Holy Cross looks to continue their conquest of Hockey East.
The College of the Holy Cross finally hit its stride in Hockey East in 2025-26, their seventh season in the conference, setting school records for the most conference wins in a season while accruing their most-ever conference points with 37. This was a huge leap after a 10-20-4 (6-17-4 conference) result in 2024-25, which in itself was an improvement over a 8-24-3 (4-20-3 conference) showing in 2023-24.
As a cherry on top for all of their work, they advanced to the Hockey East semifinals for the first time in program history. And although they ultimately lost that matchup, the bigger picture is not one to sneeze at: they finished ahead of more established clubs like Vermont or New Hampshire, whose season they ended in the quarterfinal of the tournament.
Is the world ready for Holy Cross’s dominion over the Hockey East conference?
Heading into this season there’s not been a universe-ending amount of turnover for the Crusaders; they only lost six seniors, and although the goaltending situation seems tenuous, they have two freshmen that may yet challenge for the starting role, and that will certainly be interesting to track over the course of the season.
Another point of intrigue will be seeing how they stack up against the top half of the conference; of their ten conference wins last season, only two of them were against teams that are currently higher up in the rankings than them. To their credit, they tied Northeastern in late Jan., which was not an easy feat.
Will Holy Cross continue their incremental progress in Hockey East play, explode to the top or fizzle out?
The Crusaders have been picked fourth in the pre-season coaches’ poll, tied with Boston University at 60 points.
Where last season ended…
The Crusaders finished with a 10-11-3 record in conference play and advanced to the Hockey East semifinals, where they lost to the eventual champion UConn 6-1.
Their overall record was 19-13-3.
Players to watch…
Rising sophomore forward Violet Carroll (10 goals and 16 assists in 35 games) was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team last season after leading her team in scoring. Fellow rising sophomore forward Naemi Herzeg (seven goals and 15 assists in 26 games) will also be a player to watch as the Crusaders embark on their campaign.
New arrivals..
Holy Cross is skating eight freshmen this season: five forwards, one defender and two goaltenders.
There will be no transfers on this year’s Crusaders roster.
Into the portal…
Rising senior Abby Hornung (.933 save percentage in a 12-10-2 record last season, which included three shutouts) entered the transfer portal but rescinded the request, according to the USCHO website. As of writing on Sept. 20, Hornung is not included on Holy Cross’s roster.
A peek into the schedule…
Holy Cross opens its season with a nonconference series against Delaware on Sept. 25 and 26 and then will battle for the honor of the best team in Worcester against Assumption on Oct. 1.
The Crusaders will begin conference play with a matchup against Boston College on Oct. 9 and one against Boston University on Oct. 10, then will entertain the Ivy Leagues with series against Harvard and Dartmouth. Late October through Thanksgiving weekend will be all Hockey East action, starting with a series against the team that ended their season, UConn. Holy Cross will break that streak with a series against St. Thomas. The first half of the season will conclude with a series against Vermont on Dec. 4 and 5.
The entire second half of Holy Cross’s season will be exclusively against Hockey East opponents, starting things off with a game against Boston College on Jan. 8. This part of the season is where things get harder for the Crusaders, as they have to face off against Northeastern three times and Connecticut for the final time in mid-February on the penultimate day of the regular season.
They end their regular season against Boston College on Feb. 19.
