NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Raphael Robitaille netted a
hat trick, and Ryan Klingensmith stopped all 13 shots that he faced
as the fifth-ranked Norwich University men's ice hockey team
blanked Skidmore, 6-0, Friday evening in an ECAC East contest at
Kreitzberg Arena.
With the victory, Norwich (18-4-0, 14-2-0 ECAC East) clinches
the ECAC East regular season title for the 10th straight season.
The Cadets will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming ECAC East
Tournament, and will host a quarterfinal game at Kreitzberg Arena
on March 1. Should NU win that game, it would host the ECAC East
Tournament semifinals and championship on March 8-9.
Norwich jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead less than 90 seconds into
the first period when Nick DelGallo scored his sixth goal of the
season at the 1:29 mark. DelGallo collected the puck in the slot
area and beat Skidmore goaltender Ted Levine, who had sprawled to
the ice. Chad Anderson and Craig Serino were credited with assists
on the play.
The Cadets, who outshot the Thoroughbreds 17-5 in the opening
period, made it 2-0 later in the stanza when Eric Tallent finished
off a pretty two-on-one play and beat Levine to the short side at
the 14:39 mark. Tallent started the play when he carried the puck
into the Skidmore zone. He then slid a pass over to Anderson, who
returned it to Tallent for his second goal of the year.
Norwich added to its lead early in the second period when Rick
Cleaver tallied his team-leading 23rd goal of the season at the
4:25 mark. Billy Kasper and D.J. Fimiani each picked up assists on
the play. For Fimiani, it was his team-leading 24th assist of the
year. Robitaille made it 4-0 just 31 seconds later when the senior
captain scored a power play goal at the 4:56 mark. The marker was
set up by Nikita Kashirsky and Eric Ouellette.
NU outshot Skidmore 8-5 in the period, and the Cadets carried
their commanding 4-0 lead into the final 20 minutes.
Robitaille added his second goal of the contest just 43 seconds
into the third period to extend Norwich's lead to 5-0. He potted
his third goal of the game, and ninth of the season, midway through
the third stanza, to close out the scoring. Kashirsky and Ouellette
assisted on both of Robitaille's third-period tallies.
The Cadets held a 12-3 edge in shots in the final period, and
outshot the Thoroughbreds, 37-13, for the game.
Klingensmith runs his overall record to 7-1-0 on the season with
his second shutout of the year.
Levine made 31 saves in goal for Skidmore (6-14-2, 3-12-1 ECAC
East).
Norwich returns to the ice at Kreitzberg Arena for the final
time during the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 16, when the
Cadets host in-state rival Castleton State. The ECAC East battle is
slated to begin at 4 p.m., and all the action can be heard on the
radio (WDEV: AM-550, FM-96.1), and on the internet (http://www.cadetsradio.com/) with
George Commo handling play-by-play duties.
