Men’s Hockey Update
Published: Friday, March 1, 2013
Updated: Friday, March 1, 2013 14:03
As the regular season is quickly coming to a close, the men’s hockey team has achieved a respectable record above .500. The Crusaders’ overall current record of 17-12-3 lands them at the number three spot in the Atlantic Hockey Association (AIC) following no. 1 Niagara and no. 2 Air Force.
After a solid weekend of competition versus AIC, Holy Cross conquered the worthy opponent with a tie on Friday night and a victory on Saturday night.
In addition, the Crusaders have defeated Sacred Heart this Monday evening which was a pivotal victory. This critical win allowed Holy Cross to surpass UConn who held the no. 3 position prior to Monday’s game. These strong performances should presumably provide the impetus needed for success this upcoming weekend to finish out the regular season.
In respect to the Sacred Heart match, Holy Cross seems to have all the momentum. They have reached the point where they must continue to progress in preparation for the post-season. But before considering the tournament, the focus is on their pair of games versus Army. Though Army is no. 10 in the conference, this team cannot be taken lightly.
The last matchup between the two teams resulted in a major loss for Holy Cross, being outscored 7-2. Hopefully the Crusaders find what they need to overcome this Army team.
Lately, I have been truly impressed with Holy Cross’ freshmen players. They seem to be a driving force on the squad and have shown progression over the course of the season.
More often than not, only a few freshmen, if any at all, have an immediate impact on a collegiate team.
Usually upperclassmen are primarily relied upon to propel the team forward while the freshmen need more than a season to become acclimated to the quicker pace and higher skill levels of college play in comparison to high-school play.
However, these freshmen have changed my perspective. In the first 9 games of the season, there were not any freshmen included in the starting line-ups and their collective playing time seemed to be limited. Through the middle of the season, the freshmen involvement increased.
Three first-years intermittently entered the starting line-ups including Sommer, J. McNamara, and Beckman and have been major presences on the ice during this final stretch of the regular season.
These freshmen, along with several other first-years, have been able to greatly contribute to offensive success for the Crusaders.



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