MIDDLEBURY, Vt.- Coming off a bye week, the Norwich Men's Ice Hockey team travelled through the Green Mountains to take on regional rival Plattsburgh State Friday afternoon in the first game of the LayerEight Shootout.

Off the opening faceoff the Cadets went to work in the offensive zone, putting Cardinal netminder Jacob Hearne to the test and holding Plattsburgh State shotless in the first nine minutes of action, before they were able to test Sami Molu (Toronto, On.). They weathered a late Norwich powerplay keeping the game scoreless after twenty minutes with the Cadets holding a 13-5 shot advantage.

Early in the second, the two teams traded chances back and forth in the early going. Late in the frame, it was the Cardinals' turn to take over the territorial play but Molu was equal to the task keeping the game scoreless after two with Molu making all 14 stops in the period.

After an early back-and-forth to open the third, Norwich would kill off an early penalty which gave them momentum. Minutes later, the Cadets went to their second man advantage of the game where they would finally break through.  Anthony Domina (Odenton, Md.) would pass it off to Holden Doggett (Oakville, On.) behind the net. He would set up Devon Thibodeau (Pelham, On.) for the one-timer though traffic for the lone tally of the contest with five minutes remaining to put Norwich ahead.

A minute later, the Cadets found themselves shorthanded, but the penalty killers held the Cardinals to only two shots. Plattsburgh State would yank Hearne for the extra skater, but they would only muster one shot with the extra skater, leading to the 1-0 victory, and a 30 save shutout for Molu.

With the victory, Norwich will take on tournament host, and intrastate rival Middlebury on Nov. 30 at 7 PM in the LayerEight Shootout Championship game.