Box Score SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Norwich women's ice hockey team dominated from start to finish to rout St. Michael's 10-0 on Friday night in ECAC East action at the C. Douglas Cairns Arena.
Junior forwards Julie Fortier and Melissa Rundlett led the offense with three points each. Fortier had two goals and an assist, while Rundlett added a goal and two assists. Sophomore forward Jillayne DeBus chipped in two goals as well for the Cadets.
Norwich (11-3-1, 8-0-1 ECAC East) struck first blood at the 6:12 mark of the first period when Sophie Leclerc scored her team leading 13th goal of the season. Leclerc beat St. Michael's goaltender Alysia Goldman with a wrist shot from the high slot that bounced off the post and into the back of the net to give the Cadets a 1-0 lead.
Fortier extended the lead to 2-0 with her seventh goal of the season at 16:18 mark of the period off assists from Rundlett and Renee Lortie. Fortier unleashed a wrist shot through traffic that beat Goldman top-shelf glove side.
Norwich outshot St. Michael's 16-4 in the period.
The Cadets opened it up in the second period with five goals in the first 10 minutes. Rundlett banged home a rebound at the top of the crease off an initial shot from Baylie Lamarre to make it 3-0 just 1:01 into the period.
Brittane Michaud made it 4-0 after she tipped a shot from Brittany Sharman on a power play. Sharman took an initial shot from the middle of the left faceoff circle and Michaud got a tip on the shot and redirected the puck through Goldman's five-hole to stretch the lead to 4-0 at the 5:26 mark.
Just 57 seconds later, Sarah Scardino made it 5-0 after she followed up an initial shot on a 2-on-1 odd-man rush with Stephanie Invernizzi.
Fortier made it 6-0 by converting on a breakaway opportunity 51 seconds later off an assist from Rundlett.
DeBus capped the scoring for the period with a goal off assists from Leclerc and Amanda Wilks at the 8:54 mark to make it 7-0.
Norwich outshot St. Michael's 28-3 in the second period.
DeBus made it 8-0 with her second goal of the game and 10th of the season off an assist from Michaud at the 10:36 mark of the third period.
Haley Gibson made it 9-0 with her first career goal with 4:22 left in the third period off an assist from Elle Kadel. Gibson slapped home a rebound into a wide-open net after Kadel had two shots denied by the St. Michael's goaltender.
Invernizzi capped the scoring with her third goal of the season to put the Cadets in double digits.
Cindy Fortin picked up her first shutout of the season in net for the Cadets as she turned aside all 11 shots she faced to improve to 9-1-0. Fortin kept her shutout bid alive when she stoned a St. Michael's forward on a breakaway midway through the second.
Norwich outshot St. Michael's 60-11.
Fortier's three-point night puts her within striking distance of the 100-career-point milestone. She currently has 47 goals and 49 assists so far in the Maroon and Gold.
Norwich returns home to Kreitzberg Arena to complete the home and home series with St. Michael's on Saturday with faceoff set for 7 p.m.
