NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Chad Anderson, Rico Piatelli, Jim Koehler and Eric Lauriault all scored goals, and David Thompson made 22 saves in goal to help lead the 11th-ranked Norwich men's hockey team to a 4-2 victory over UMass-Dartmouth Friday evening at Kreitzberg Arena in the first round of the Times Argus Invitational.

Winners of five straight games, the Cadets (7-2-0) will face Babson in the Times Argus Invitational championship game on Saturday evening after the ninth-ranked Beavers came from behind to edge St. Olaf, 4-3, in the first game Friday afternoon.

Anderson and Piatelli each scored even strength goals within the first 3:31 of the game to jump out to a quick 2-0 lead. Anderson scored an unassisted tally at the 17:55 mark, while Piatelli converted off an assist from Adam Gaudreau at the 16:29 mark. The Cadets outshot the Corsairs, 16-6, in the opening period and led 2-0 after the opening stanza.

Koehler extended Norwich's lead to3-0 at the 7:17 mark of the second period when he scored what proved to be the game-winning goal off an assist from D.J. Fimiani. UMass-Dartmouth refused to go quietly into the cold Northfield night, however, scoring two goals over the next five minutes to trim NU's lead to 3-2 heading into the final 20 minutes. UMass-Dartmouth outshot Norwich, 13-8, in the second period.

Lauriault, who was back in the lineup for the first time since suffering a leg injury in the Primelink Shootout, added an insurance goal on a five-on-three power play with just 6:13 to play to ice the game away. Sylvain Messier and Eric Tallent were credited with assists on the play.

Thompson was steady in goal throughout the game, making several impressive stops en route to his sixth victory of the season.

The Cadets will play Babson at 7 p.m. in the Times Argus Invitational championship game at Kreitzberg Arena. The contest will be available on the radio (WDEV: AM-550, FM-96.1) or on the internet (http://www.cadetsradio.com/), with George Commo handling play-by-play duties.