The Holy Cross Crusaders men's ice hockey team is a

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) Division I

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the g ...

program that represents the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

. The Crusaders are a member of the

Atlantic Hockey Association The Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) is an NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. Unlike several other ...

(AHA). They play at the

Hart Center Hart Center at the Luth Athletic Complex is the main athletic center at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was built in 1975 and is home to the Holy Cross Crusaders athletic teams. It is named for the Rev. Francis J. H ...

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

History

Holy Cross men's ice hockey began in 1966 and a year later it joined ECAC 2. The Crusaders played in the second tier of college ice hockey for ten years before they played their first playoff game, but once they made it they didn't go very far. Over a six year period Holy Cross wen 2–5 in the conference postseason and never really got close to an NCAA tournament berth. When Division II ice hockey was abandoned in 1984 Holy Cross dropped down to

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

and was placed in

ECAC East New England Hockey Conference (formerly the ECAC East) is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division III as a hockey-only conference. __TOC__ History The New England Ho ...

when ECAC 2 split. They made the ECAC tournament three out of four years under Peter Van Buskirk but couldn't manage a win. The team went through a down period under Bill Bellerose for six seasons but started winning again when Paul Pearl became head coach in 1994. After recording their best season in fifteen years Holy Cross promoted its program to Division I and joined the MAAC in 1998–99. In their first year of D–I play Holy Cross won its first Conference Tournament, winning the inaugural MAAC Championship. Unfortunately, because the NCAA did not offer the MAAC an automatic bid at that time the Crusaders did not make the NCAA tournament. The next season Holy Cross dropped to seventh in the conference and lost 24 games over the course of the season (a program worst). After missing out on the conference tournament the next season Holy Cross returned to the playoffs for the final two years of the MAAC's existence before joining with all former MAAC programs in founding

Atlantic Hockey The Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) is an NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. Unlike several other c ...

. Similar to their start with the MAAC, Holy Cross produced a great season, winning 22 games, and were able to win their first conference title. They then swept through the Atlantic Hockey playoffs and captured their second tournament championship, though this time they received a berth into the NCAA tournament for the first time. Though their national championship experience was brief the Crusaders continued to play well and returned to the Championship in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

after winning both conference crowns. The met #2 overall seeded

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in the first round and pushed the heavily favored Golden Gophers into overtime where Tyler McGregor scored 53 seconds in, winning what is usually noted as the biggest upset in tournament history. Holy Cross would decline after their miraculous 2006 season, posting losing records for four consecutive years, but the program began to recover in the second decade of the 20th century. Paul Pearl resigned in 2014 and was replaced by David Berard and while the team hasn't played poorly, they've yet to win a round in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament (as of 2018).

Season-by-season results

Source:

Postseason

NCAA tournament results

The Crusaders have appeared in the NCAA Tournament two times. Their combined record is 1–2.

Coaches

As of completion of 2021–22 season

Awards and honors

NCAA

Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award *

Matt Vidal Matt Vidal is a British-American sociologist. He is Reader in Sociology and Comparative Political Economy in the Institute for International Management, Loughborough University London. Education Vidal graduated from South Dakota State Universi ...

: 2016

MAAC

Individual Awards

Offensive Player of the Year The National Football League Offensive Player of the Year Award is an annual American football award given by various organizations to the National Football League (NFL) player who is considered the top offensive player during the regular season. Or ...

Patrick Rissmiller Patrick Rissmiller (born October 26, 1978) is an American former professional ice hockey winger who played in the National Hockey League for the San Jose Sharks, New York Rangers, Atlanta Thrashers, and the Florida Panthers. He joined the Anah ...

, F: 2002 * Brandon Doria, F: 2003 Goaltender of the Year * Scott Simpson: 1999 Offensive Rookie of the Year *Tyler McGregor, F: 2003

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

* Paul Pearl: 2002 Tournament Most Valuable Player * Mike Maguire, D:

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All-Conference Teams

First Team All-MAAC *1998–99: Scott Simpson, G; Chris Fattey, F *2001–02:

, F *2002–03: Brandon Doria, F Second Team All-MAAC *1998–99: Mike Maguire, D *1999–00:

Jim Whelan Jim Whelan (November 8, 1948 – August 22, 2017) was an American Democratic Party politician, who served in the New Jersey State Senate where he represented the 2nd Legislative District, from January 8, 2008, until his death. Early life Whela ...

, D *2001–02: R. J. Irving, D; Brandon Doria, F MAAC All-Rookie Team *1998–99:

, F *2000–01: R. J. Irving, D; Greg Kealey, F *2002–03: Tyler McGregor, F

Atlantic Hockey

Individual Awards

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

*Tyler McGregor, F: 2006 Best Defensive Forward * Greg Kealey, C: 2004 * Blair Bartlett, F: 2006 *

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, F: 2011 Best Defenseman * Rob Godfrey: 2006 *Jon Landry: 2007 Individual Sportsmanship Award * Tim Coskren: 2004 *Tyler McGregor: 2006 * James Sixsmith: 2007 Regular Season Goaltending Award * Ben Conway: 2005 *

Tony Quesada Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

: 2006 Regular Season Scoring Trophy *Tyler McGregor: 2006

* Greg Kealey, F:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

* James Sixsmith, LW:

Most Valuable Player in Tournament *Tyler McGregor: 2006

All-Conference Teams

First Team All-Atlantic Hockey *2003–04:

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, F *2004–05: Tyler McGregor, F *2005–06: Jon Landry, D; Tyler McGregor, F *2006–07: Jon Landry, D; James Sixsmith, F *2014–15: Matt Ginn, G *2017–18: Paul Berrafato, G Second Team All-Atlantic Hockey *2003–04:

, G *2004–05: Pierre Napert-Frenette, F *2005–06:

, G; Pierre Napert-Frenette, F *2011–12: Adam Schmidt, F *2020–21: Matt Slick, D Third Team All-Atlantic Hockey *2007–08: Matt Burke, D; Brodie Sheahan, F *2016–17: Spencer Trapp, D; Danny Lopez, F *2021–22: Ryan Leibold, F Atlantic Hockey All-Rookie Team *2003–04: James Sixsmith, F *2007–08: Mark Znutas, D; Everett Sheen, F *2010–11:

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, F *2011–12: Matt Ginn, G *2012–13: Karl Beckman, D *2018–19: Matt Slick, D;

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, F

Statistical leaders

Source:

Career points leaders

Career goaltending leaders

''GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% =

Save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various goal-scoring sports that track saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse, it is a statistic that represents the percentage of shots on goal ...

; GAA =

Goals against average Goals against average (GAA) also known as "average goals against" or "AGA" is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on s ...

'' Minimum 1000 minutes Statistics current through the start of the 2018-19 season.

Holy Cross Varsity Club Hall of Fame

The following is a list of people associated with the Holy Cross men's ice hockey program who were elected into the Holy Cross Varsity Club Hall of Fame (induction date in parenthesis). * Larry Murphy (1981) * Gerry Curley (1996) * Jim Stewart (1998) *

Joe Lunny Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

(1999) * Glenn Graves (2000) * Bill Bellerose (2002) * Dean Casagrande (2002) *

Matt Muniz Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

(2005) *

(2010) *Tyler McGregor (2013) *

(2014) * James Sixsmith (2017) * Terrence Butt (2018)

Current roster

As of August 4, 2022.

Crusaders in the NHL

As of July 1, 2022. File:Patrick Rissmiller 08.jpg,

Source:

References

External links

Holy Cross Crusaders men's ice hockey
{{Atlantic Hockey Ice hockey teams in Worcester, Massachusetts 1966 establishments in Massachusetts Ice hockey clubs established in 1966