WORCESTER, Mass. — The Holy Cross men's hockey team is coming off its first 20-win season since 2012-13. The Crusaders, under head coach Bill Riga, have taken off in the last two years, going to the Atlantic Hockey championship series two years ago and hosting a semifinal matchup last year.

This season's team returns good talent, but also will be bolstered by and influx of skill from the transfer portal and the freshman class. 

"This year, our group is a good combination of veterans coming back who put up numbers and stats and have done really well for us and an influx of talent both from the transfer portal and our freshman class," said Riga. "The sooner we bring those guys along, the sooner we'll get up to top speed. We have a Hobey Baker finalist coming back [forward Liam McLinskey], one of only two in the nation, and a goaltender [Thomas Gale] who is a pre-season all-league pick."

"Yeah, I think we have a good group of guys this year; we have a lot of transfers that came in, a lot of new freshmen, too," said captain Matt Shatsky. "They all look like they're going to have some big seasons for us. I think we saw that in the first game against BU a few days ago."

Holy Cross hosts UConn this Friday night at the Hart Center at 7 p.m.