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NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's ice hockey team scored six unanswered goals to down in-state rival Castleton State 6-1 on Friday night at Kreitzberg Arena.
Whiteout conditions outside fit in well with a raucous crowd inside for Whiteout Night II as the Cadets got two goals from senior forward Kyle Thomas (Waltham, Mass) on their way to claiming their sixth straight victory in the Battle of Vermont rivalry. Junior forward Shane Gorman (Trumbull, Conn.) and freshman forward Dean Niezgoda (Brewster, Mass.) each chipped in with a goal and two assists as well for NU.
Norwich (19-2-0, 14-1-0 ECAC East) also won its sixth straight game and now needs only one point in its final three games to clinch its unprecedented 15th straight ECAC East regular season title.
After falling behind 1-0 on a shorthanded goal by Castleton's Josh Harris 5:07 into the game, Thomas jumpstarted the Norwich offense with an acrobatic diving goal to the tie the game up at the 10:51 mark of the first period.
Thomas sprawled out with a full extension dive to poke home a loose puck in the crease after Castleton goalie Erick Cinotti made an initial save on Blake Forkey's (Boca Raton, Fla.) shot from the half boards. Chris Duszynski (Okotoks, Alberta) also picked up an assist on Thomas' ninth goal of the season.
The two foes remained deadlocked until senior forward Colin Mulvey (Worcester, Mass.) tipped a pass from classmate Tory Allan (Davidson, Saskatchewan) into the top left corner of the net and past Cinotti at the 15:48 mark of the second period to give Norwich a 2-1 lead that it would hold onto for good. The goal was Mulvey's team-leading 16th of the year and continued his game-winning goal tendencies with his nation-leading eight game winner.
Niezgoda tacked on his second goal of the year by finally knocking home the puck off a scrum in front with just over a minute left in the period to give Norwich a 3-1 lead heading into the locker room for the second intermission.
Niezgoda finally shoved the puck past Cinotti after senior captain Pier-Olivier Cotnoir (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec) and Gorman took a couple of whacks at the puck to no avail. Cotnoir made an immediate impact with two assists in his return to the lineup for the first time in exactly one month after suffering an injury early in the second period at Middlebury on Jan. 8.
Norwich kept its foot on the gas in the third period and pulled away with two goals coming 1:06 apart from Forkey and Gorman to stretch the lead to 5-1. Forkey flipped a puck into a wide open net off a pass from Duszynski, while Gorman beat Cinotti five-hole in front off a feed from the corner from Niezgoda.
Castleton head coach Alex Todd called timeout after the Cadets' fifth goal and pulled Cinotti for freshman Jake Stafford coming out of the timeout.
Thomas capped the scoring with a pretty deke to fake out Stafford before sliding the puck behind the Spartans' goalie on the backhand for his 10th goal of the season and second of the night. Gorman and Niezgoda picked up assists on the goal after Niezgoda won the draw to Gorman who fed Thomas and then let the speedy winger do the rest of the work.
Junior goalie Chris Czarnota (Wakefield, Mass.) made 14 saves to pick up his 10th win of the season and improve to 10-1-0 on the year. Cinotti made 13 saves to fall to 11-5-0 on the season. Norwich outshot Castleton 21-15.
The Cadets close out their 2012-13 regular season home schedule tomorrow at 4 p.m. against Skidmore. Prior to the game, NU will honor its five seniors from the class of 2013.
Dean Niezgoda celebrates with Shane Gorman (16), Bryce Currier (2) and Ryan Whitell (7) following his goal in the second period of Friday night's 6-1 win over Castleton during Whiteout Night II at Kreitzberg Arena. (Jennifer Langille/Norwich University)
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