States | Graduation (Signed with Knoxville Ice Bears) |
| Jack Surowiec | Forward | United States | Graduation |

## Recruiting

| Player | Position | Nationality | Age | Notes |
| Alec Cicero | Forward | United States | 19 | Buffalo, NY |
| Jake Higgins | Defenseman | United States | 19 | Hingham, MA |
| Michael Kane | Forward | United States | 20 | Guilford, CT |
| Jack MacNab | Forward | United States | 22 | Indianapolis, IN; transfer from Notre Dame |
| Ryan Pineault | Defenseman | United States | 19 | Glastonbury, CT |
| Jack Ricketts | Forward | Canada | 21 | Oakville, ON |
| Jack Robilotti | Defenseman | United States | 19 | New York, NY |
| Lucas Thorne | Forward | Canada | 21 | Dunnville, ON |

## Roster

As of August 31, 2020.

## Standings

2020–21 Atlantic Hockey Standingsvte :
| | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record |
| | GP | W | L | T | OW | OL | SW | PTS | PT% | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #15 American International †* | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 32 | .889 | 47 | 18 | 19 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 67 | 40 |
| Army | 15 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 30 | .667 | 42 | 33 | 22 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 71 | 48 |
| Robert Morris | 15 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 29 | .644 | 58 | 48 | 24 | 15 | 9 | 0 | 85 | 69 |
| Canisius | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 24 | .615 | 42 | 34 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 59 | 46 |
| RIT | 13 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | .590 | 43 | 40 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 68 | 70 |
| Sacred Heart | 13 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 20 | .513 | 35 | 38 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 43 | 59 |
| Mercyhurst | 16 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 23 | .479 | 54 | 50 | 21 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 64 | 67 |
| Bentley | 15 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 16 | .356 | 35 | 48 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 42 | 51 |
| Niagara | 15 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 15 | .333 | 39 | 53 | 22 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 57 | 70 |
| Air Force | 13 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | .231 | 32 | 49 | 14 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 35 | 56 |
| Holy Cross | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | .194 | 22 | 38 | 16 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 30 | 52 |
| Championship: March 20, 2021 † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion (Riley Trophy) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll |||||||||||||||||||

## Schedule and Results

| Date | Time | Opponent$^#$ | Site | Decision | Result | Attendance | Record |
| Regular Season ||||||||||
| November 19 | 10:37 AM | vs. Long Island* | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts | Radomsky | L 2–3 $^{OT}$ | 0 | 0–1–0 |
| November 22 | 4:00 PM | vs. Long Island* | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts | Gordon | W 5–2 | 0 | 1–1–0 |
| December 1 | 6:30 PM | at Bentley | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | Gordon | W 2–1 $^{OT}$ | 0 | 2–1–0 (1–0–0) |
| December 4 | 6:00 PM | at Sacred Heart | Webster Bank Arena • Bridgeport, Connecticut | Gordon | L 1–2 | 0 | 2–2–0 (1–1–0) |
| December 6 | 2:00 PM | Sacred Heart | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts | Gordon | W 6–3 | 0 | 3–2–0 (2–1–0) |
| December 9 | 6:00 PM | at Bentley | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts | Gordon | W 4–3 $^{OT}$ | 0 | 4–2–0 (3–1–0) |
| December 22 | 5:00 PM | at #16 Quinnipiac* | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | Radomsky | L 1–6 | 0 | 4–3–0 |
| December 23 | 5:05 PM | at #16 Quinnipiac* | People's United Center • Hamden, Connecticut | Gordon | L 0–3 | 0 | 4–4–0 |
| January 17 | 1:00 PM | at #20 American International | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | Gordon | L 0–1 | 0 | 4–5–0 (3–2–0) |
| January 21 | 6:00 PM | vs. Army | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts | Gordon | L 2–3 | 0 | 4–6–0 (3–3–0) |
| January 22 | 6:00 PM | vs. Army | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts | Gordon | L 1–4 | 0 | 4–7–0 (3–4–0) |
| January 26 | 5:05 PM | at Bentley | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | Gordon | L 2–5 | 0 | 4–8–0 (3–5–0) |
| January 29 | 5:00 PM | vs. #19 American International | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts | Radomsky | L 0–6 | 0 | 4–9–0 (3–6–0) |
| January 30 | 2:00 PM | at #19 American International | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | Gordon | L 0–3 | 0 | 4–10–0 (3–7–0) |
| February 19 | 7:35 PM | at Sacred Heart | Webster Bank Arena • Bridgeport, Connecticut | Radomsky | L 1–2 | 0 | 4–11–0 (3–8–0) |
| February 20 | 4:05 PM | at Sacred Heart | Webster Bank Arena • Bridgeport, Connecticut | Radomsky | L 3–5 | 0 | 4–12–0 (3–9–0) |
| Atlantic Hockey Tournament ||||||||||
| Participation Cancelled ||||||||||
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||||||

## Scoring statistics

| Name | Position | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM |
| Alex Peterson | F | 12 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 23 |
| Jake Pappalardo | C | 13 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 12 |
| Ryan Leibold | F | 14 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 6 |
| Logan Ferguson | RW | 15 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 8 |
| Anthony Vincent | F | 14 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 29 |
| Andrew Dumaresque | C | 16 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| Michael Kane | F | 13 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Bobby Young | C | 15 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Jack Robilotti | D | 16 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 20 |
| Logan Milliken | D | 13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Connor Jean | C | 10 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Jack Ricketts | C | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Frank Boie | D | 15 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Matt Slick | D | 16 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Grayson Constable | F | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Nick Hale | D | 15 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Alec Cicero | F | 16 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Jack MacNab | RW | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Mike Higgins | D | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Pete Kessel | F | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Bryce Dolan | D | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Jake Higgins | D | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Radomsky | G | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ryan Pineault | D | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lucas Thorne | C | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Erik Gordon | G | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bench | - | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Total | | | 30 | 41 | 71 | 170 |

## Goaltending statistics

| Name | Games | Minutes | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals Against | Saves | Shut Outs | SV % | GAA |
| Erik Gordon | 11 | 648 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 29 | 281 | 0 | .906 | 2.68 |
| Matt Radomsky | 6 | 312 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 21 | 141 | 0 | .870 | 4.03 |
| Empty Net | - | 4 | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 16 | 966 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 52 | 422 | 0 | .890 | 3.23 |

## Rankings

| Poll | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 (Final) |
| USCHO.com | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | - | NR |
| USA Today | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.

## Awards and honors

| Player | Award | Ref |
| Matt Slick | Atlantic Hockey Second Team | |