NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Rick Cleaver, Nick DelGallo,
Sylvain Messier, Eric Lauriault and Roman Krivda all scored goals
as the fifth-ranked Norwich University men's ice hockey team
defeated UMass-Boston, 5-2, in an ECAC East Tournament semifinal
contest Saturday afternoon at Kreitzberg Arena.
The win propels the Cadets into the ECAC East championship game,
where they will take on the sixth-seeded Salem State Vikings, who
upset fourth-seeded New England College, 4-2, in the other
semifinal contest. The title game will be played on Sunday, March
9, at 3 p.m., at Kreitzberg Arena. The contest can be heard on the
radio (WDEV: AM-550, FM-96.1), and on the internet (http://www.cadetsradio.com/). A
live webcast of the game is also available at http://www.fasthockey.com.
Norwich (21-6-0) got on the board early in the first period when
Cleaver scored a power play goal at the 2:11 mark. The marker,
Cleaver's team-leading 28th of the season, came off assists from
Lauriault and Nikita Kashirsky.
UMass-Boston actually outshot Norwich, 12-11, in the first
period, but the Beacons were unable to get anything past Cadets
goaltender David Thompson.
NU doubled its lead just 16 seconds into the second period when
DelGallo netted his seventh goal of the season at the 19:44 mark.
The play started harmlessly enough when Eric Ouellette dumped the
puck into the UMass-Boston zone following the opening faceoff.
UMass-Boston goaltender Ryan Donovan skated behind his net to play
the puck, but it took an awkward carom off the boards and trickled
out in front of the cage where DelGallo scooped it up and ripped it
into the gaping net.
UMass-Boston (11-14-2) got on the scoreboard at the 3:01 mark of
the second period when Matt Atsoff scored off an assist from Eric
Tufman. Tufman controlled the puck behind the NU net, and then slid
a pass out in front to Atsoff who beat Thompson with his 12th goal
of the season.
Norwich outshot UMass-Boston, 11-8, in the second stanza, but
the Beacons hung tough and the game remained 2-1 as it entered the
final 20 minutes.
The Cadets broke the game open with three goals in the third
period. Messier began the rally when he scored a power play goal at
the 3:05 mark. The freshman defenseman fired a wrist shot from the
point that beat Donovan for his fourth goal of the season.
Kashirsky picked up another assist on the goal, which turned out to
be the game-winning tally.
Lauriault made the score 4-1 at the 10:26 mark when he tallied
his 13th marker of the year off assists from Cleaver and D.J.
Fimiani. Krivda increased NU's lead to 5-1 just two minutes later
when he scored his third goal of the year at the 12:26 mark. Jim
Koehler and Nick Quagliani were each credited with assists on the
play.
UMass-Boston rounded out the scoring at the 15:36 mark when
Devin Hutchinson scored his third goal of the season to pull the
Beacons to within 5-2. Norwich shut UMass-Boston down after that
goal to secure the victory.
Norwich outshot UMass-Boston, 32-25, for the game. Thompson made
23 saves in goal for the Cadets as the sophomore improves to 13-2-0
on the year.
