'We’ve come a long way': Holy Cross hockey is playing in AHA final for first time in 17 years, with NCAA berth on line

WORCESTER — During last weekend’s Atlantic Hockey Association Tournament best-of-three semifinals at RIT, Holy Cross was not worried about or intimidated by the Tigers’ top seed or national ranking.

“That didn’t get in our heads too much,” senior forward Grayson Constable said. “We were just going to play one game at a time, one shift at a time. Coach (Bill Riga) preaches every day, ‘Just follow the system.’ We know it works, so that’s what we did.”

Holy Cross won Game 1 in overtime on sophomore Liam McLinskey’s goal, lost Game 2 in OT, and played perhaps its best three periods of the season in the decisive 5-1 Game 3 victory to earn a spot in the AHA final for the first time in 17 years. HC junior goalie Jason Grande made 102 saves in the series.

“We feel pretty good,” McLinskey, who has scored an AHA Tournament record nine goals so far, said after the Crusaders’ skate-around Thursday afternoon at the Hart Center. “We had a good week of practice, just coming to the rink to get better every single day.”

Following the skate around and a send-off from the Luth Athletic Complex, the No. 7 seed Crusaders boarded their bus for Buffalo, where they will face No. 4 seed Canisius in the championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday. The winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

HC’s last appearance in the AHA final was in 2006. The Crusaders won the title and, in one of the greatest moments in Holy Cross history, went on to upset Minnesota in the NCAA West Regional to become the first No. 4 seed to defeat a No. 1.

“We’ve come a long way,” said Riga, HC’s second-year coach whose team beat No. 2 seed AIC in the quarterfinals. “It’s been fun and exciting for our guys, and great for our alumni and our fans to finally have something to be excited about. We’re just taking it one game at a time and just trying to go up there and enjoy it as much as we can, but when the puck drops realize it’s one game to keep our season going and win a championship.”

Holy Cross also won the AHA championship in 2004, and the MAAC crown in 1999.

Canisius is making its second title game appearance in the last three years. The Griffs fell to AIC in 2021.

“They’ve been there before,” Riga said. “We’re going to have to grind it out with them and see if we can play more in their end because they have some really good high-end forwards that can fill the net. We have to defend hard and get in their zone and make them defend.”

Canisius, which defeated No. 5 seed Army and No. 6 seed Niagara to reach the final, is allowing 1.33 goals per game, the lowest average in this year’s tournament.

McLinskey, a transfer from Quinnipiac, has scored at least one goal in all of HC’s postseason games.

“It’s just getting to the right spots,” McLinskey said, “and my teammates finding me, and getting some good bounces, too.”

Twelve minutes into overtime in Game 1 against RIT, senior Nick Hale stripped a defender of the puck in the defensive zone and found McLinskey in stride at center ice for a breakaway opportunity. After faking a wrist shot to the right and knocking the goalie off balance, McLinskey slid the puck under him for the win.

McLinskey’s three game-winning goals is tied for the most in a single AHA postseason tournament.

“He’s been incredible,” Constable said. “He’s riding a hot stick right now and doing everything right. We’re getting him the puck, and he’s scoring, so we’re going to continue that.”

Riga, who spent 13 seasons on the staff at Quinnipiac before coming to Holy Cross, recruited McLinskey there. McLinskey played in just two games for the Bobcats last season, and when he entered the transfer portal, Riga was the first to reach out to him.

“A lot of the words we use and the systems we use are the same,” Riga said, “so it was an easy transition for him.”

McLinskey scored 12 goals and had four assists during the regular season.

“He had a good regular season,” Riga said, “but not at the level of a league all-star. I kind of thought he was underachieving a little bit, but as we’ve seen in the playoffs, he’s just taken it to another level, which is a good sign that one of your younger players is able to elevate their game when it counts the most.

“It’s not like we go to him all the time and say, ‘You have to score,’” Riga added. “It’s just the way the games have gone. He’s been in the right place at the right time, and he’s made no mistakes. From last year to this year, we needed goal scoring, and he’s someone that we really needed to do that, and he has.”

This season, HC is averaging 2.5 goals per game, up from 2.1 last year.

The Crusaders went 1-0-1 at Canisius in November. The Griffs defeated HC, 3-0 and 6-3, in the final two games of the regular season at the Hart Center.

Riga thought those setbacks refocused his team for the playoffs.

“We might have veered off a little bit at that point for who knows what reason,” Constable said, “but I think that got us back on track and was a reminder that we have to play the right way every night to win hockey games.”

—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTolandTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Holy Cross hockey heads to Canisius, for shot at NCAA tourney berth