NORTHFIELD, Vt.- The Norwich Men's Ice Hockey team continued their lengthy, seven game homestand by returning to New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action with a matchup against Southern Maine.

Within a minute and a half of the opening puck drop, the Cadets had already found the scoreboard. After getting the puck from Owen Sclisizzi (Milton, On.), Jed Brazo (Homer, N.Y.) fired a turnaround shot, from the left-wing circle that was stopped by Husky goaltender Kyle Penton. Brazo followed up that opportunity by collecting his own rebound and finding the scoresheet for his fifth point in the last four games.

Norwich would press more in the first five minutes but, eventually, USM started to put some pressure on Bryce Walcarius (Aylmer, On.). Late in the frame, the Cadets had the Huskies on their heels, which led to the second goal. With three minutes to play, Brady Harroun (St. Albert, Alb.) and Zach Ophoven (Burlington, On.) were cycling the puck below the goal line before a shot by Harroun hit off the outside of the net, which Paul Schmid (Linz, Austria) picked up and stuffed in.

However, the Huskies answered a minute and a half later with Conor Donovan winning a puck battle along the left-wing boards. The original shot by Cole Oulette was stopped by Walcarius, but the contested rebound came to Donovan through traffic, which cut Norwich's lead to one at intermission.

USM was granted two early man advantages early in the second period, but only mustered three combined shots towards Walcarius. Norwich got a powerplay of their own but did not convert either as the they continued to nurse their one goal lead heading into the third period.

Throughout the third period, and the game, the two sides traded chances evenly. But eventually, the Huskies would tie the game. Matt Sullivan would send a pass from below the goal line to the high slot for John Hagan, whose wrist shot beat Walcarius high to his blocker evened the score at two with just under four minutes remaining, eventually sending the game to overtime.

The Cadets held possession for much of the extra period with Clark Kerner (Kansas City, Kan.) taking the opening faceoff to the offensive end and looking for the game winner but could not find it. Southern Maine countered the other way late in the period, but Walcarius turned that opportunity aside which kept the game at a 2-2 tie at the final buzzer.

"It was a hard-fought game going back into league play," Head Coach Cam Ellsworth said. "Getting a point is never a bad thing, I thought there were a lot of positives, and we will look to clean some things up for tomorrow."

The Norwich homestand will continue Jan. 6 when they will play host to Babson at 4 PM.