Box Score
Video Highlights by Tanner Acebo, NU Sports Information
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Sophomore forward Nick Pichette (Massena, N.Y.) scored 1:24 into overtime to lift the Norwich University men's ice hockey team to its 11th Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East Tournament title with a 3-2 win over Babson College at Kreitzberg Arena on Saturday night.
After falling 2-1 to Babson the last two seasons in the ECAC East Championship, the third time proved to the charm as the Cadets avenged the last two losses to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
Pichette beat Babson junior goalie Jamie Murray with a quick wrist shot over the shoulder and into the top right corner of the net off a pass from behind the net from sophomore Tyler Piacentini (South Weymouth, Mass.). The goal was his fourth of the season and sent the raucous loud home crowd of over 1,800 home happy. Senior defenseman Corey Hale (Montreal, Quebec) also notched an assist on the game-winning goal.
Things looked bleak early for Norwich (24-3-1) after Babson jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first seven minutes. Jimmy Magrath scored at the 5:49 mark of the first period on a rebound in front of the net after an initial shot from the point by Joe DiPietro. Matt McMorrow tipped the shot and NU sophomore goalie Ty Reichenbach (Billings, Mont.) made a pad save, however the rebound kicked to Magrath and he buried it to put the Beavers up 1-0.
Babson (19-6-3) added to its lead 38 seconds later when a Norwich defensive miscue led to another Beaver goal. Babson was whistled for a delayed penalty which prompted Norwich to pull its goalie for the extra skater.
With the extra skater on the ice and the net vacated, Norwich had a shot blocked that kicked out of the zone and back towards center ice. A NU defender skated back to it but Babson's Max Franklin got his stick on his and caused him to whiff on the pass. The puck bounced off another Norwich defender and deflected back into the back of the net.
Norwich regrouped however with sophomore forward Dean Niezgoda (Brewster, Mass.) rallying the troops with a power play goal at the 7:20 mark to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Niezgoda scored his 13th goal of the season by redirecting a pass from William Pelletier (St. Jean Chrysostome, Quebec) past Murray at the top of the crease to give the Cadets life again.
Niezgoda struck again at the 17:15 mark of the first period with a beautiful tip into the top right corner of the net leaving Murray no chance. Niezgoda tipped Brian Rowland's (Waltham, Mass.) initial shot from the point for his 14th goal of the season to tie for the team lead. Pelletier notched an assist as well for his second of the night and brought his team-leading point total up to 38.
Neither side scored again for the next two periods with both teams settling into a defensive mindset trying not to be the first team to blink.
Both teams had great chances to win the game late in the third period with Dipietro ringing a slap shot from the blue line off the right post with 5:35 left. A little over a minute later, Rowland had a chance to tip the puck into a wide open net but he just missed getting his stick on a pass from Pelletier.
Murray made 29 saves for Babson to fall to 19-6-3 on the season. Reichenbach made 18 saves for Norwich to improve to 14-1-1. Both players were named to the All-Tournament team along with Niezgoda and Babson freshman defender Jake Donahue. UMass Boston's Jeremy Finger rounded out the All-Tournament squad.
Norwich will now await word in Monday's NCAA Tournament selection show to find out who its next opponent will be as they earned the ECAC East Tournament auto-bid into the 11-team field with the victory.
This will mark Norwich's 16th NCAA Tournament appearance and sixth straight. Saturday's ECAC East title was Norwich's fourth in the last six seasons and first since 2012 after Babson had won two straight crowns.
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