Behind a power-play goal from freshman Matt Burke, Holy Cross skated to a 2-2 tie with league rival Canisius, Saturday evening at the Hart Center in front of 1,384 fans. Canisius was backstopped by Bryan Worosz’ 42 saves en route to the tie.
The Crusaders were led by freshman Dale Reinhardt and sophomore James Sixsmith. Reinhardt opened up the scoring at 10:04 in the first with a power-play goal, to give Holy Cross a 1-0 lead, and also added an assist for a two-point night, while Sixsmith assisted on both of the Crusaders’ goals.
Holy Cross scored first when Sixsmith’s shot from just outside the slot was kicked out by Worosz to Reinhardt, who beat Worosz on the left side for his sixth tally of the season. Sophomore Frank O’Grady also assisted on the play.
The Griffs evened the score with 1:30 left in the first stanza when junior Andrew Dawe slid the puck under Holy Cross netminder Ben Conway, then took the lead halfway through the second, when Mike Ruberto poked a loose puck past Conway at 9:40.
Holy Cross used a man-up opportunity to even the score at 2-2, midway through third when Burke beat Worosz to the left side from the left faceoff circle for his fourth marker of the season, with help from Reinhardt and Sixsmith with 9:20 left in the game.
The Crusaders were 2-7 on the power play and killed off all four of the Griffs man-up opportunities. Conway made 23 saves for the Holy Cross.
With the outcome the Crusaders are 12-7-5 overall and remain No. 1 in Atlantic Hockey with a record of 9-3-4. The Golden Griffins sit put in second place at the league with a record of 8-5-3 and 10-12-4 overall.
