NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's ice hockey team stayed perfect on the 2015-16 season, clawing past Saint Anselm College 1-0 on Friday night at Kreitzberg Arena in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action.

Junior defenseman Brian Rowland (Waltham, Mass.) scored a first-period goal and sophomore goalie Braeden Ostepchuk (Lethbridge, Alberta) made 29 saves to lead Norwich to its fourth-straight victory to open the season.

In a rare occurrence at Kreitzberg Arena, No. 3-ranked Norwich (4-0-0, 3-0-0 NEHC) was outshot 29-27 by the visiting Hawks. However, Rowland's goal midway through the first period and superb goaltending performance by Ostepchuk kept the Cadets perfect on the year.

Rowland scored the game's lone goal with a slap shot rip from the point after freshman defenseman Ben Hull (Littleton, Colo.) had a shot blocked. Rowland corralled the puck and ripped a hard, low shot that beat Saint Anselm goalie Shane Joyce short side.

That proved to be the difference in the game as Ostepchuk and the Norwich defense took over from there. Ostepchuk came up huge late in the first period with three sprawling saves in a matter of seconds all on Saint Anselm's Bryan Sullivan. The Cadets then took the puck up the ice and were stoned on a 2-on-1 chance with a sprawling pad save by Joyce to rob Piacentini on the post.

Norwich was whistled for five penalties, but the Cadets killed off every attempt for Saint Anselm, while NU was able to go 1-for-3 on their opportunities. Saint Anselm dominated the faceoff circle, winning 41-22.

Norwich nearly extended the lead multiple times in the third period with three shots that clanked off the post, including one by Paul Russell and another with Joyce pulled for an extra skater in the final minute of the period.

Saint Anselm drops to 2-2-0 overall and 2-1-0 in NEHC play. Norwich will look to sweep the weekend on Saturday afternoon when it hosts New England College at 4 p.m. at Kreitzberg Arena in another NEHC contest.