Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – It was déjà vu all over again for the Norwich men's ice hockey team on Saturday night at Kreitzberg Arena.
Last year, the Cadets (18-5-3, 15-1-3 ECAC East) started their run to the ECAC East Tournament title with an 8-1 win over the University of New England in the quarterfinal round.
Norwich repeated the feat with a 10-2 win over the Nor'Easters (6-19-0, 3-16-0 ECAC East) to advance to the ECAC East final four where the Cadets will host sixth-seeded Southern Maine, who upset UMass-Boston 4-1.
Scott Schroeder, Emmond Bell, and Tory Allan chipped in two goals each to lead the NU offense.
Allan needed just 2:27 to put the Cadets on the board when he banged home a loose rebound in the slot after an initial shot from Shawn Baker at the point was blocked by UNE goalie Connor Brogan.
Blake Forkey worked a give-and-go with Schroeder to make it 2-0 Cadets at the 6:53 mark of the first period.
UNE cut the lead to 2-1 when Jack Nolin scored his 10th goal of the season at the 11:09 mark of the period.
However, Schroeder potted his 16th of the season off an assist from Travis Janke below the goal line to give the Cadets a two-goal lead again heading into the first intermission.
Zac Fulton sparked a five-goal second period for Norwich with his first career goal on a slap shot from the blue line that found its way into the back of the net at the 4:59 mark of the second period.
Kyle Thomas, Bell, Schroeder, and Pier-Olivier Cotnoir all tallied goals in the second period as well to give the Cadets an 8-1 lead after two periods.
Allan and Bell each scored their second goal of the night in the third period to give NU a 10-1 lead, before UNE got one back with Justin Miner's third goal of the season.
Norwich's Parker Carroll remained unbeaten on the season making four saves on five shots to improve to 10-0-2 on the year. Brogan was saddled with the loss after turning aside 20 shots out of 26 to drop to 4-3-0.
The 10 goals scored Saturday night is the most Norwich has scored in a game this season. The previous best was nine against St. Anselm.
Norwich outshot UNE 50-7 and was 1-for-3 on the power play, while UNE was 1-for-2.
The Cadets are now unbeaten in their last 10 games.
The official schedule for next weekend's ECAC East final four will pit fifth-seeded Babson against No. 2 Castleton at 7 p.m., while the Cadets will host Southern Maine at 4 p.m.
The winners will meet in the championship game on Saturday at 7 p.m. after the two women's semifinal games are played.
