NORTHFIELD, Vt.- The Norwich University Men's Ice Hockey team defeated Aurora University 4-2 in their FirstLight Tournament opener Friday night at Kreitzberg Arena.
 
The Cadets got the ball rolling first with a goal by freshman Johnny Johnson (Napierville, Ill.) with five seconds to play in the opening frame for the first of two powerplay goals in a period full of continuous action.
 
The Spartans would answer early in the second period on a goal by freshman Hassan Akl (Chestermere, Alb.). Later in the second Clark Kerner (Kansas City, Kan.) hit senior Philip Elgstam (Stockholm, Sweden) to start an odd man rush and Elgstam ripped a shot off the crossbar and into the goal to put Norwich back in front. A few minutes later junior Joe Nagle (Weymouth, Mass.) would put home the Cadets' second powerplay goal of the night at the beginning of a five on three off a feed from Elgstam. This gave Norwich a 3-1 advantage at the second intermission.
 
Aurora responded with a power play tally of their own courtesy of junior Derrick Budz (Yorkton, Sask.) in the first minute of the third. The Cadets suppressed the Spartan offense only allowing six shots in the third with the penalty kill allowing two shots on three Aurora powerplays in the period. Senior Callum Jones (Burlington, On.) hit the empty net at the end to punctuate the victory.
 
"I thought it was a really hard fought game against a really tough opponent." Head Coach Cam Ellsworth said after the game. "Our penalty kill came up big, we got some big saves and big efforts and I'm really proud of the team." Senior Drennan Atherton (Winter Haven, Fla.) made 16 saves.
 
The Cadets will look to repeat as FirstLight Shootout champions when they host Plattsburgh State Saturday night at 7 PM in the Tournament Championship game at Kreitzberg Arena.