NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's ice hockey team opened up the 2015 portion of its season with a 3-0 shutout victory over Colby College on Friday night in the opening round of the Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament at Kreitzberg Arena.

Norwich (10-0-1, 7-0-0 ECAC East) got a goal and assist each from junior Dean Niezgoda (Brewster, Mass.) and sophomore William Pelletier (St. Jean Chrysostome, Quebec), while sophomore goalie Ty Reichenbach (Billings, Mont.) made 21 saves to lead the Cadets to the victory. 

The Cadets will face Buffalo State on Saturday night at 7 p.m. for the 2015 Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament title after the Bengals were a 5-2 winner over 2013 tournament champion Neumann in the early game Friday.

Despite getting outshot 9-6 in the opening frame, Norwich was first on the scoreboard as Niezgoda notched his fourth of the year on the power play off an assist from Pelletier at the 13:17 mark to take a lead it would never relinquish.

Pelletier took an initial shot from the blue line that Niezgoda got a stick on and redirected down and into the corner of the net, leaving Colby goalie Sam Parker no chance to recover.

Colby (2-5-2, 0-4-2 NESCAC) continued to stymie the NU offense in the second period as the Mules bottled up the Cadets' breakout in the neutral zone. NU outshot Colby 11-5 in the middle stanza but couldn't add to its lead.

Finally, sophomore forward Paul Russell (Andover, Mass.) gave the Cadets some breathing room in the third period with his second tally of the season at the 6:18 mark off an assist from Tyler Piacentini (South Weymouth, Mass.) to push the led to 2-0.

Russell beat Parker five-hole after he corralled a pass in the slot from behind the net from Piacentini.

The Cadets added one more insurance marker at the 11:41 mark of the third period with Pelletier scoring on his backhand on a breakaway for his fifth goal of the season off an assist from Niezgoda.

Reichenbach was superb all game long for Norwich between the pipes, earning his fifth victory of the season and improving to 5-0-1. The Cadets have given up just 11 goals all season in 11 games for a 1.00 team goals against average, which ranks third in the country behind on Babson (0.73) and St. Norbert (0.91).

Colby held Norwich to a season-low 22 shots on goal. The Cadets finished 1-for-5 on the power play while the Mules were 0-for-4.

Norwich will look to extend its unbeaten streak to 12 straight on Saturday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Buffalo State. Neumann, coached by NU 2004 graduate Dominick Dawes will take on Colby at 4 p.m. in the consolation game.

-CADETS-