Down 2-1 with just four minutes to go, Holy Cross scored twice to stun homestanding Massachusetts, 3-2 at the Mullins Center. Kai Magnussen was the hero for the Crusaders, netting the game winner at 17:43 of the third period.
Holy Cross tied the game with 3:25 remaining on the clock in the third period, when defenseman Rob Godfrey fired home a shot from the point for his first goal of the season and the second of his career.
Sean Nappo drew the puck back on a faceoff in the UMass zone. Dale Reinhardt corralled the puck behind the faceoff dot and slid it back to Godfrey, who put the puck past screened UMass goalie Gabe Winer.
The game-winning goal then came with 2:17 left, when Godfrey forwarded the puck through the neutral zone to Dewey Thompson. Thompson then dished it to Magnussen, who snapped off a shot from the left hash mark in front of the goal for the third and final Crusader score of the game.
Neither team got on the board on the opening stanza, despite five power-play opportunities between them. Shots were 11-6 in favor of the Crusaders.
Minuteman senior Jamie Solon nabbed his first goal of the season at 6:42, assisted by Marvin Degon and Cory Quirk. Quirk’s assist was the first point of his UMass career, while Degon’s was his first of the season.
Quirk won the faceoff in the Holy Cross zone and drew it back to Degon. Degon’s shot on goal rebounded out to Solon, who buried it for the 1-0 lead.
Holy Cross tied it at 1 when Dale Reinhardt shot the puck past Winer at 18:44 of the second. Nappo and James Sixmith assisted on the tying goal. Nappo passed the puck from behind the UMass net to a waiting Reinhardt, whose shot found the back of the net to even the score.
In the third period, the Minutemen pulled ahead by a goal, making the score 2-1 when Stephen Werner put home a rebound over Crusader goalie Tony Quesada’s leg.
Werner picked up the loose puck after Matt Anderson fired a shot on goal from the opposite side of the Minutemen’s offensive zone. However, that was all the scoring the Minutemen could muster, leading to the Crusaders’ comeback.
