HENNIKER, N.H.- The Norwich Men's Ice Hockey team continued their season ending road trip with a drive down Interstate 89 to take on travel partner New England College.

After an early back-and-forth between the two sides, the Cadets took the early territorial edge as they put Pilgrim goaltender Kai Tomita to the test. While NEC would get some shots of their own against Bryce Walcarius (Aylmer, On.), Norwich would hold the edge in play despite the shots being close. With about five minutes left in the period, the Pilgrims would strike first. After Gunnar Sibley recovered a defensive zone turnover, he centered the puck to Wyatt Andres for a one-timer passed Walcarius to give NEC the lead, which they would take into intermission.

The Cadets came out of the intermission swinging, outshooting the Pilgrims 9-3 in the first half of the second period. With NEC gasping for air, they would take the first penalty of the game where Norwich would tie things up. Off a faceoff win, the puck came to Bryan O'Mara (Syracuse, N.Y.) who skated over to the left circle. O'Mara sent the puck to Cooper Bertrand (Caledon, On.) at the blueline before passing it to Clark Kerner (Kansas City, Kan.) in the middle who rifled a wrist shot by Tomita's glove to tie the game.

Two and a half minutes later, the Cadets would break the tie.  After recovering a turnover in the neutral zone, Owen Sclisizzi (Milton, On.) gave the puck to Nick Cordeiro (Mississauga, On.) as Norwich entered the attacking zone. Cordeiro's original shot went wide, but his follow up chance found an opening between Tomita and the post from a weird angle. Minutes later, the Pilgrims would tie the game. Seconds after a Norwich penalty expired, Cam Perez would throw a wrist shot through net front traffic to re tie the game. The tie remained into the second intermission despite the Cadets holding a 19-5 shot advantage in the frame.

Early in the third, Norwich would break the tie for good with two goals in 11 seconds. Off a faceoff win, where the Cadets were dominant all day winning 47 of 63, Johnny Johnson (Naperville, Ill.) got the puck to the blueline for Devon Thibodeau (Pelham, On.). Thibodeau's original shot was stopped by Tomita, but Paul Schmid (Linz, Austria) cleaned up the rebound for the eventual game winning goal. Off the ensuing faceoff, Thibodeau would ring the puck around the boards where Jed Brazo (Homer, N.Y.) would poke the puck free off a board battle to Bertrand. Bertrand sent a wrist shot by Tomita to extend the Cadet lead in short order.Minutes later, Norwich would further extend their lead. Off another faceoff win by Schmid, who was 12 for 13 at the dot, the puck came back to Bertrand, who sent it over to Thibodeau for a one-timer from the blueline making it a 5-2 game, which held up until the end.

"I thought our guys put forward a solid 60-minute effort tonight," said Head Coach Cam Ellsworth after his 99^th career win.

 On deck for the Cadets, the road swing will continue Friday Feb 9 when they visit Babson at 7 PM.