Courtney McKeen ’27
Sports Editor
The Hobey Baker Memorial Award is a prestigious award given out annually to the top NCAA hockey player. This season, Thomas Gale and Liam McLinskey, both seniors on the Holy Cross men’s ice hockey team, have been nominated. While the Hobey Baker winner will not be announced until April 11 at the Frozen Four, Gale and McLinskey have each shown their strengths this season.
This is McLinskey’s second consecutive year being nominated for the award. He was a top 10 finalist last year, the closest that any Holy Cross player has ever come to the award. Since last season, McLinskey was named an alternate captain for the Crusaders, and he continues to lead the team as its top player.
He was named Atlantic Hockey America Preseason Player of the Year, and since the start of the season, he has scored 17 goals and 30 points. He leads the team in goals scored and total points for the 2024-25 season, and against Canisius this past weekend, he scored his 100th career point.
This is McLinskey’s third season with Holy Cross after transferring in from Quinnipiac University, and in his time with the Crusaders, he has played in 107 games. As a junior in the 2023-24 season, McLinskey tied second place for the most points in a single season with 47 points, and he held the season high for points, assists and plus/minus in Atlantic Hockey.
Meanwhile, goalie Thomas Gale has started in 27 games for the Crusaders this season, and holds a 0.927 save percentage. He averages 2.21 goals allowed per game. In his four years at Holy Cross, he has played in 74 games. He has a career record of 2.49 average goals against and a 0.915 save percentage.
Gale has also been named to the watch list for the Mike Richter Award, which is given to the top Division I goaltender in the NCAA. This season, he has been named an Atlantic Hockey America Player of the Week five times, and in December, he earned Atlantic Hockey America Goaltender of the Month honors.
Gale and McLinskey have both helped the team excel this season. While the team has an overall 15-11-2 record, they are seated in second place in Atlantic Hockey America with a 13-4-2 in league record. Last year, Holy Cross fell to American International College in the Atlantic Hockey semi-finals, but with just under a month left in the regular season, the team continues to work hard and build up to another playoff run.
Featured image courtesy of Holy Cross Athletics
Copy Edited by Lily Wasmund ’28
Copy Edited by Zexuan Qu ’28
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