ATTLEBORO, Mass.- Looking to bounce back from a defeat at the hands of intrastate rival Middlebury, the Norwich Men's Ice Hockey team continued their brief road trip with a stop at Johnson & Wales in a return to New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action.

After a brief back-and-forth in the first few minutes, the Wildcats would head to the powerplay where they had a number of chances, but were shut down by Bryce Walcarius (Aylmer, On.) and the rest of the Norwich penalty kill. The penalty kill gave the Cadets life, as they held a decided territorial advantage, but JWU goaltender Jake Inzirillo kept the game scoreless after the first period despite a 18-5 shot advantage for Norwich.

The second period opened with the Cadets on the man advantage, which was killed off which began a constant parade to the sin bin in the period for both teams. The Wildcats would take another penalty two minutes later, but this time Norwich would convert and open the scoring. Cooper Bertrand (Caledon, On.) from the right point passed it off to Clark Kerner (Kansas City, Kan.) who fired a pass off the stick blade of Bryan O'Mara (Syracuse, N.Y.) to the back of the net to open the scoring five minutes into the second.

Soon after, the Wildcats looked for the tying marker but could not find an answer for Walcarius. The Cadets would regain the territorial edge shortly thereafter and extend their lead in the process. After beating out an icing, Kerner would send the puck to the blueline for Harris Hilfiker (Middletown, N.J.). Hilfiker quickly got the puck back to Kerner who got the puck to Holden Doggett (Oakville, On.). Doggett's wrist shot through traffic found its way to the back of the net doubling the Norwich lead.
Not even a minute later, JWU would return to the sin bin which cost them dearly as Norwich was able to tally their third goal of the period. With time winding down in the man advantage, Johnny Johnson (Naperville, Ill.) would hand the puck off to Bertrand as he circled the zone. Bertrand sent the puck to O'Mara who drew two penalty killers to him before giving the puck back to Bertrand for the one-timer goal.

The Wildcats had a golden opportunity to claw back into the game in the latter stages of the period after being awarded a five-minute powerplay off a major penalty. However, two fouls in 48 seconds put JWU at a 4-on-3 disadvantage, where the Cadets took the opportunity to notch their third powerplay goal of the period. After Devon Thibodeau (Pelham, On.) and Patrick O'Neal (Indiana, Pa.) played catch with each other, Thibodeau found Nick Foster (Amherst, Mass.) for the one timer from the right circle giving Norwich a four goal lead with all goals coming in the second period, a frame in which they outshot the Wildcats 29-9 with the powerplay going three for four. The Cadets continued to press in the third, but were held off the scoreboard, making the final score 4-0 giving Walcarius his fifth win in six starts this season, and his second shutout.

"I thought the team had a much-improved effort out there tonight," said Head Coach Cam Ellsworth.

Up next, the Cadets will travel up Interstate 95 for a matchup with UMass Boston at 4 PM on Jan 20.