Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The No. 3-ranked Norwich University men's ice hockey team opened its 2012-13 regular season with a 6-2 win over St. Michael's College on Saturday night at Kreitzberg Arena.
Sophomore defenseman Alec Thieda (Rochester Hills, Mich.) and senior forward Blake Forkey (Boca Raton, Fla.) each scored a goal and added an assist, while senior forward Kyle Thomas (Waltham, Mass.) notched three assists to help extend Norwich's home unbeaten streak to 30 straight games.
Norwich (1-0-0, 1-0-0 ECAC East) opened the scoring 6:58 into the game on the power play when senior captain Pier-Olivier Cotnoir (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec) scored the lone first period goal by blasting a howitzer from the blue line that beat St. Michael's goalie Mike Dizgun to the blocker side and gave the Cadets a 1-0 lead.
St. Michael's (0-2-0, 0-1-0 ECAC East), playing its first league game under new head coach Damian DiGiulian battled back though as just 29 seconds into the second period Josh Geary scored on the power play off assists from William Cote and Tim McAuliffe.
Geary was first to a rebound in the slot off an initial shot from William Cote and he poked the puck past a sprawled out Parker Carroll (West Chester, Pa.) along with another Norwich defenseman who was trying to block the net while Carroll recovered.
Just 23 seconds later though junior defenseman Zac Fulton (East Thetford, Vt.) regained the lead for Norwich by blasting a slap shot through traffic from the top of the left faceoff circle that found its way past Dizgun off assists from Thomas and Forkey.
The Purple Knights wouldn't go away quietly though as they tied the game up again at the 3:56 mark of the second period when Petr Soustal wristed a low shot past Carroll to the far post blocker side.
Norwich regained the lead for good at the 6:48 mark when Mulvey banged home a loose rebound in the crease into a wide open net after Dizgun made an initial save on a shot from Corey Hale (Montreal, Quebec) at the blue line. Travis Janke (Swift Current, Saskatchewan) recorded an assist on the goal as well.
Forkey gave Norwich some breathing room by making it 4-2 with just 15 seconds left in the second period by scoring off the cross bar while falling to the ice off assists from Thomas and Thieda.
Norwich put the icing on the cake a little over midway through the third period when junior forward Chris Duszynski (Okotoks, Alberta) and Thieda scored 17 seconds apart to cap the scoring on the night and give the Cadets a 6-2 lead.
Duszynski worked a pretty give-and-go with Ben Morgan (Calgary, Alberta) for the Cadets' fifth goal that ended with Duszynski roofing the puck into the top right corner of the net leaving a scrambling Dizgun with no chance.
Thieda kept the Kreitzberg faithful on their feet by knocking a shot from the top of point past Dizgun that pinballed before going into the back of the net before Duszynski's goal was even finished being announced on the PA.
Norwich outshot St. Michael's 34-21 and was 2-for-4 on the power play while the Purple Knights were 1-for-2.
Carroll made 19 saves for Norwich to pick up his 31st career victory. Dizgun stopped 28 shots for St. Michael's in the loss.
Norwich returns to action next weekend at Kreitzberg Arena when the Cadets host Southern Maine at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 9. NU then follows up with the University of New England on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Nor'Easters are coming off a 3-2 overtime win over 11th-ranked Castleton State.
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