Holy Cross scored three third-period goals to break open a 1-1 game and earn a weekend sweep of Bentley Saturday night in Atlantic Hockey action at the Hart Center. With the win, the first-place Crusaders improved to 19-6-1 overall and 14-4-1 in the AHA, while Bentley fell to 9-12-4 and 7-8-4.
Holy Cross took a 2-1 lead 5:29 into the third period on a goal by Tanner Fogarty. A bouncing puck in front of the net was backhanded home by Fogarty past Jean for his third goal of the season. Just 1:09 later the lead was two goals as Tyler McGregor fired past Jean on his blocker side from the slot.
The Crusaders capped the scoring on the power play on nice goal from James Sixsmith. He broke out of his defensive zone along the left boards and beat a Bentley player before passing to Pierre Napert-Frenette. A quick pass back to Sixsmith broke him in alone on Jean and Sixsmith fired just under the crossbar to the short side for the final goal of the game.
Bentley had its best chance midway through the first period as a puck bounced out from behind the Holy Cross net to junior Marc Zwicky on the doorstep. Zwicky tried to chip the bouncing puck over Tony Quesada, but his effort hit the senior netminder on the shoulder and Quesada juggled the puck back into his glove for the save.
Holy Cross came close to grabbing the opener in the closing minutes of the period on the power play. A shot on goal through traffic in front was parried by Jean and Pierre Napert-Frenette’s rebound attempt was also turned away. The resulting rebound fell to Sixsmith at the near post, but Jean was able to make a sprawling pad save and get the whistle. At the end of the first period, Holy Cross held a 14-7 advantage in shots.
Bentley would score the game’s first goal with 3:50 to play in the second period. A good combination play by Marc Zwicky and Brendan McCartin along the left side broke the Falcons into the Holy Cross zone. Zwicky backhanded a pass across the slot to Jeff Gumaer, who shot back across the frame and beat Quesada to the far post.
Holy Cross would even the game minutes later with 57 seconds remaining in the period after a great solo effort by Tyler McGregor. McGregor gained the puck in the neutral zone and skated past a trio of Bentley players in the center of the Bentley zone before making a crisp pass back in front of the net where Rob Godfrey jammed the puck home.
Quesada earned his 14th win of the season by making 26 saves, while Jean picked up the loss despite making 34 stops.
