NORTHFIELD, Vt. – After dropping out of the USCHO.com rankings for the first time since 2009, the Norwich University men's ice hockey team made a resounding statement 5-1 win over No. 6/7 Babson College on Friday night at Kreitzberg Arena.

Norwich (14-7-2, 9-5-2 NEHC) snapped a three-game winless skid led by two goals from junior Dmitry Ermakov (Columbia, Md.). Junior defenseman Brian Rowland (Waltham, Mass.) chipped in with a goal and an assist as well to help lead the Cadets' offense as they avenged a 5-1 loss to Babson (15-5-1, 11-3-1 NEHC) earlier this season.

Sophomore goalie Braeden Ostepchuk (Lethbridge, Alberta) stopped 24 of 25 shots to improve to 11-4-1 with one of his best performances of the season.

Norwich took a 1-0 lead at the 7:59 mark of the first period with Rowland wristing a shot top shelf through a screen of traffic in front of the net that beat Babson goalie Matt Pompa for the Cadets first of three power play goals on the night. Sophomore Connor Evangelista (Wakefield, Mass.) and freshman Austin Evans (Whistler, British Columbia) notched assists on the goal.

Babson tied the game up just under five minutes later with Dan Casey potting his eighth goal of the season with a one-timer on a pass from behind the net from Michael Phillips. Phil Saviuk had the secondary assist.

Norwich took control of the game with a three-goal second period and two of the goals coming on the power play. Junior co-captain Tyler Piacentini (South Weymouth, Mass.) got it going with a backhanded shot from the edge of the right faceoff circle off assists from Kevin Salvucci (Plymouth, Mass.) and Evangelista at the 3:59 mark.

Ermakov stretched the lead to 3-1 with his first of the night at the 7:37 mark of the middle frame when he beat Pompa off a pretty feed from Payton Baldillez (Arlington, Texas) from the left corner. Ermakov was all alone and was able to settle the pass, wait for Pompa and fire the shot into the right corner of the net. Junior co-captain Austin Surowiec (Louisville, Ky.) picked up the secondary assist.

Russell extended the lead to 4-1 at the 12:24 mark of the second period off a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play from Rowland and Evans.

Ermakov capped the scoring on the night with an unassisted goal at the 7:01 mark of the third period. Ermakov was all alone on the left wing and slapped a hard low shot that glanced off the glove of Pompa but deflected into the back of the net.

That goal chased Pompa in favor of Bryan Botcher for the remainder of the game. The loss was the first of Pompa's collegiate career. He was 4-0-0 coming into the game. He made 18 saves on 23 shots. Botcher stopped both shots he faced in relief.

Norwich will look to get closer to locking up third place in the NEHC standings as it hosts conference-leading UMass Boston at 4 p.m. The Beacons are 13-1-1 with 27 points and are in prime position to claim their first league regular season title after Norwich had won 17 straight coming into this season.