NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich men's ice hockey team
rallied from back-to-back 4-4 ties in its last two games with a
dominating 3-0 shutout of Williams on Saturday night at Kreitzberg
Arena in ECAC East/NESCAC Interlock action.
The Cadets (13-5-3, 11-1-3 ECAC East) scored three first-period
goals to pull away from the Ephs early and never let them into the
game.
Sophomore forward Colin Mulvey opened the
scoring 5:11 into the first period with his fourth goal of the
season. Mulvey took an outlet pass from Pasha
Kozhokin and skated in from the wing. He cut across the
top of the crease and tucked the puck past Williams'
goaltender Ryan Purdy to give the Cadets a 1-0
lead.
Just 1:48 later, Scott Schroeder put home his
team-leading 13th goal off an assist from Chad Anderson
in the slot to push the lead to 2-0.
Freshman forward Travis Janke capped the
scoring with his 10th tally of the season off an assist
from Chris Duszynski at the 17:46 mark of the
first period.
Freshman goaltender Parker Carroll picked up
his third shutout of the season, turning aside all 18 shots he
faced and improve to 6-0-2 on the season.
Purdy made 44 saves to keep Williams (11-6-2, 8-5-1 NESCAC) in
the game, but the Ephs' offense never had a chance to get
going as Norwich dominated the puck possession throughout.
Norwich outshot Williams 47-18. The Cadets were 0-for-2 on the
power play, while Williams was 0-for-3.
The Cadets are still tied at the top of the ECAC East standings
with Castleton after the Spartans defeated the University of New
England 6-0. Saturday's results set up the showdown of the
season next
Friday when the Cadets travel to Rutland to take on Castleton at
Spartan Arena in a game that could end up deciding the ECAC East
regular season champion.
The fourth-ranked Cadets have won 13 straight regular season
titles coming into this season. Norwich will follow up with
Skidmore on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. in Saratoga Springs,
N.Y.
