NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's ice hockey team extended its unbeaten streak to open the season to nine straight games with a 5-0 win over Southern Maine on Friday night at Kreitzberg Arena in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action. 

Norwich (6-0-3, 3-0-3 NEHC) got a pair of goals from freshman Clark Kerner (Kansas City, Kan.), while senior goalie Drennen Atherton (Winter Haven, Fla.) made 16 saves to pick up his fifth career shutout and first of the season. 

Sophomore defenseman Joe Nagle (Weymouth, Mass.) had a goal and an assist while, senior defenseman Devon Becker (Langley, British Columbia) and sophomore defenseman Logan vande Meerakker (Dieppe, New Brunswick) each had two assists to lead the offense. 

Norwich scored a power play goal at the 10:36 mark of the first period with Kerner scoring on a one-time from the left faceoff circle off assists from Becker and Nagle to give the Cadets a lead they would never look back from. 

Becker threaded a perfect pass from the right point through the slot to Kerner, who slapped it past USM goalie Anthony D'Aloisio for a 1-0 lead. 

Junior forward Philip Elgstam (Stockholm, Sweden) scored his sixth goal of the season, poking his own rebound past D'Aloisio off an assist from vande Meerakker with 39 seconds left in the first period. 

Nagle made it 3-0 Norwich after he hired a wrist shot from the top of the slot through traffic off assists from Patrick O'Neal (Indiana, Pa.) and Mike Mackenzie (Londonderry, N.H.). 

Kerner extended the lead to 4-0 with his team-leading seventh goal of the season off assists from Noah Williams (Cortland, N.Y.) and vande Meerakker. USM pulled D'Aloisio after the fourth goal and called timeout. 

Sophomore forward Brent Rickett (Portland, Maine) capped the scoring with his second goal of the season off assists from Scott Swanson (Wheaton, Ill.) and Becker. 

Norwich outshot USM 39-16. Mason Palmer came on in relief for USM to make 13 saves after D'Aloisio had 21 saves. 

Norwich will look to try and secure the weekend sweep when it hosts No. 9 Babson in a top-10 matchup at Kreitzberg Arena. The Cadets are ranked No. 6 in the latest USCHO.com National Poll.