Box
Score
NORTHFIELD, Vt. - The No. 1-ranked Norwich
University men's ice hockey team secured its eighth ECAC East
Tournament title on Saturday evening by defeating Babson College,
4-1, in front of 2,204 spectators in the tournament's title game at
Kreitzberg Arena.
The top-seeded Cadets, who will advance to the NCAA Tournament
for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign, improve to 23-1-4.
The second-seeded Beavers, meanwhile, finish their 2009-10 season
with an overall record of 14-12-2.
The Cadets, who earned the ECAC East's automatic bid into the
NCAA Tournament field, will now wait until Sunday evening to
discover their fate. The tournament's selections and matchups will
be released on Sunday evening right here on Norwich's official
athletics web site (www.norwichathletics.com),
after the NCAA makes its official announcement.
Freshman F Tory Allen and junior D Greg Eskedjian paced the
Cadets' offense with one goal and one assist apiece. Freshman F
Pier-Oliver Cotnoir added two assists, while freshman F Scott
Schroeder and sophomore F Emmond Bell each added one goal each.
Norwich outshot Babson 8-6 during a scoreless first period.
The Cadets broke the deadlock early in the second stanza when
Allen scored his eighth goal of the year off assists from Eskedjian
and Cotnoir at the 1:33 mark. Eskedjian took a pass from Cotnoir at
the blue line and fired a shot at Babson goaltender Zeke Testa.
Testa was able to save Eskedjian's attempt, but the rebound caromed
to Allen, who was able to poke the puck into the net.
The Cadets made it 2-0 later in the second period when Schroeder
scored his seventh goal of the season off a beautiful pass from his
twin brother freshman F Steven Schroeder. Allen was responsible for
starting the play as the first-year forward moved the puck to
Steven Schroeder. He then worked a pretty two-on-one play with his
brother, drawing Testa out of the cage before sliding a pass to
Scott Schroeder. He had plenty of net to shoot at, and he buried
the puck into the goal to put Norwich in front 2-0 at the 18:26
mark.
NU completely dominated the second period, outshooting Babson by
a 20-8 margin.
Norwich delivered the knockout punch early in the third period
when Bell scored his seventh marker of the year off a feed from
sophomore F Tim Houston. Cotnoir, who helped break the puck out of
the NU zone, got credit for an assist on the goal as well.
Babson broke up the shutout bid late in the third period when
Chris Wood scored with 43 seconds remaining. The goal, which was
assisted by Mike McMahon, came after the Beavers had pulled Testa
in favor of the extra attacker.
Norwich completed the scoring when Eskedjian scored an empty-net
goal with just five ticks left on the clock. The unassisted marker
was Eskedjian's sixth of the season.
Klingensmith, who was named the tournament's Most Valuable
Player, finished with 26 saves for the Cadets. Scott Schroeder,
Allen and senior D Tyler Stitt all represented Norwich on the
all-tournament team. Ryan Smith and Wood were named to the
all-tournament team for Babson.
Testa, who finished with 30 saves for the Beavers in the loss,
set the Babson program record for goals-against average this season
(2.03).
Norwich outshot Babson 34-27 in the game. Both teams went
0-for-2 on the power play.
