2020–21 Holy Cross Crusaders men's ice hockey season explained

The 2020–21 Holy Cross Crusaders men's ice hockey season was the 55th season of play for the program, the 23rd at the Division I level, and the 18th season in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Crusaders represented the College of the Holy Cross and were coached by David Berard, in his 7th season.

The start of the college hockey season was delayed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As a result, Holy Cross's first scheduled game was in mid-November as opposed to early-October, which was the norm.

Season

Despite several COVID-related changes to the schedule, Holy Cross began the season well, winning 4 of their first 6 games and sat near the top of the conference in early December with a 4–1 mark in Atlantic Hockey play. The team added a series against Quinnipiac just before Christmas and the two losses seemed to reverse the Crusaders' fortunes. Holy Cross lost all of their remaining games with the offense being dormant for most of those contests. In their final 10 matches, Holy Cross scored just 10 goals and were shut out 4 times. With their schedule being rearranged in February, the Crusaders played only two games in the entire month and sat at the bottom of their conference when the Atlantic Hockey tournament was set to begin.

Four days before they were to play Sacred Heart in the first round, Holy Cross received a positive Covid test and immediately suspended all team activities.^[1] This caused the team to withdraw from the conference tournament and cancel the remainder of their season.

Erkka Vänskä sat out for the season.

Departures

Charlie Barrow	Defenseman	Graduation
Will Brophy	Defenseman	Graduation
Beau Collins	Goaltender	Graduation
Kevin Darrar	Forward	Graduation
Christian Hayes	Forward	Transferred to Trinity
Patrick O'Leary	Defenseman	Graduation
Neil Robinson	Forward	Graduation
Dalton Skelly	Defenseman	Graduation (Signed with Knoxville Ice Bears)
Jack Surowiec	Forward	Graduation

Recruiting

Alec Cicero	Forward	19	Buffalo, NY
Jake Higgins	Defenseman	19	Hingham, MA
Michael Kane	Forward	20	Guilford, CT
Jack MacNab	Forward	22	Indianapolis, IN transfer from Notre Dame
Ryan Pineault	Defenseman	19	Glastonbury, CT
Jack Ricketts	Forward	21	Oakville, ON
Jack Robilotti	Defenseman	19	New York, NY
Lucas Thorne	Forward	21	Dunnville, ON

Roster

As of August 31, 2020.^[2]

Schedule and Results

Scoring statistics

		12	4	5	9	23
		13	5	3	8	12
		14	2	6	8	6
		15	3	4	7	8
		14	3	2	5	29
		16	2	2	4	10
		13	2	1	3	6
		15	2	1	3	2
		16	2	1	3	20
		13	1	2	3	2
		10	0	3	3	4
		5	1	1	2	2
		15	1	1	2	4
		16	1	1	2	6
		14	0	2	2	6
		15	0	2	2	4
		16	1	0	1	4
		8	0	1	1	6
		13	0	1	1	4
		16	0	1	1	2
		16	0	1	1	0
		5	0	0	0	0
		6	0	0	0	0
		7	0	0	0	0
		7	0	0	0	0
		11	0	0	0	0
Bench	-	16	0	0	0	8
Total			30	41	71	170

^[4]

Goaltending statistics

	11	648	4	7	0	29	281	0	.906	2.68
	6	312	0	5	0	21	141	0	.870	4.03
Empty Net	-	4	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-
Total	16	966	4	12	0	52	422	0	.890	3.23

Rankings

See main article: 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings.

Poll	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21 (Final)
USCHO.com	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	bgcolor=FFFFFF	-	NR
USA Today	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.^[5]

Notes and References

Web site: Positive COVID-19 test at Holy Cross cancels rest of Crusaders' season; Sacred Heart gets bye into Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals . USCHO.com . March 5, 2021 . March 5, 2021.
Web site: Crusaders Men's Ice Hockey — 2019–20 Roster . GoHolyCross.com . July 2, 2018.
Web site: Holy Cross Crusaders (Men) 2020-2021 Schedule and Results . College Hockey Stats . December 5, 2019.
News: College of the Holy Cross 2020-2021 Skater Stats . Elite Prospects . March 7, 2020.
Web site: USCHO Division I Men's Poll . USCHO.com . November 26, 2019.
Web site: Atlantic Hockey Announces All-Conference and All-Rookie Winners . Atlantic Hockey . March 11, 2021 . March 31, 2021.