Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University women's ice hockey team defeated the Univ. of New England 5-0 on Saturday night at Kreitzberg Arena in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action.
Sophomore forward Maki Shuchuk (Madison, Wis.) had a goal and an assist, while Desirae Kuhlmann (Swift Current, Saskatchewan) and Christine Bouchat-Bonin (St.-Bernard-De-Lacolle, Quebec) each had two assists to lead the Cadets to their eighth straight victory.
Norwich (17-6-0, 14-1-0 NEHC) has locked up the No. 1 seed for the NEHC playoffs, which begin on Saturday, Feb. 27. However, the Cadets still need three points; or a win over Holy Cross next weekend in order to clinch their sixth straight league regular season title.
Senior Madison Gallagher (Kirkland, Quebec) opened the scoring at the 3:49 mark of the first period off an assist from Adelle Murphy (Roseau, Minn.) to give the Cadets a lead that they would never look back from. The goal was Gallagher's sixth of the season as she continued to fill the stat sheet after being moved up from defense to forward in January.
Shuchuk scored her third goal of the season at the 13:39 mark of the first period to stretch the lead to 2-0. Shuchuk blasted a one-timer into the bottom left corner of the net after Bocuhat-Bonin was denied on a save. Carly Menges (Novelty, Ohio) picked up the second assist.
Freshman defenseman Maggie Conroy (Batavia, Ill.) scored her first collegiate goal at the 8:28 mark of the second period to increase the Norwich lead to 3-0. Conroy lifted a shot just under the cross bar off a feed from Bouchat-Bonin and a second assist from Shuchuk.
Just over a minute later Bryn Labbe (Calgary, Alberta) tallied her team-leading 12th goal of the season off an assist from Kuhlmann at the 9:38 mark of the second period to make it 4-0.
Erin Joyce (Manchester, N.H.) capped the scoring when she buried a rebound into a wide open net after Kuhlmann's initial shot from the point rang off the post and kicked back out to Joyce. The goal came at 3:36 of the third period and was Joyce's sixth of the season.
Junior Celeste Robert (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec) made 12 saves to record her second straight shutout and her seventh overall of the season. She also improved to 11-4-0 on the year. Sydney Helmbrecht fell to 11-7-2 on the year after making 16 saves in 46 minutes of action. Samantha Scobee came on to make 11 saves for UNE in the remainder of the game.
Norwich hosts Castleton and Holy Cross next weekend in its final two games of the regular season. The Cadets face the Spartans at 7 p.m. on Friday, looking to enact some revenge on CU after Norwich lost for the first-time ever vs. the Spartans last time out. NU then hosts Holy Cross at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
