WEST POINT, N.Y. – Led by freshman forward Brendan Soucie, the Army West Point hockey team dominated Holy Cross 8-1 on Saturday. Soucie recorded his first career hat trick as the Black Knights scored the most goals since the 2010 season.
ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES
Army improved to 9-6-1 on the year and 9-4-0 in Atlantic Hockey. The Black Knights completed the sweep on the weekend which gave them sole possession of the top spot in the league with 18 points.
The eight goals scored tonight, was the most by the Cadets since defeating AIC 8-6 in 2010.
Soucie’s hat trick was Army’s first since the 2013 season by Maurice Alvarez.
Conor Andrle, Tipper Higgins, Ryan Nick, Zach Evancho and Dalton MacAfee were the Black Knight’s goal scorers in game two of the series against the Crusaders.
Apart from Soucie, MacAfee also netted multiple goals in the contest.
Brendan McGuire had a team-high two assists on the night as 14 Cadets contributed in tonight’s scoring efforts.
Parker Gahagen made 31 saves in the contest and allowed just one.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Building off momentum from last night’s win, the Black Knights didn’t waste time in establishing their lead.
Andrle posted the first goal of the game 00:53 seconds in. He was on a 2-on-1 breakout alongside Trevor Fidler for the early goal. Blake Box and Nick DeCenzo assisted from the defensive end.
Army’s second goal was scored when Ian Mansfield shot wide in the offensive zone and Higgins was able to bang it home. Alex Wilkinson added another assist, his third on the weekend.
Soucie demonstrated his stick skills with a dangle in front. He shot from the slot to the top left of the goal over the blocker after a Holy Cross turnover. McGuire assisted on the play.
The Crusaders switched things up in the second stanza and replaced the starting goaltender with Nixon.
The Black Knights continued their groove as Nick scored his second of the weekend and his first power play of the season.
Soucie sent the puck to Andrle in the corner who gave Nick the opportunity to flick it in.
Holy Cross scored its first of the game during a power play which brought the score to 4-1.
MacAfee buried his fourth goal of the year with help from Tyler Pham and Zach Evancho who both notched points in last night’s game as well.
Army’s sixth goal was netted by Evancho before Soucie put away the final two of the night, one of which was a power play goal.
UP NEXT
The Black Knights will be off until the end of December when they play in the Ledyard Classic hosted by Dartmouth.
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