The 2023–24 Holy Cross Crusaders men's ice hockey season was the 58th season of play for the program, the 26th at the Division I level and the 21st in Atlantic Hockey. The Crusaders represented the College of the Holy Cross, played their home games at the Hart Center and were coached by Bill Riga in his 3rd season.
Season
With most of its team returning, Holy Cross was well-positioned for a good season. Even so, it was a surprise when the Crusaders started the season with a sweep of a ranked Connecticut squad and were ranked #1 in the PairWise, albeit very briefly. Unfortunately for the Crusaders, nominal starter Jason Grande had a few week outing at the end of October. When Thomas Gale was inserted into the goal, the situation didn't immediately resolve itself and the team stumbled to a sub-.500 record by mid-November. With their season spinning out of control, a pair of shutouts by Gale over Bentley just before Thanksgiving halted their descent.
As the goaltending resolved itself, the offense was still in the process of rounding into form. The forward unit hadn't been bad in the first two months of the season but they had failed to take advantage of their chances. By early December, Holy Cross had lost five 1-goal games and were wallowing at the bottom of the Atlantic Hockey standings. A less than satisfactory slate of non-conference games around Christmas wiped away their early gains and did not portend well for the second half of the year.
When they returned to their conference schedule, the team had a good weekend against American International but then followed that up with probably their worse game of the season. Against bottom-dwelling Army, Holy Cross was shutout for the first time on the year and took numerous penalties. The game ended with Mack Oliphant receiving a match penalty for grabbing a face mask.[1] emotions seemed to boil over in the rematch when leading scorer Liam McLinskey was ejected for abuse of the officials, though he managed to avoid a suspension. The following week, the team struggled through another 1-goal loss where they were assessed a major penalty.
The second game with Sacred Heart earned the team a weekend split but, most importantly, began a resurgence for the offense. From January 20 through February 16, Holy Cross scored at least 5 goals in each game. The suddenly high-powered offense was spearheaded by McLinskey who averaged 2 points per game in that stretch and shot up the program's all-time scoring list. The seven game winning streak propelled the team towards the top of the conference standings, enabling the Crusaders to finish second behind RIT. It also saw a return to form of Jason Grande, who regained the starting role at the beginning of February and never relinquished the crease.
When the conference tournament began, Holy Cross was given a bye into the quarterfinal round and were allowed to rest for a week before continuing. The team looked prepared for Canisius in the first game, outshooting the Griffins nearly 2-to-1. Unfortunately, they still found themselves down 2–3 entering the third period. After McLinskey tied the game, Jack Stockfish scored the winning goal on the power play and gave the Crusaders a bit of breathing room. The second match saw Canisius fight back and outshoot CHC in regulation. Penalties were largely responsible with two minors in the third giving the Griffins a chance to take the rematch. Fortunately, Grande had recovered from his subpar performance in game one and he surrendered just 1 goal on 35 shots to force overtime. The Crusaders took over the game in extra time, widely outshooting Canisius 14–3 in the first session. While they weren't able to score in that 20-minute stretch, the pressure they put on Canisius eventually led to defensive breakdown at the beginning of the fifth period.[2]
In the semifinals, Holy Cross found itself opposite American International. A solid first period staked CHC to a lead that they would not relinquish, however, it was also the last time their offense would function properly. Over the succeeding two games, Holy Cross managed just a single goal on 77 shots. The Crusaders went 0 for 6 on the power play and were unable to solve the Yellow Jackets' goaltender. Their season was brought to an shocking finish with the failure of their previously stable offense.
In spite of the end, Liam McLinskey still managed to tie for the second best scoring performance in program history.[3] While he scored 2 goals fewer than the year before, he had septupled his assist total to finish just outside the top-10 in the entire NCAA. This was also the first 20-win season for the program in over a decade and their best record since 2006.
