There have been some growing pains for Holy Cross in the first half of this season.
A challenging schedule has meant more losses than wins so far, but the consistency that coach Bill Riga has been looking for is starting to emerge.
“We’ve been up and down, especially early in the season,” Riga said. “We’ve played a lot on the road: Rochester, Buffalo, Air Force, and North Dakota. And we’ve been inconsistent, like playing really well against AIC (7-3 win on Oct. 18) and then not playing well the next time against them (4-1 loss on Nov. 26). At Mercyhurst (3-1 and 4-1 losses), we put up 90 shots that weekend, but couldn’t get it to fall.
“We saw the same kind of thing last year and it took almost the whole season to find our identity and some consistency. I think we’re already moving into that phase now, so we’re ahead of where we were last year.”
A big step in that direction was a come-from-behind, overtime win against New Hampshire on Nov. 26. Junior forward Jack Ricketts tied the game with 8:32 to play and senior defenseman Nick Hale won it 33 seconds into the extra frame. Junior goaltender Jason Grande, a transfer from Bentley, made 35 saves for the win.
“That kind of win lifts you up,” said Riga. “We found a way to come back and win in overtime. We feel like we’ve been building towards that for a while.”
The dramatic win gave the Crusaders some momentum heading into a two-game series at Air Force, and Holy Cross swept the Falcons with 4-1 and 2-1 victories.
Grande was sharp in both games, and the Holy Cross penalty kill held Air Force to one goal in 12 attempts on the weekend.
“We blocked a lot of shots,” said Riga. “(Air Force) has some guys that can bomb from the point, so if you’re not getting in front of those, your kill’s not going to work.
“It was a point of emphasis for us against them, but we always want to be blocking shots. And what they say is true, that your goaltender is your No. 1 penalty killer and Jason really responded.”
Grande has the hot hand in net right now after seeing limited action earlier in the season.
“It’s an open competition,” said Riga. “It was (Thomas) Gale for a while, and (against UNH) we came back around to Grande, and he seized it. He’s been a major factor. We’re also scoring more and gaining confidence in that which is a good development.”
The Crusaders are now off until Dec. 30 when they’ll host Quinnipiac. Will the layoff cool off Riga’s team, or help them to take stock and regroup?
“A little bit of both,” he said. “We’d be happy and excited if we were playing this weekend. But we’ve also played a lot of hockey and done a lot of traveling. Part of me says it’ll be good to take a breath.”
The Quinnipiac game will be special for Riga, who spent 13 years there, the last seven as associate head coach.
“There’s obviously still relationships there with many players,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for them.”
Riga says he’s proud of helping to build Quinnipiac into one of the top programs in college hockey, and he hopes to do something similar at Holy Cross.
“It’s an identity that they’ve worked on for 15 years,” he said. “We’re going to have our own identity, too. It takes time.”
