Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
1-2-0, 1-1-0
Holy Cross
2-3-0, 1-1-0
Hockey Falls 5-3 in Game Two at Holy Cross
October 20, 2024 | Hockey
The Crusaders scored three unanswered goals from the second half of the second period into the beginning of the third to pull away after the score was knotted at one.
Easton Zueger gave Army life with an equalizing goal in the second period, with Nils Forselius registering his first career goal with a brilliant solo effort in the third period. Joey Baez added a goal in the closing seconds which brought the final score to 5-3.
Evan Szary made a season-high 37 saves in net for Army after recording the shutout in game one of the series. Brent Keefer added a pair of assists as well to keep his point per game pace.
Holy Cross came out determined to beat Szary early, but the Army netminder was in form again as he was forced into ten saves in the game's opening ten minutes. Army had just one shot on target through the first media timeout, but took control in the latter half of the frame.
After the two sides mustered just one goal in the opening 85 minutes of the series, the floodgates opened with three goals in three minutes with Holy Cross jumping out to a 2-1 lead.
Matt DeBoer opened the game's scoring with an even strength goal as Army allowed its first goal in regulation in five-plus periods.Â
Army answered right away, with Easton Zueger playing a puck from Joey Baez on a failed clear from the Crusaders. Zueger made a move to beat his man, before firing into the top right corner for his second career goal.
Just out of the ensuing media timeout, Holy Cross beat an icing and was able to maintain possession and get a clean look in front from Jack Seymour to make it 2-1. Army killed off a penalty right after, before a late goal in the period from Seymour saw the Crusaders take a 3-1 lead into the final frame. Shots were 28-20 in favor of the home side in the opening 40 minutes.
The teams traded goals in the final period, with Timothy Heinke giving Holy Cross a three-goal cushion with 13 minutes to play. Less than 90 seconds later, Nils Forselius took the puck out of a scrum on the side wall and made a move to get in front of Thomas Gale in the Crusaders' net, before finishing for his first Army goal to give the Black Knights life again.
Both sides did well to stay out of the box in the final period, as even strength score from Jack Stockfish with just over five minutes remaining put the game to rest. After seeing a one-timer saved by Gale, Joey Baez was not denied a second time with less than ten seconds on the clock, scoring his 45th career goals in the closing seconds which made it a 5-3 final.
