NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Kyle Thomas lifted the Norwich men's ice hockey team to its second straight ECAC East Tournament championship by scoring the game-winning goal 17:53 into the first overtime to give the Cadets a 3-2 win on Saturday night at Kreitzberg Arena.
The sophomore forward from Waltham, Mass. took off from his own blue line after Pier-Olivier Cotnoir sent a clearing attempt cross ice from his defensive zone off the side boards near center ice. Thomas flew past a Babson defender and raced down the puck near the Babson blue line. He corralled the puck and then skated in on Babson goaltender Zeke Testa. Thomas took a quick wrist shot while evading the slash of Babson's Ryan Heavey that bounced off the inside of the post and into the back of the net.
Thomas also scored the game-tying goal on a nearly identical play as this time Greg Eskedjian sprung the speedy winger on a breakout pass from the NU defensive zone. Thomas flew past the Babson defense, skated in on Testa and shoved the puck through Testa's five-hole to knot the game up at two with 4:30 left in the third period.
After ending the first period in a 1-1 draw, Babson took the lead with less than a minute to go in the second period when Mike Hoban redirected a shot from Heavey from the point that caught NU goaltender Parker Carroll off guard and beat the NU goaltender short side to give the Beavers a lead they would hold onto until Thomas' late-game heroics.
Norwich (20-5-3) struck first when Tory Allan got the home crowd on its feet just 3:31 into the game by taking a pass from Travis Janke at the Babson blue line in stride. He split the Babson defenders and then rifled a hard, low shot past the glove of Testa to give Norwich a 1-0 lead.
Babson (11-14-3) answered a little under five minutes later when Hoban scored his first goal of the game on a backhand to beat Carroll far post and knot the game at one. Matt O'Neill and PT Donato picked up assists for the Beavers on the goal.
Both teams had multiple chances in the overtime, but each goaltender stood tall to keep their respective team in the game. Babson outshot Norwich 10-7 in the overtime and had the pressure on Norwich forcing NU head coach Mike McShane to call his timeout with 4:30 left in the overtime session.
Overall though, the Cadets outshot Babson 46-29 and carried the play for the majority of the contest while Babson hung tough with a strong transition game and quick counterattacks that forced Carroll to come up with a few huge saves.
Carroll made 27 saves to keep his unbeaten streak alive and improve to 12-0-2 since joining the Cadets midseason.
Testa made 43 saves for Babson and earned a spot on the All-Tournament team along with Hoban and O'Neill.
Thomas was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, while NU's representatives on the All-Tournament team were Scott Schroeder and Eskedjian.
The win marked the Cadets ninth ECAC East Tournament championship and stretched their unbeaten streak to 12 straight games.
Norwich advances to the NCAA Tournament with an automatic bid for winning the ECAC East Tournament and the Cadets will await word Sunday on when their first game will be.
2011 ECAC East All-Tournament Team
- Forward - Matt O'Neill, Babson
- Forward - Scott Schroeder, Norwich
- Forward - Mike Hoban, Babson
- Defense - Greg Eskedjian, Norwich
- Goalie - Zeke Testa, Babson
Most Valuable Player - Kyle Thomas, Norwich
