NORTHFIELD, Vt.- The Norwich Men's Ice Hockey team returned from winter break Friday night when they hosted Williams as part of the Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament in the first meeting between the two programs since New Years Eve, 2016.

Both goaltenders, Cal Sandquist and Sami Molu (Toronto, On.) were tested early and often. Early in the first the Cadets held the territorial edge, including two unsuccessful powerplays. After the latter of the two was killed off, the Ephs started driving possession, but neither netminder budged as the game remained scoreless after one with Williams holding a 12-10 shot advantage.

Following an early back-and-forth to open the second stanza, the Ephs would go to their first man advantage of the contest and cash in. Owen Stadheim kept the puck alive at the blueline and sent the puck to the left half wall to Brady Welch before Welch sent a cross-ice pass to a pinching William Yee from his position on defense, roofing his shot to give Williams the lead just before the halfway point. Both sides would have extended flurries, but the one goal advantage for the road team remained at intermission.

The two sides continued to trade opportunities into the third. Nine minutes in, the Cadets were awarded their third power play of the contest where they would eventually tie the score. Devon Thibodeau (Pelham, On.) kept the possession alive at the point before handing it off to Jed Brazo (Homer, N.Y.). Brazo's original shot was stopped by Sandquist, but Ben van Waterschoot (Whitby, On.) would poke home the rebound in a net mouth scramble for the game tying marker on Norwich's eighth shot of the man advantage. Norwich would kill off another penalty late, eventually sending the contest to extra time.

The initial possession for Norwich off the opening draw included a chance for Cooper Bertrand (Caledon, On.) that Sandquist stopped. On the other end, Molu shut down several chances for the Ephs preserving the draw and sending the game to a shootout where Molu would stop all three Williams shooters with van Waterschoot scoring the lone goal, sending the Cadets to the Tournament Championship Game. Also notable for Norwich was Anthony Domina (Odenton, Md.) who won 19 out of 25 faceoffs taken in a contest that featured 82 draws in total.

In the Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament title game, the Cadets will meet twelfth ranked Hamilton who were victorious over Plymouth State in the opening half of the Friday doubleheader with a 4-0 win. The first meeting between these two programs since 2017 is set for 7 PM on Jan. 4 following the conclusion of the consolation contest.