NORTHFIELD, Vt.- In their last game before winter break, the Norwich Men's Ice Hockey team played host to travel partner New England College.

Early on, the Pilgrims had the Cadets on their heels attempting ten of the first eleven shots of the contest, including one on an early powerplay. However, freshman net minder Bryce Walcarius (Aylmer, On.) held the for and kept NEC off the scoreboard. Halfway through the period, Norwich got their legs under them offensively and started pressing the Pilgrims and goaltender Kai Tomita. The momentum went further in the Cadets' favor with a late powerplay, which did not yield a goal, but kept the pressure going.

With eight seconds left, Holden Doggett (Oakville, On.) retrieved the puck from the lower left corner, and sent the puck along the boards to Matt Harvey (Fort Covington, N.Y.) at the point. Harvey's original shot was stopped by Tomita, but the rebound was put home by Brady Harroun (St. Albert, Alb.) to give Norwich the lead heading into intermission.

Early in the second period, both teams exchanged chances, including one by Jesper Tarkianen that sneaked through Walcarius that was swiped away at the last minute off the goal line. Soon after, Norwich returned to the man advantage, which generated shots but no results. They would ride that wave of momentum for the rest of the frame outshooting the Pilgrims 8-1 in the last minutes of the second, but Tomita kept the game close at the break.

Three minutes into the third, the Pilgrims would tie the game. A defensive zone turnover on the right-wing boards came to Damon Dulac, who threw a shot on net, which Walcarius turned aside. After it was poked at, the puck came to Lukas Washco on the left side, who put it by a sprawling Walcarius to tie the game.

Six minutes later, Norwich would be granted their third powerplay of the game, where they would break through the NEC penalty kill and break the tie. Early in the man advantage, Nick Foster (Amherst, Mass.) attempted a shot that was blocked away to the boards. Jed Brazo (Homer, N.Y.) collected the loose puck at the right faceoff circle and sent the puck cross ice to Cooper Bertrand (Caledon, On.) for the one-timer to regain the Cadet lead and Bertrand's fourth point in the last four games.

Three minutes later, Norwich would extend their lead. The Pilgrims looked to exit the zone on a stretch pass. Brazo got his stick on it, and touched it over to Johnny Johnson (Naperville, Ill.) who skated down the left boards and centered it to Paul Schmid (Linz, Austria.) who tucked it home passed Tomita to double the lead. As time wound down, NEC would pull Tomita with over two minutes left. As they were looking to set up their offense, Patrick O'Neal (Indiana, Pa.) would intercept the pass and send it the length of the ice to clinch the 4-1 Norwich win.

"I'm very happy to finish the first semester with a league win," said Head Coach Cam Ellsworth. "I thought we had a balanced effort, and Bryce was strong in net."

The Cadets will begin the second part of their season on Dec 30 when they host Aurora at 7 PM as part of this year's Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament.