WATERTOWN, Mass. – A third period goal by Holy Cross' Scott Pooley was the difference as the Crusaders edged Bentley 2-1 in the regular season finale at Ryan Arena Saturday night. Bentley will go into the Atlantic Hockey Playoffs as the No. 4 seed.

The Falcons close up the regular season with a 14-9-5 Atlantic Hockey record, while Holy Cross' conference record goes to 12-11-5 with the win.

Bentley will host the No. 5 seed Mercyhurst in the quarterfinals in a best of three series, with game one coming from Ryan Arena on Friday, March 13. The Falcons went 3-0-1 against the Lakers this season, including a win and tie at home the weekend of Nov. 14.

Another tight game between the two longtime rivals was decided by Pooley's goal 4:10 into the third period. Holy Cross senior goalie Matt Ginn came up with 32 saves on the night.

Bentley went on the power play with 5:19 remaining in the third looking for the tying goal after an interference penalty on Holy Cross, but could not come up with it. After the penalty expired with 3:19 remaining, the teams skated 5-on-5 until Bentley goalie Jayson Argue (Swan River, Manitoba/Nanaimo) was pulled for the extra-attacker with 40 seconds left, but the tying goal did not come.

Holy Cross got the scoring started at 15:32 of the first period on a goal by freshman T.J. Moore, who also had the primary assist on Pooley's game-winner.

Bentley knotted the game up at 1-1 on junior Andrew Gladiuk's (White Rock, B.C./Nanaimo) 19^th goal of the season at 14:49 of the second period, set up beautifully by senior Brett Switzer (Calgary, Alberta/Spruce Grove). After taking a pass from freshman Ryan McMurphy (Broken Arrow, Okla./Tri-City), Switzer had the puck in the neutral zone. He then spun around a defender and backhanded a pass to Gladiuk for a break down the left wing. Gladiuk then deked around Ginn to find the back of the net.

Before the game, Bentley's six seniors were honored for their contributions to the program; goalie Blake Dougherty (East Amherst, N.Y./Bay State), captain Alex Grieve (Calgary, Alberta/Westside), forwards Alex Kubiak (Tinley Park, Ill./Chicago), Switzer and defensemen Steve Weinstein (Los Angeles, Calif./Vernon) and Matt Maher (Avon, Conn./Westside).