Box Score BABSON PARK, Mass. – The No. 1-ranked Norwich University men's ice hockey team won its 17th straight Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East regular season title with a 6-1 victory over No. 10/11 Babson College on Friday night at the Babson Skating Rink.
The Cadets (21-2-1, 17-0-0 ECAC East) got goals from six different skaters as they rolled to their seventh straight victory and clinch the season sweep over their ECAC East rivals.
Babson struck first with a goal by Tim Searles at the 7:52 mark of the second period, however it was all Norwich from there as the Cadets scored twice in the final four minutes of the middle stanza and then four more times in the third to power past the Beavers.
Sophomore defenseman Brian Rowland (Waltham, Mass.) got Norwich on the board at the 16:10 mark of the second period with a power play goal off an assist from Alec Brandrup (Rochester, Minn.) to knot the game up at 1-1.
Just 2:22 later, senior forward Gerard McEleney (Canton, Mass.) scored an unassisted goal for his ninth of the season and gave Norwich a lead that it would never look back from.
Norwich put the Beavers away for good with two goals just nine seconds apart near the midway point of the third period as sophomores William Pelletier (St. Jean Chrysostome, Quebec) and Nick Pichette (Massena, N.Y.) scored to put the dagger in the Beavers' upset hopes.
Freshman Payton Baldillez (Arlington, Texas) and senior forward Nevin Lawler (Fitchburg, Mass.) each added goals in the final 2:08 to make it 6-1 Norwich at the final buzzer.
Sophomore goalie Ty Reichenbach (Billings, Mont.) improved to 11-0-1 on the year after making a season-high 27 saves to earn the victory. Babson junior Jamie Murray was saddled with the loss to fall to 16-5-3 on the year after making 29 saves on 34 shots.
Norwich will close out the regular season on Saturday when it takes on UMass Boston at 3 p.m. at Clark Arena. The Cadets have clinched the No. 1 seed for the ECAC East Tournament, which begins next Saturday, Feb. 21. NU will host the No. 8 seed, which will either be Skidmore or Southern Maine at Kreitzberg Arena.
