Box Score 

NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Nikita Kashirsky scored two goals and added three assists, and nine other Cadets tallied goals as the Norwich University men's ice hockey team trampled Colby College, 12-3, Friday evening in an ECAC East-NESCAC Interlock contest at Kreitzberg Arena.

Norwich (12-7-4, 10-5-3 ECAC East) exploded in the first period, jumping out to a commanding 5-1 lead after the opening 20 minutes. The Cadets scored their first goal of the period just 3 minutes, 27 seconds into the stanza when Craig Serino netted his fifth marker of the season. Serino had the puck behind the Mules' net and then banked it off of a Colby defenseman and past Cody McKinney for the unassisted marker.

Norwich made it 2-0 at the 7:19 mark when Chad Anderson scored his ninth goal of the year off a pretty pass from Kashirsky. Kashirsky dug the puck out along the right boards and fired a pass to Anderson, who rammed it home. Rico Piatelli, who helped start the play, picked up an assist as well.

Colby (5-15-3, 3-13-2 NESCAC) cut its deficit in half moments later when Chris Talbert found Matt Rappaport behind the Norwich defense. Rappaport took the puck, skated in all alone and then flipped it puck past NU goaltender David Thompson for his third goal of the season.

Norwich dominated the remainder of the first period, scoring three more goals to open up a 5-1 lead. Emmond Bell started the scoring spree at the 12:06 mark when he took a long up-ice pass from Pasha Kozhokin and blasted a shot from the right face-off circle that beat McKinney for his eighth goal of the year.

C.J. Viso found Owen Carpino for his second goal of the season at the 15:16 mark to push Norwich's lead to 4-1. Jim Koehler rounded out the scoring at the 18:36 mark when he scored off a rebound. Viso and Ryan Oliver were credited with assists on Koehler's goal, which was his third of the season.

Norwich completely dominated Colby in the first period, outshooting the Mules 17-4 in the stanza.

The Cadets continued to pile it on in the second stanza, outscoring the Mules 4-1 in the middle period. Norwich wasted little time making it 6-1 as Shawn Baker scored just 65 seconds into the frame. The goal, Baker's second of the season, was assisted by Kashirsky and Piatelli. Kashirsky got into the scoring column at the 8:41 mark when the netted a power play goal. The tally was set up by Tyler Stitt and Steve Coon. D.J. Fimiani made it 8-1 in favor of the Cadets at the 10:32 mark when he scored off assists from Craig Serino and Nick Quagliani.

Colby's Chris Buonomo scored a power play goal off assists from Patrick Bursee and Jeoffrey Jarnot at the 13:57 to pull the Mules to within 8-2. Fimiani finished the scoring in the second period when he scored his second marker of the game at the 16:04 mark.

Norwich outshot Colby, 15-6, in the second period and the Cadets carried a 9-2 lead into the final frame.

Colby's Mike White scored off assists from Wil Hartigan and Billy Crinnion at 2:19 of the third to make it 9-3, but then Norwich scored three unanswered goals to round out the scoring.

Coon and Kashirsky set up Piatelli for his eighth goal of the year at the 12:42 mark to push the Cadets' lead to 10-3. Less than four minutes later, Tim Houston scored a short-handed goal to make it 11-3. Bell and Eric Tallent were credited with assists on the goal, which was Houston's third of the season. Kashirsky rounded out the scoring with his team-leading 16th marker of the season at the 16:38 mark when he potted an unassisted goal.

The 12 goals scored by the Cadets mark the most for Norwich in a game since defeating Castleton, 16-0, in the 2004-05 ECAC East Tournament quarterfinals.

Thompson stopped 11 of the 14 shots that he faced to earn his first win of the season. The junior improves his personal record to 1-2-0 on the year. Freshman goalie Brad Werhun came on for the final 1:53 and stopped all three shots that he faced in his first collegiate action. McKinney yielded nine goals on 37 shots in the loss. Dean Feole played the first 10:32 of the second period and allowed three goals on just eight Norwich shots. He was quickly pulled and McKinney finished the game in the Mules' net.

Norwich outshot Colby, 45-17, in the game. The Cadets went 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Mules were 1-for-4 with the man advantage.

Norwich's win keeps the Cadets one point in front of Castleton in the ECAC East standings with just one game left in the regular season for each team. The Spartans defeated Wesleyan, 3-2, this evening to keep pace with Norwich and remain in contention for the conference's regular season title. New England College tied Southern Maine, 2-2, tonight, and that result eliminates the Pilgrims from the race for the league crown as they now trail Norwich by three points with just one game left.

Norwich will return to the ice at Kreitzberg Arena on Saturday, Feb. 21, for the Cadets' regular season finale against NESCAC rival Bowdoin. A Norwich victory would send the Cadets to their 11th straight ECAC East regular season title and make them the top seed in the upcoming conference tournament.

It will be Senior Day for the Cadets, and NU seniors C.J. Viso, Rico Piatelli, Nikita Kashirsky and Jim Koehler will be honored prior to the game.  Faceoff for Saturday's contest is slated for 4 p.m. The game will be available live on the radio (WDEV: FM-96.1/AM-550), and on the internet (www.cadetsradio.com). A live videostream broadcast of the game will be available on CadetsVision via B2 Networks.