FAIRFIELD, Conn. (October 25, 2024) – In its Atlantic Hockey opener on home ice on Friday night, the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team certainly would have liked to convert a second-intermission lead into three important standings points. It wasn't to be, however. Instead, a Holy Cross team which had their number down the stretch last year dealt the Pioneers another blow. A late power-play goal tied things up and Liam McLinskey popped the winner 75 seconds into overtime, as Holy Cross skated away with a 2-1 (OT) victory at Martire Family Arena.
 
SHU (1-3-1, 0-1-0 AHA) will still bank one standings point, thanks to taking the game to overtime, but will likely feel like it let two get away. The two teams will wrap up the weekend series at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Martire Family Arena.
 
The only goals scored in regulation were a pair of power-play goals, one early and one late. Sacred Heart struck first, at the 7:25 mark of the opening period, with Mack Oliphant sitting for tripping. From down low on the right-wing side, Tyler Ghirardosi (Montrose, British Columbia) whipped the puck up to the right point for John Driscoll (Littleton, Ohio). Driscoll sent it over to the top of the circle for Hunter Sansbury (Lomita, Calif.), who put it towards the net. The puck may have been deflected by the defense on the way through and wound up in the back of the net for Sansbury's first goal of the year.
 
SHU had a few grade-A opportunities to extend the lead, but were unable to solve the Holy Cross defense a second time. Thomas Gale proved especially frustrating in the crease, with multiple highlight-reel saves on the way to 29 saves against 30 shots and the win.
 
Gale's work allowed Holy Cross (3-3-0, 2-1-0 AHA) to even things up with a power-play goal of its own at 6:45 of the third, while Driscoll sat for interference. From the right-wing side, Devin Phillips found Jack Stockfish between the hashmarks, and the latter rifled home his third of the campaign from there.
 
Gale (3-3-0) was at his best later in the third, after SHU went onto its fifth and final power play of the night at 10:20. Late in the advantage, Ghirardosi was able to deflect a shot from the point right at the top of the crease. Not only did Gale stop that attempt, but he immediately committed grand larceny with a snazzy glove save as Ghirardosi tried to put away the rebound at the right post.
 
After each team collected a standings point at the end of regulation, Holy Cross came away winners 1:15 into overtime. After Michael Abgrall gained the zone, he left the puck for McLinskey, who put on a clinic. He eluded two defenders while dancing through the high slot from left to right, curled back towards the blue line to reverse direction, got the jump on a defender near the top of the left circle, turned on the afterburners and buried a shot from the slot-side edge of the circle to lift the Crusaders to victory.
 
Cullen DeYoung (Canton, Mich.) finished with 30 saves against 32 shots and suffered the loss (1-3-1) in front of the SHU net.
 
Sacred Heart held a 17-4 advantage in shots in the first period, but was then outshot 28-13 the rest of the way. The Pioneers have played overtime in three (0-2-1) of their first five games.