KEENE, N.H. – Norwich University scored on a 5-on-3 halfway through the first period to open the scoring and then tacked on two more goals in 3:49 late in the second to blow the game open as the first-place Cadets went on to post a 6-2 Little East Conference win over the Keene State College men's ice hockey team on Saturday night at Keene Ice.
The Owls (7-16-0, 3-13-0 LEC) were coming off an exciting overtime win over Vermont State University Castleton on Friday night but could not close their second-ever Division III home season with what would have been an even bigger win, finishing 4-8 at Keene Ice this year. KSC is 11-11 at home over the last two seasons and dropped both of their encounters with Norwich, an established program with four Division III national championships, this year after falling 3-1 in Vermont last month.
Norwich (16-5-3, 13-2-2 LEC) captain Cooper Bertrand factored in on four of his teams' six goals, including the primary assist on each of the first two as the visitors played from in front. He then scored 5:33 into the third to make it a 4-0 game as the Cadets maintained a five-point lead over Babson College for first place in the conference with just one weekend left.
Despite a combined 14 minor penalties between the two teams in the game, there were only two special teams goals – but the first after the Owls could not get the puck all the way down the ice down two men proved to be big as Frank D'Ancona picked the top right corner with precise accuracy on Skelton 9:34 into the opening period. KSC had a pair of power play chances in the first, once when it was scoreless 3:46 in and the other that began in the final minute with a chance to tie, but came up empty as Norwich led 1-0 at the first intermission one day after trailing 1-0 through 40 minutes at WestConn before scoring four times in the third.
The game got away from the Owls in the later stages of the second, as Ocean Fancy took himself from the boards to right in front of the net and scored under the right pad of Skelton to make it 2-0 with seven minutes to go in the period. Nick Foster added an unassisted tally by rifling a shot from the right faceoff dot inside the far post for a 3-0 lead with 3:11 left.
Kyle Gonzalez answered Bertrand's goal early in the third 43 seconds later to make it 4-1, but Kyle Kudrna's goal that found its way in off Skelton on what appeared to be a simple dump in pass halfway through the period dashed any building momentum KSC might have had. The Owls' zone time had been increasing, but Norwich goalie Sami Molu came up with big saves when he needed to, including on both
Marcus Chrisafideis and
Kaleb MacAulay after the Owls had gotten within three.
Molu finished with 30 saves in the win and Skelton 35 in the defeat. Both teams were 1-for-6 on the power play.
Before the game, Keene State honored four seniors that have helped get the program started – including the first-ever team captain
Declan House,
Payton Jones,
Jason Smith, and
John Belisle. Smith and Belisle had each played for the Owls' highly-successful club program (ACHA) under head coach Bobby Rodrigue before earning their way to the varsity team for each of the past two seasons, while House and Jones transferred from nearby Franklin Pierce University for the remainder of their careers.
The Owls close their season with a pair of games against the Massachusetts schools next weekend, beginning with a trip to the University of Massachusetts-Boston (13-9-1, 8-7-1 LEC) on Friday night (February 20) at 7:00 p.m. KSC closes their season at UMass-Dartmouth the next day. The Beacons beat the Owls 4-1 in Keene on January 10, but are just 4-5-1 since including dropping consecutive games this weekend. UMass-Boston, with 26 points, is currently in the sixth and final playoff spot but is only playing for seeding as they lead New England College by nine points with two games to go.
