Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Senior forward Shane Gorman (Trumbull, Conn.) scored 13 seconds into overtime to lift the Norwich University men's ice hockey team to a 3-2 victory over Skidmore College on Friday night at Kreitzberg Arena in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East action.
Gorman fired a one-timer into the top right corner of the net off a feed from Travis Janke (Swift Current, Saskatchewan) from behind the net to help Norwich (6-1-2, 5-0-1 ECAC East) snap a two-game winless skid after failing to pick up a victory at the PrimeLink ShootOut last weekend. The goal was Gorman's fourth of the season and pushed his team-leading point total to 15.
Despite outshooting Skidmore (3-4-3, 1-4-2 ECAC East) 40-20 in the game, the Thoroughbreds hung tough all game and eventually scored the game-tying goal at the 14:14 mark of the third period when Brian McQuillan beat NU junior goalie Matic Marinsek (Ljubljana, Slovenia) from point blank range to tie the game up at 2-2.
David Limoges pushed the puck past two Norwich defenders who collapsed on him at the blue line to set up the tying goal. Marc Cibelli got behind the NU defensemen who were already starting to skate out of the zone and fed the puck over to the left side of the net where McQuillan finished it off by beating Marinsek to his right.
Skidmore struck first blood late in the first period when Vlad Gavrik tapped a rebound through Marinsek's five-hole after he made an initial save on a shot by Tim Colvin. Tony Giacin started the breakout from behind his own net by feeding Colvin the puck at the left half boards. Colvin carried the puck all the way up the ice on the left wing and fired an initial shot that Marinsek saved, but he wasn't able to cover the rebound and Gavrik shoved it in for his fifth goal of the year.
Norwich didn't take long to tie it up though as freshman forward Nick Pichette (Massena, N.Y.) tipped a shot into the top right hand corner of the net and over the glove of Skidmore freshman goalie Jack McDonald to knot the score at 1-1 at the 19:15 mark. Pichette deflected an initial shot from the point by Ryan Whitell (Calgary, Alberta) for the goal. William Pelletier (St. Jean Chyrsotome, Quebec) also notched an assist on the goal.
The Cadets took their first lead of the game just 3:01 into the second period when freshman forward Paul Russell (Andover, Mass.) scored all alone in front of the net for his fifth goalie of the season. Junior defenseman Corey Hale (Montreal, Quebec) and freshman forward Tyler Piacentini (South Weymouth, Mass.) picked up assists on the goal as well.
Marinsek improved to 5-1-2 on the season while making 18 saves for Norwich. McDonald dropped 2-3-3 after stopping 37 shots for Skidmore.
Norwich will go for its eighth straight win over rival Castleton on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Kreitzberg Arena in the 15th meeting of the "Battle of Vermont."
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