GORHAM, Maine - Junior goalie Tom Aubrun (Chamonix, France) stopped 22 shots as the Norwich University men's ice hockey team shut out the University of Southern Maine Huskies 5-0 in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) men's action Friday evening at the USM Ice Arena.

The win was the fourth in the last five games for the Cadets who improved to 6-3-1 overall and 4-3-0 in conference play.  The Huskies dropped to 1-9-2 overall and 1-6-1 in the NEHC games.

Aubrun had an easy first period as the Cadets swarmed all over the Huskies, outshooting the home side 17-4 in the period.  The Cadet skaters staked their goaltender to a 2-0 lead before the game was five minutes old.  Aubrun had 11 saves in the middle period and seven more in the third period to earn his first shutout of the season, and the second of his career.

Junior Jordan Hall (Anchorage, Alaska) put the Cadets on the board at 3:04 converting a set-up from classmate Taeron Lewis (Winnipeg, Manitoba) and sophomore Scott Swanson (Wheaton, Ill.).  Less than two minutes later, rookie Brett Ouderkirk (Monkland, Ont.) made a nifty move around USM junior goalie Paul Léger for the first of his two goals in the game.

Swanson made it 3-0 at 12:12 of the opening period with a shot into the top of the net after an assist from Hall.  Hall would finish the game with three points on his game-winning goal and two assists.

Ouderkirk added a power-play goal in the second period, and sophomore Coby Downs (Montclair, Calif.) picked up a power-play marker in the third stanza to account for the final score.

Norwich finished the game with a 36-22 edge in shots on goal.  The Cadets also converted on 2-of-3 power-play opportunities.  The Huskies did not have a power play in the game.  Léger stopped 31 shots for USM.

Norwich heads to New England College on Saturday at 4 p.m. to close out the first half of the season.

(Release courtesy of Southern Maine Sports Information)