WORCESTER, Massachusetts - They fought until the very end, and even beyond it, but the American International College ice hockey team ultimately fell, 4-3 in overtime, to No. 20 College of the Holy Cross in the deciding Game Three of the 2025 Atlantic Hockey America Championship Tournament Quarterfinal on Sunday, March 9.

AIC ends the 2024-25 season with a record of 13-23-2.

The Crusaders scored a shorthanded goal in the first period, as Brody Gagno blocked a point shot into the neutral zone and broke away to score at 10:58.

AIC drew another penalty early in the second, and this time the Yellow Jackets were the team to take advantage. Noah Serdachny bounced a pass back off the boards to the left point for a one-timer by Evan Stella that was blocked right to John Lundy at the right hash mark. He hammered the puck home for his 10th of the season at 4:30.

The special teams continued to pile on points as Holy Cross retook the lead at 9:00 on a Liam McLinskey power play rebound score, but AIC answered relatively quickly with the game's first full-strength goal. David Posma sent a cross pass left-to-right for Lundy to fire a one-timer, and Justin Mexico tipped it up and under the crossbar at 12:53 for his third of the year.

The Crusaders took a 3-2 lead just 1:10 into the third, again converting a power play with Matt DeBoer finishing a play. That put AIC on the brink, and despite chance after chance, the Yellow Jackets could not tie it. However, in the final minute, the Crusaders took a penalty, and AIC pulled Chase Clark for a six-on-four advantage. AIC won the draw, and Lundy dished to the left point for a Brett Bamber blast that hit Lauri Sertti and deflected into the net with 35 seconds left in regulation, tying the game and forcing overtime. It was Sertti's first goal in an AIC uniform.

Unfortunately, the storybook ending did not materialize for AIC. Michael Abgrall broke in and scored for the Crusaders just 0:51 into overtime, ending AIC's season.

Team co-captain Evan Stella played his 150th game in an AIC uniform, becoming just the second player in program history to reach the milestone, one game behind Shawn McBride '19 for the most in AIC history. He had previously been tied for second-most with Bryant Christian '18 and Martin Mellberg '20, who each played 149 games at AIC.