Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Freshman forward Dean Niezgoda (Brewster, Mass.) scored two goals to lead the No. 1-ranked Norwich University men's ice hockey team to clinch its 15th straight ECAC East regular season title with a 4-3 victory over Skidmore College on Saturday afternoon at Kreitzberg Arena.
Niezgoda scored the eventual game-winning goal at the 13:06 mark of the third period to briefly give the Cadets (20-2-0, 15-1-0 ECAC East) a two-goal lead off assists from senior forwards Blake Forkey (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Kyle Thomas (Waltham, Mass.)
Thomas took an initial shot that deflected to Forkey's stick to the left of the Skidmore net. Forkey slid the puck through the slot over to Niezgoda who beat the Thoroughbreds' goalie Ben Freiberg to the right post to give Norwich a 4-2 lead.
Skidmore (11-11-2, 8-8-1 ECAC East) wouldn't got away quietly though as they cut the lead to one again for the third time in the game when David Limoges beat Norwich goalie Matic Marinsek (Ljubljana, Slovenia) off a faceoff play just three seconds into a penalty on Thomas.
Brad Schuler won the draw over to Limoges who fired a wrist shot past Marinsek to cut the lead to 4-3 with 3:46 remaining in regulation.
Norwich took another penalty with exactly two minutes left in the game to give Skidmore a chance to score its third power play goal on the night. However, just 30 seconds into the man advantage the Thoroughbreds took a penalty of their own to negate the power play for the remainder of the game.
Skidmore pulled its goalie with 58 seconds left in search of the equalizer, but it would never come as Norwich escaped with the 4-3 win in its final regular season home game of 2012-13.
Despite dominating the opening period, outshooting Skidmore 13-3, Norwich wasn't able to solve Freiberg until the 18:09 mark when senior forward Colin Mulvey (Worcester, Mass.) registered his team-leading 17th goal of the season. Tory Allan (Davidson, Sask.) and Travis Janke (Swift Current, Sask.) each tallied assists on the goal. Saturday was also Mulvey's 100th career game in the Maroon & Gold.
Norwich didn't need nearly as long to extend its lead to 2-0 as just 2:48 into the second period Niezgoda tapped home a pass from Pier-Olivier Cotnoir (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec) on a 2-on-1 break for his third goal of the season.
Skidmore finally got on the board at the 8:43 mark of the second period when Tony Giacin took two swings at a puck on top of the crease before finally shoveling it past Marinsek for an unassisted tally to cut the Norwich lead to 2-1.
Junior defenseman Zac Fulton (East Thetford, Vt.) made it 3-1 when he blasted a slap shot from the point that glanced off the glove of Freiberg before finding the twine of the net off assists from Allan and Mulvey.
Skidmore answered just 54 seconds later on the power play when Aaron Beck pounced on a loose rebound in front of the net to slide the puck under Marinsek after he couldn't control the rebound off an initial shot by Aaron Beck from the point. Jack Even also picked up an assist on the goal for the Thoroughbreds.
Marinsek made 19 saves to record his ninth victory of the season and improve to 9-1-0. Freiberg stopped 25 shots to fall to 8-5-0 on the year.
With Saturday's win, Norwich swept the season series with Skidmore after beating the Thoroughbreds 7-3 earlier this season in Saratoga Springs. Norwich also improved to 17-1-1 all-time against Skidmore.
The Cadets close out the regular season on the road at UMass-Boston and Babson next weekend. NU faces Babson on Friday at 7 p.m. before closing out the regular schedule on Saturday at 4 p.m. against UMass-Boston.
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