Box Score AMHERST, Mass. – The Norwich University men's ice hockey team's season came to a crushing end with a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime loss to Amherst College in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
A fluke bounce off a Norwich player's stick off a faceoff in the Norwich zone deflected into the back of the net at the 8:12 mark of overtime to punch Amherst's ticket to the 2015 NCAA Division III Frozen Four in Minneapolis, Minn.
Amherst senior forward Mike Rowbotham was credited with the goal after he fed a crossing pass to the center of the goal mouth and bounced into a wide-open net to send the Orr Rink faithful into jubilation. The Lord Jeffs (22-4-2) rallied from three different one-goal deficits, scoring within three minutes of Norwich's goal each time.
The loss marked the second straight year that Norwich's (25-4-1) season ended in the NCAA Quarterfinals. Geneseo knocked off the Cadets 3-2 in last year's quarterfinal round. It also marked the end of the careers for six Norwich seniors in Alec Thieda (Rochester Hills, Mich.), Bryce Currier (Essex Junction, Vt.), Nevin Lawler (Fitchburg, Mass.), Corey Hale (Montreal, Quebec), Gerard McEleney (Canton, Mass.) and Matic Marinsek (Ljubljana, Slovenia).
Freshman forward Justin Charbonneau (Bromont, Quebec) opened the scoring at the 6:46 mark of the first period with his sixth goal of the season off an assist from William Pelletier (St. Jean Chrysostome, Quebec) to give Norwich an early 1-0 lead.
Pelletier picked off an Amherst pass at the side of the cage and then he dropped the puck back to a crashing Charbonneau. Charbonneau skated to his left across the goalmouth and outwaited Amherst goalie Danny Vitale as he scrambled to stay with him before flipping it past the Lord Jeffs' netminder as he dove across the crease.
Amherst answered less than three minutes later with NESCAC Rookie of the Year David White firing a quick wrist shot off a left wing rush into the bottom right corner of the net to beat Ty Reichenbach (Billings, Mont.) and knot the game up at 1-1.
Amherst had two more golden chances to take its first lead of the game, but Mike Cashman rang a shot off the right post while all along in front and White just whistled a wrist shot high to the left corner of the net toward the end of the period.
Amherst continued to keep up the pressure at the start of the second period with a 4-on-3 power play opportunity that nearly resulted in its first lead of the game. Amherst worked the puck effectively across the top of its diamond set-up and Mike Rowbotham was robbed by an outstanding post to post pad save by Reichenbach to keep it 1-1.
The Lord Jeffs continued to control the possession and pace of the game until Norwich had a counterattack at the 12:04 mark of the frame with senior defenseman Corey Hale (Montreal, Quebec) rifling a slap shot from the point top shelf and over the shoulder of Vitale off assists from Dean Niezgoda (Brewster, Mass.) and Pelletier.
Once again Amherst didn't take long to counter as the Lord Jeffs tied it with 3:05 later with Andrew Fenwick shoveling home a rebound on the left post past Reichenbach after Patrick Arena missed a chance at a wide-open net. The puck bounced back to the side of the net and Fenwick beat Reichenbach before he could recover to knot it up at 2-2.
Norwich controlled the play for nearly the entire third period, outshooting Amherst 23-8 in the frame and keeping the Lord Jeffs bottled up in their own end for a majority of it.
Pelletier put the Cadets up 3-2 with 1:51 left in the third period, scoring on a 2-on-1 rush with Niezgoda feeding a perfect crossing pass over to him and Pelletier flicking it past a diving Vitale for his 17th goal of the season.
Amherst would not go quietly though and for the third time the Lord Jeffs would answer, even after having two goals waved off in the final minute. The third time proved to be the charm as Amherst's Aaron Deustch scored with a wrist shot from the top of the slot that beat Reichenbach five-hole to tie the game up at 3-3 and send Orr Rink into a frenzy.
Reichenbach made 26 saves to finish the season 15-2-1. Vitale made 43 saves for Amherst to improve to 15-3-2.
