On the strength of Pierre Napert-Frenette’s pair of goals, league-leading Holy Cross defeated Connecticut 3-1 at the Hart Center Friday.
The contest marked the third and final time the two teams will meet in the regular season, and the third win for the Crusaders over the Huskies.
UConn drops to 5-9-4 overall and 2-5-3 in the Atlantic Hockey Association, while Holy Cross keeps its nearly unblemished league record intact at 12-1-1, with an overall record of 13-4-2.
The Huskies’ Tim Olsen scored the lone goal for UConn, his third in as many consecutive games, and fifth of the season.
Napert-Frenette struck early, sliding the puck past UConn goaltender Scott Tomes despite his team being down a man to Connecticut. The shorthanded goal came 7:18 into the first period, and was assisted by Jon Landry and R.J. Irving.
Holy Cross outshot UConn 15-11 in the opening period, but would not repeat that feat for the remainder of the game.
The Crusaders added a second goal midway through the second period when Jeff Dams scored his seventh of the season off assists from J.R. Walker and Tim Coskren.
The two-goal lead lasted until with just under three minutes remaining in the period, when Olsen scored with help from Cole Koidahl and B.J. Crum. The assist was Koidahl’s eighth of the season, while Crum notched the second point of his career at UConn.
Despite being outshot by UConn 11-3 in the final period, the Crusaders managed another goal when Napert-Frenette struck again just five minutes into play, with Irving recording his second assist of the night.
Tomes finished with 25 saves for the Huskies, while Holy Cross goaltender Tony Quesada made 33 saves to improve his record to 10-2-1.
