Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's ice hockey team won its second straight New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) title and 14th overall with a 3-0 victory over Hobart on Saturday night at Kreitzberg Arena.
Senior forward Jordan Hall (Anchorage, Alaska) scored twice, while senior goalie Tom Aubrun (Chamonix, France) stopped all 29 shots he faced to record his ninth straight shutout and new NCAA Division III record 13th in a single season. The win was also Aubrun's 50th of his record-setting career in the Maroon & Gold and he stretched his shutout streak to 572:31 straight minutes.
Senior forward Taeron Lewis (Winnipeg, Manitoba) opened the scoring at the 3:14 mark of the first period with his 12th goal of the season off assists from Brett Ouderkirk and Hall.
Lewis beat Hobart goalie Liam Lascelle with a wrist shot from the right wing off a feed on a 2-on-1 from Ouderkirk. Hall made the play by absorbing a hit in front of the NU bench but pushed the puck ahead to Ouderkirk to create the rush.
Norwich increased the lead to 2-0 at the 5:17 mark when Hall scored his 12th goal of the season and extended his goal-scoring streak to six straight games. Hall scored on the power play off a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing setup from Ouderkirk and TJ Dockery (Lockport, N.Y.). Dockery worked the puck from the point over to Ouderkirk at the left faceoff circle. Ouderkirk fired a cross-ice pass to Hall, who corralled it and then ripped a shot past Lascelle to double the lead.
Hobart ramped up the pressure in the third period, bottling Norwich up in its own end on multiple occasions, but the Statesmen were once again unable to solve Aubrun and the Norwich defense. Lawson MacDougall had the best scoring chance for Hobart with an open chance in the middle of the slot but his shot hit off the right post and deflected away with just over two minutes left.
Hall capped the scoring with three seconds left with an empty-net goal after he won the puck out of massive scrum along the side boards and then rifled it into the empty net ahead of a few Hobart players to seal the victory.
Norwich won its sixth straight against Hobart since it lost the 2018 NEHC Championship game on home ice. The Cadets and Statesmen have met in all three league finals since Hobart joined the league in 2017-18.
Norwich extended its unbeaten streak to 18th straight games with the victory and earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row. The Cadets will find out their next opponent on Monday, March 9 during the NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey selection show at 10:30 a.m. on www.ncaa.com.
Norwich will likely either host a play-in round game next Saturday, March 14 or the Cadets will receive a bye and host a quarterfinal round game on Saturday, March 21 at Kreitzberg Arena.
