NORTHFIELD, Vt.- The Norwich Men's Ice Hockey team dominated its penultimate home game of the regular season on Friday night, earning a 6–3 Little East Conference (LEC) victory over Southern Maine at Kreitzberg Arena. The win came on Military Appreciation Night, highlighted by a ceremonial puck drop from BG William McCollough, VSM, Commandant of Cadets and Vice President of Student Affairs.
Norwich wasted no time grabbing control of the contest, striking on its first shot of the game just under two minutes in.
Owen Sclisizzi (Milton, Ont.) worked the puck down low to
Boyd Stahlbaum (Peterborough, Ont.), who sent it to the right point for
Cooper Bertrand (Caledon, Ont.). Bertrand turned and fired a shot that squeaked past Huskies goaltender Loic Morin to give the Cadets an early 1–0 lead.
Southern Maine responded with pressure of its own, firing several shots toward Norwich goaltender
Sami Molu (Toronto, Ont.), who turned them aside to keep the Cadets in front. At the other end, Morin was tested frequently, including backstopping consecutive Norwich power plays to keep the deficit at one. Norwich eventually broke through again late in the period. With under three minutes remaining, Molu played the puck
to Hayden Heinrich (Richmond Hill, Ont.), who sent a quick outlet to
Nick Cordeiro (Mississauga, Ont.). Cordeiro connected with a streaking
Zach Ophoven (Burlington, Ont.), who drove the net and tucked a backhand past Morin to give Norwich a 2–0 advantage heading into the first intermission.
Both teams traded chances early in the second period before the Huskies found the scoreboard midway through the frame. On the power play, John Hagan buried a rebound to cut the Norwich lead in half and bring Southern Maine back within one.
The Cadets answered five minutes later with a power-play goal of their own. Bertrand won a battle down low and moved the puck to
Colin Elliott (Peterborough, Ont.), who found Stahlbaum at the right circle. Stahlbaum's initial shot was blocked, but he stayed with the play and converted the rebound to restore Norwich's two-goal cushion heading into the second intermission.
Norwich's special teams continued to shine in the third period. Early in the frame, the Cadets capitalized on another man advantage.
Devon Thibodeau (Pelham, Ont.) started the breakout from the defensive zone before
Ben van Waterschoot (Whitby, Ont.) and
Niko Benjamin (Surprise, Ariz.) exchanged passes through the neutral zone. Benjamin picked up speed and finished the rush, extending the lead to 4–1.
Five minutes later, the Cadets struck again—this time shorthanded. Sclisizzi forced a turnover and raced the other way, finishing a sensational individual effort with a bar-down goal to push the lead to four. Just two minutes after that, van Waterschoot added another tally off the rush, making it 6–1 and putting the game firmly in Norwich's control.
Southern Maine added two goals in the final five minutes to trim the margin, but the Cadets closed out a convincing conference win.
Bertrand led the way offensively with one goal and two assists, while Stahlbaum, van Waterschoot, and Sclisizzi each recorded a goal and an assist. Norwich finished the night 2-for-4 on the power play and added a shorthanded goal, underscoring a strong special-teams performance.
"I thought we played a very good 55 minutes, and you could feel the energy in the building, said Head Coach
Dominick Dawes '04. "I would like to have seen us finish better, but that's a huge 3 points. I am looking forward to honoring our seniors tomorrow and whiting out Kreitzberg!"
The Cadets will close out their home regular-season slate on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 4 p.m., when they host No. 9 Babson in a White Out game at Kreitzberg Arena. Norwich will also honor its 2025–26 graduating class in a pregame ceremony.
