Box Score GORHAM, Maine – The Norwich University men's ice hockey team swept its annual trip to Maine on Saturday with a 5-1 win over Southern Maine in another impressive balanced offensive showing at USM Ice Arena in ECAC East action.
Five different players scored goals as Norwich (16-2-2, 12-0-0 ECAC East) pulled away in the third period with three unanswered goals to turn a tight 2-1 game into a comfortable four-goal victory over the Huskies.
Senior Nevin Lawler (Fitchburg, Mass.), junior Dean Niezgoda (Brewster, Mass.) and sophomore Paul Russell (Andover, Mass.) each scored a goal and tallied an assist to lead the Cadets' offense. Sophomore Anthony Flaherty (South Boston, Mass.) also continued his recent scoring surge with two assists.
Norwich struck first blood at the 5:31 mark of the first period with Russell potting his sixth goal of the season off assists from Niezgoda and Corey Hale (Montreal, Quebec). Niezgoda sent a centering pass to Russell in front of the net and the puck deflected off of Russell's skate and into the back of the net to make it 1-0 Norwich.
Sophomore Austin Surowiec (Louisville, Ky.) notched his seventh goal of the season just past the midway point of the first off a beautiful tic-tac-toe setup from Tyler Piacentini (South Weymouth, Mass.) and Trevor Stewart (Denver, Colo.). Stewart fed a pass behind the goal line to Piacentini who went tape to tape with the pass and then Surowiec fired a shot over the glove of USM goalie Kyle Shapiro to make it 2-0 Norwich.
Southern Maine (4-13-0, 2-10- ECAC East) got a goal back at the 15:09 mark of the first period with Alex Pantalone beating Norwich freshman goalie Braeden Ostepchuk (Lethbridge, Alberta) off assists from Patrick Magliano and Chad O'Brien.
Neither side scored in the second period leaving Norwich with just a one-goal lead heading to the final 20 minutes. However, the Cadets upped the intensity and pumped in three goals in the final stanza to pull away for the win.
Sophomore Brendan Boyce (St. Albans, Vt.) got things rolling again with his fifth of the season beating Shapiro five-hole off assists from Flaherty and Lawler at the 6:00 mark.
Lawler added a shorthanded goal at the 10:07 mark also coming off an assist from Flaherty to stretch the lead to 4-1. Niezgoda capped the scoring at the 18:53 mark with his 10th goal of the season on an empty net with an assist from Russell.
Ostepchuk made 18 saves to improve to 8-2-0 on the season for Norwich. Shapiro made 31 saves to fall to 4-13 on the year for USM.
Norwich now leads the ECAC East standings by four points after UMass Boston beat Babson in overtime on Saturday as the two schools split their home-and-home series, which was the perfect scenario for the Cadets. NU is now four points up on UMass Boston and five points up on Babson as the Cadets continue their quest for their 17th straight ECAC East regular season title.
Norwich returns home to Kreitzberg Arena the next two weekends. The Cadets will host New England College and Saint Anselm on Jan. 30 and Jan. 31 respectively. They will then face Castleton and Skidmore on Feb. 6 and 7.
