GORHAM, Maine – Freshmen forwards Matt Baldino (Woburn, Mass.) and Ben Morgan (Calgary, Alberta) each scored a goal to lead the top-ranked Norwich University men's ice hockey team to a 2-0 win over the University of Southern Maine on Saturday afternoon at the USM Ice Arena.

Southern Maine and freshman goalie Josh Hillegas stifled the Norwich offense for over 35 minutes until Baldino finally solved the Huskies' goalie by knocking home a loose puck in the crease on the weak side at the 15:18 mark of the second period.

The Cadets' fourth line of Baldino along with juniors Francois Gatien (Boucherville, Quebec) and Shane Gorman (Trumbull, Conn.) had been buzzing all period creating NU's best scoring chances of the second stanza. Finally on their third impressive shift in a row, Baldino netted his first career goal to give the Cadets a 1-0 lead, beating a sprawled out Hillegas off a pass from the corner from Gorman. Gatien also picked up an assist on the goal.

Morgan stretched the lead to 2-0 early in the third period when he slid a puck behind Hillegas after he was left all alone in front at the 2:04 mark of the third period. Hillegas made an initial save on sophomore forward Nevin Lawler's (Fitchburg, Mass.) initial shot from the side boards. However, the USM goalie couldn't quite get his left pad to the post in time to stone Morgan on the second opportunity.

Norwich (16-2-0, 11-1-0 ECAC East) dominated right from the opening faceoff, controlling the puck for almost the entire period and holding a 12-1 shots on goal advantage. Southern Maine didn't register its first shot on goal until nearly 12 minutes into the contest when Jon Grandinetti forced Norwich sophomore goalie Matic Marinsek (Ljubljana, Slovenia) to make his first save of the game.

Norwich continued to mount offensive pressure in the second period, outshooting the Huskies 12-2 in the middle stanza.

Down 2-0 in the third, Southern Maine started to open up a little more in search of its first goal, the Huskies totaled eight shots on goal in the period, but Marinsek stood tall to record his fourth shutout of the season and pick up his sixth victory. He stopped all 11 shots he faced in his first game between the pipes since Jan. 5 against Neumann in the Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament championship game.

Hillegas made 32 saves for Southern Maine to fall to 6-9-0 on the year. Norwich swept the season series from Southern Maine after the Cadets beat USM 6-0 earlier this season at Kreitzberg Arena. Saturday afternoon's game featured just one penalty with USM taking the lone minor and Norwich going unscathed throughout the full 60 minutes.

Norwich has now won three in a row and five of its last six as they come back to the friendly confines of Kreitzberg Arena for four straight home games starting with New England College on Friday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m.

-CADETS-