Men’s hockey sweeps Holy Cross to advance in Atlantic Hockey Championship Tournament

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RIT Athletics

Simon Lambert (shown in an earlier game against Cornell) had three assists in Saturday’s win over Holy Cross—extending his point-scoring streak to 11 games.

Matt Smith’s third goal of the game, 4:17 into overtime, led the RIT Tigers men’s hockey team (19-11-6) to its second straight 5-4 overtime win against Holy Cross (10-19-7) Saturday night in Ritter Arena. RIT’s sweep in the best-of-three series lifts the Tigers—riding a seven-game unbeaten streak—into the Atlantic Hockey Final Five March 15 at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester.

Three seniors combined on the game-winning goal as Ricky Walton passed the puck to Brent Patry, who flung a wrist shot towards the net that Smith redirected past Holy Cross goalie Adam Roy. The goal was Smith’s 27th of the season and gave him hat tricks in back-to-back games. No RIT player had scored a hat trick in the team’s first 114 games at the Division I level.

Simon Lambert and Dan Ringwald each had three assists for the Tigers.

In picking up his 18th win of the season, RIT goalie Louis Menard made 17 saves, including a glove save in the first minute of overtime. RIT out shot Holy Cross 38-21.

The #2 seeded Tigers will face #3 Air Force in an Atlantic Hockey Association semifinal game at 7:35 p.m. March 15 at Blue Cross Arena. For more, visit RIT Athletics.