NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Chad Anderson netted his
first career hat trick, and Eric Lauriault scored a pair of goals
to lead the sixth-ranked, and top-seeded Norwich University men's
ice hockey team to an 8-0 victory over No. 8 seed Skidmore in an
ECAC East quarterfinal game Saturday evening at Kreitzberg Arena.
With the victory, Norwich improves to 20-6-0 on the year,
marking the third straight 20-win season for the Cadets. In fact,
NU has won 20 or more games nine times during head coach Mike
McShane's 13-year tenure behind the bench.
As the No. 1 seed in the ECAC East Tournament, Norwich will host
the league's Final Four on March 8-9 at Kreitzberg Arena. On
Saturday, March 8, the Cadets will host No. 7 seed UMass-Boston at
3 p.m. The Beacons were upset winners over second-seeded Babson
tonight. The second semifinal contest pits fourth-seeded New
England College versus sixth-seeded Salem State at 6 p.m.
On Sunday, March 9, the winners of Saturday's contests will meet
to decide the ECAC East Tournament championship. All three games
can be heard on the radio (WDEV: AM-550, FM-96.1), and on the
internet (http://www.cadetsradio.com/).
Norwich opened the scoring late in the first period when Nikita
Kashirsky scored his 18th goal of the season off an assist from
Rico Piatelli. Kashirsky took the puck in the right circle and
dragged it in front of Skidmore goaltender Ted Levine until the net
was free and he flipped it into the net from the left side of the
crease.
Skidmore (7-17-2) actually outplayed Norwich for much of the
first period, and the Thoroughbreds had three power play chances in
the opening stanza. They were unable to convert, however, and the
Cadets carried their 1-0 lead into the second period.
The Cadets blew the game wide open early in the second period as
they scored five goals in a span of 4:44. Rick Cleaver started the
explosion with his team-leading 27th goal of the season at the 6:03
mark. The goal, which came off a nice feed from Lauriault, gave the
senior his 150th career point.
Just 46 seconds later, Anderson scored his first goal of the
contest on the power play at the 6:49 mark off an assist from Phil
Sbrocchi to increase NU's lead to 3-0.
Lauriault tallied his first marker of the game off assists from
Cleaver and D.J. Fimiani just 59 seconds later to push Norwich's
lead to 4-0 at the 7:58 mark. Anderson added his second goal at the
9:37mark off assists from Nick DelGallo and Craig Serino. Lauriault
capped the rally with his second goal at the 10:47 mark.
Anderson completed his hat trick midway through the third period
when he scored off assists from Serino and DelGallo at the 9:57
mark. Nick Quagliani capped the scoring later in the frame when he
scored a power play goal at the 16:53 mark off assists from Jim
Koehler and Adam Gaudreau.
David Thompson and Ryan Klingensmith combined on the shutout,
with Thompson making 18 saves and Klingensmith stopping three
shots.
Norwich outshot Skidmore 46-21 for the game. Levine made 38
saves for the Thoroughbreds in the losing effort. NU finished
2-for-4 on the power play, while Skidmore went 0-for-7 on the
man-advantage.
