Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich men's ice hockey team scored three goals in a span of 1:10 in the middle of the third period to rally from a 4-1 deficit and tie Babson 4-4 on Saturday afternoon at Kreitzberg Arena in ECAC East action.
Sophomore forward Tory Allan ignited the Cadets' comeback by side-stepping a Babson defender and beating Babson goaltender Zeke Testa on the backhand to cut the lead to 4-2 at the 7:28 mark of the third period.
Just 52 seconds later, Blake Forkey redirected a shot from Shawn Baker at the blue line and over the shoulder of Testa to make it 4-3. Scott Schroeder also picked up an assist as well.
Igor Martinez capped the rally and tied the game at four just 18 seconds later when he jammed home a loose rebound after Testa couldn't cover the puck from Emmond Bell's initial shot. Forkey also recorded an assist on the play.
Over the first 10 minutes of games, Norwich (12-5-2, 10-1-2 ECAC East) struggled to complete passes and transition out of its own zone due to a relentless Babson fore check.
The Beavers (9-8-2, 7-4-2 ECAC East) used the momentum gained from bottling up the potent NU offense and struck twice in a span of 1:29 with goals from Mike Hoban and Ben Kravitz to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
Norwich senior captain Chad Anderson cut the Babson lead to 2-1 at the 15:49 mark of the period with his eighth goal of the season with an assist from Schroeder.
Anderson skated along with the top of the left faceoff circle and then released a wrist shot through traffic that caught Testa off guard. He was only able to get a piece of his glove on the puck before it went into the back of the net.
The Beavers scored the lone goal of the second period when Ryan Smith scored his seventh goal of the season off assists from Jason Schneider and Jay Haseley.
Babson stretched its lead to 4-1 at the 4:10 mark of the third period when Schneider lit the lamp for his ninth goal of the season and 100th point of his career for the Beavers. The power play goal came off assists from Haseley and Dan Ahern.
Hoban's goal at the 10:25 mark of the first period ended Norwich goaltender Parker Carroll's consecutive-minute shutout streak at 134:06.
Carroll made 18 saves for Norwich and is now 5-0-1 on the season. Testa made 42 stops for Babson and is now 4-6-2.
Norwich outshot Babson 46-22.
With the tie and Castleton's 6-2 win over Conn. College, the Cadets have fallen into a first-place tie with the Spartans atop the ECAC East standings. Norwich will meet Castleton on Feb. 11 for what could determine the ECAC East regular season champion.
Norwich continues its home stand next weekend when it hosts arch-rival Middlebury on Friday at 7 p.m. for the inaugural "Great Whiteout" at Kreitzberg Arena. The Cadets follow up by hosting Williams at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
To view photos from the game click here
