NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Senior forward Shane Gorman (Trumbull, Conn.) scored with 3:50 left in the third period to help the Norwich University men's ice hockey team salvage a 2-2 tie with Saint Anselm on Friday night at Kreitzberg Arena in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East action.

Despite outshooting Saint Anselm 47-25, Norwich could only muster two goals past Saint Anselm senior goalie Nick Dries as the Cadets suffered their first blemish on their 2013-14 season record. Norwich is now 4-0-1 overall and 3-0-1 in ECAC East play, while Saint Anselm is 0-3-2 overall and 0-3-2 in ECAC East games.

Gorman scored the game-tying goal to stave off Saint Anselm's upset bid. Gorman took a pass from senior forward Travis Janke (Swift Current, Sask.) in the slot and had an initial shot blocked by Dries. However, Gorman found his rebound and shoveled the puck towards the net again. The puck squeezed through Dries pads and just trickled over the line inside the left post to send the Kreitzberg faithful into a frenzy. Senior defenseman Zac Fulton (East Thetford, Vt.) also picked up an assist on the goal.

Neither side was able to score for the remainder of regulation, or in the five-minute overtime and for the first time in the two schools' all-time series history, they ended a game in a tie.

Saint Anselm had the best chance to win the game after NU tied it up with Johnny Daniels just pushing a shot wide on a breakaway.

Norwich opened the scoring at the 16:20 mark of the first period when freshman forward Paul Russell (Andover, Mass.) netted his fourth goal of the season off assists from Dean Niezgoda (Brewster, Mass.) and Nick Pichette (Massena, N.Y.).

Russell corralled a pass in the mid slot, spun and fired a wrist shot that eluded Dries and found the twine to put Norwich up 1-0 heading into the first intermission.

Saint Anselm responded though in the second period with two power play goals coming at the 7:33 mark and the 19:45 mark of the middle frame to take a 2-1 lead into the locker room after two. Joe Tebano fired a shot into a wide open net from the left wing after a long rebound kicked out to him off an initial shot from Greg Merrill.

Kevin Vanous finished off a nifty individual effort by Bryan Sullivan in the closing seconds of the second period to give Saint Anselm its first lead of the game. Sullivan won the puck clean forward on a faceoff with Niezgoda and started to break out of the zone. He carried the puck all the way to the Norwich blue line before sliding a pass over to Vanous. Vanous took the pass and fired a low shot that beat Marinsek to the far post.

Marinsek made 23 saves for Norwich and is now 3-0-1 on the year. Dries made 45 saves for Saint Anselm. Norwich finished 0-for-6 on the power play while Saint Anselm was 2-for-5.

Norwich returns to action tomorrow afternoon when it hosts New England College at 4 p.m. at Kreitzberg Arena. New England College is 5-1-0 on the year and is coming off a 4-2 win over St. Michael's on Friday night.

-CADETS-