NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Sophomore Joe Fontaine brought the Keene State College men's ice hockey team within a goal late in the second period, but Norwich University scored two special teams goals including a third period shorthanded tally as they handed the Owls a fifth consecutive loss, 3-1 on Friday night at Kreitzberg Arena in Little East Conference action.

It was another game in which special teams played a major factor for KSC (5-9-0, 1-7-0 LEC), who hung around but never generated enough offense to find an equalizer or put significant pressure on the Cadets (9-4-1, 5-2-0 LEC) late.  The Owls did find their seventh power play goal of the season when Thor Hansen won a faceoff with a little less than four minutes to go in the second and Fontaine then corralled the puck between the circles and fired on Norwich goalie Sami Molu, hitting him in the shoulder before it found its way in.

It stayed a 2-1 game into the third and KSC goalie Ethan Swanson, making his first start of the season after an impressive effort in relief against the University of Massachusetts-Boston last Saturday, made six stops over the opening six minutes to keep it a one-goal game.  Kyle Kudrna was then called for interference with 13:55 left to give the Owls a chance to tie the game on the power play, but instead they surrendered a shorthanded tally halfway through the man advantage when Norwich got the puck out of the zone and Owen Sclisizzi corralled the puck in front of a diving Jason Smith as he entered the zone, weaving all the way over near the left faceoff dot before he picked the top right corner on Swanson for a critical insurance goal with 12:39 left.

The Owls' netminder nonetheless kept KSC in it all night, including gobbling up a shot from Ben van Waterschoot less than a minute later and then two more on a Cadets power play that took the clock under seven minutes to go.

Still down two, Kyle Gonzalez took a touch into the zone and split two defenders, getting a small window to shoot from right in front on Molu with 4:30 left, but saw his attempt gloved and the Norwich bodies in front of the net then got the puck off to the boards and KSC could not generate any sustained pressure in their offensive end in the final minutes.  The lack of puck possession made them unable to pull Swanson for an extra attacker until there were 37 seconds left.  Gonzalez had two more shots after that offensive zone faceoff, but one went wide and the other was stopped by Molu.
Keene State's power play is 8-for-54 (14.8 percent) on the season but has now allowed three shorthanded goals in the last four games.  In fact, since the Owls' first game of 2026 last Monday that began the current five-game slide, they have allowed nine special teams goals (combined power play and shorthanded) of the 24 total (38 percent).  In each of the last three contests, they have had big chances with the man advantage.  Last Friday against the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, they had two chances on the power play in the third period of a 3-3 game after the Corsairs had tied it but could not convert and eventually allowed two late goals before an empty netter.  The following day, they had a full two minutes of 5-on-3 after the University of Massachusetts-Boston early in the opening period after the Beacons had taken a lightning quick 2-0 lead but could not convert despite ample chances.  Tonight, a potential game-tying scenario in the third arose against a program that has four Division III national championships since 2000 while KSC is in their second year, but instead the Owls found themselves chasing two in the final 12 minutes.

Swanson was credited with 45 saves in 59:13 in the official stats, including 21 in the third period.  In nearly 174 minutes this season, the junior from Holderness, N.H. has a .932 save percentage.  Molu stopped 17 for Norwich, who won their fourth straight and moved into a first-place tie in the conference.

"The boys played a pretty steady game tonight," said KSC head coach Bobby Rodrigue.  "When you are in a funk, it is hard to get pucks to bounce your way but overall, we feel the boys are taking good steps together.  Losing is definitely getting old though."

The Owls visit Vermont State University Castleton (8-6-1, 4-4-0 LEC) tomorrow (Saturday, January 17) for a 4:00 p.m. puck drop while Norwich hosts Western Connecticut State University (1-14-0, 0-8-0 LEC) at 4:00 p.m.  The Spartans kept the Wolves winless in conference play with a 6-2 win in Rutland tonight, bouncing back from a 7-2 loss to Norwich last weekend.