GENEVA, N.Y.- After opening the season against third-ranked Endicott, the sixth Norwich Men's Ice Hockey team hit the road in their New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) opener. The destination was the top ranked, defending national champions from Hobart in a meeting between the top two seeds in the NEHC last season.

In the early going, the Statesmen asserted themselves with the territorial advantage notching five of the first six shots on goal of the game by the six-minute mark. The early pressure would lead to the first of two Statesmen powerplays on the night, which was successfully killed off by the Cadets. However, Hobart returned to the man advantage two minutes later where they would break through. The original shot by Austin Mourar was stopped, but the rebound was cleaned up by Ignat Belov. The Cadets would earn a powerplay of their own shortly thereafter, which yielded no shots.

The momentum for the Statesmen continued into the middle frame, as Hobart tallied six shots in the first six minutes of the period not allowing a Cadet shot to reach netminder Damon Beaver until the 8:51 mark. As the Statesmen's siege continued, they would eventually double their lead with a Tanner Hartman goal shortly off an offensive zone draw.

The Cadets began to generate more momentum afterwards, but could not find an answer for Damon Beaver, who refused to allow second chance opportunities and would stop all 20 of the shots he faced. Kahil Fontana would stretch the Statesmen lead to 3-0 with a goal six and a half minutes into the third. Soon after, Hobart was whistled for too many men, where Norwich came up empty. Late in the contest, Norwich returned to the man advantage, as they looked to break the shutout, however two shots from Joe Nagle (Weymouth, Mass.) were turned aside by Beaver as the game wound down.

"It was a humbling experience tonight going against the defending national champions," said Head Coach Cam Ellsworth. "We need to regroup quickly and put forth a better effort tomorrow." 

Still seeking their first NEHC victory of the season, the Cadets will continue their swing through Central New York when they travel to Elmira on Nov 4 at 4 PM.