WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. American International College saw their four-game unbeaten streak come to an end at the hands of the College of the Holy Cross by a 2-0 score in Atlantic Hockey Conference action this evening from the Olympia Ice Center.
AIC falls to 5-14-1 with the setback and 5-9-1 in conference play while Holy Cross breaks their first-place tie with Robert Morris moving to 12-6-1 overall and 10-3-1 in Atlantic Hockey to climb into the top spot alone.
After the feeling out process of the first period, Holy Cross wasted little time getting on the board as sophomore Scott Pooley (Granger, Ind.) found himself in alone on sophomore goaltender Alex Murray (Burlington, Ont.) went blocker side for the 1-0 edge at 1:08 of the middle frame.
The Jackets came back strong and had a great scoring chance of their own down the other end as junior Austin Orszulak (Springfield, Mass.) found freshman Shawn McBride (Victoria, B.C.) skating into the zone, but the rookies bid clanked the far post at 3:40 keeping the hosts off the board.
The Crusaders then added a second goal late in the period as it was sophomore Brett Mulcahy (Kelowna, B.C.) firing on net and cashing in on the doorstep of his own rebound score at 16:09 for the 2-0 advantage heading into the second intermission.
The third period was a hard-nosed defensive affair with neither team giving much as the best chance came on a hussle play by Orszulak how touched a loose puck in the offensive zone into the slot to find freshman Travis Douglas (Osgoode, Ont.), however, his point blank bid was denied by sophomore net-minder Paul Berrafato (Williamsville, N.Y.) at 14:00 to preserve the shutout.
Berrafato made 16 saves and improves to 11-4-1 while Murray drops to 5-9-1 with the loss after stopping 31 pucks.
AIC was outshot 33-16 for the game while neither team converted with the man-advantage as the Crusaders went 0-for-4 and the Jackets 0-for-2.
The Yellow Jackets see their five-game home stretch come to an end as they head west to play a weekend set with Air Force on Friday and Saturday.
