March
18, 2006
Atlantic Hockey Championship
Another
Crown for Holy Cross
Regular-season champs win second playoff
title in three years
| Holy
Cross 5, Bentley 2 |
| Team |
Goal |
Str |
| Time |
Assists |
| First
Period |
| 1-HC |
Tyler
McGregor (24) |
PP |
| 12:14 |
D.
Reinhardt, B. Bartlett |
| 1-B |
Dain
Prewitt (11) |
EV |
| 12:45 |
R.
Lessnau, A. Canzoneri |
| 2-HC |
James
Sixsmith (12) |
PP |
| 16:33 |
P.
Napert-Frenette, M. Burke |
| Second
Period |
| 3-HC |
Pierre
Napert-Frenette (15) |
PP |
| 2:07 |
J.
Sixsmith |
| 2-B |
Jeff
Gumaer (16) |
PP |
| 8:24 |
J.
Chase, A. Canzoneri |
| 4-HC |
Jon
Landry (9) |
PP |
| 12:31 |
S.
Nappo, J. Sixsmith |
| 5-HC |
Sean
Nappo (10) |
EV |
| 18:41 |
P.
Napert-Frenette, M. Burke |
| Third
Period |
| No
Scoring |
| Goaltending |
| B:
Ray Jean, 40:00, 21 saves, 5 GA; Geordan Murphy, 20:00,
5 saves, 0 GA |
| HC:
Tony Quesada, 60:00, 30 saves, 2 GA |
| Penalties:
B 11/22; HC 9/18 |
| Power
Plays: B 1-7; HC 4-9 |
| Attendance:
2,000 |
|
All-Tournament
Team |
G:
Tony Quesada, Holy Cross
D: Jaye Judd, Bentley
D: Jamie Hunt, Mercyhurst
F: Tom Dickhudt, Bentley
F: Pierre Napert-Frenette, Holy Cross
F: James Sixsmith, Holy Cross (MVP) |
Behind four power-play goals and with the
support of a home crowd at the Hart Center, Holy Cross captured
its second Atlantic Hockey championship in three years with
a 5-2 victory over Bentley.
The win ends Bentley's impressive postseason
run, as well as speculation that it might be better for
the conference for Holy Cross to lose and possibly give
Atlantic Hockey two bids to the NCAA Tournament. Instead,
the regular-season champion Crusaders capture even more
hardware and will prepare to hear their names called on
Sunday's selection show.
Among the heroes on Saturday was Friday's
best player, James Sixsmith, who added a goal and two assists
in the championship game to earn tournament MVP honors.
Sixsmith scored with just under three and
a half minutes remaining in the first perioda go-ahead goal
that gave Holy Cross the lead for good. Pierre Napert-Frenette,
who also had a goal and two assists on the night, added
another power-play goal just 2:07 into the second, and that
would stand up as the game-winner.
The first four Crusader goals all came on
power plays, as they finished four-for-nine with the man
advantage.
Holy Cross' Tony Quesada made 30 stops and
was named the all-tournament goaltender. Quesada, a senior,
will make his second career NCAA Tournament appearance.
Two years ago he memorably battled North Dakota –
and the flu – in a first-round game in Colorado Springs.
Quesada enters the NCAAs with a record of 21-5-2 this season.