Box Score
Video Highlights by Tanner Acebo, NU Sports Information
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's ice hockey team scored four unanswered goals to turn a 3-2 second period deficit into a 6-3 victory over Skidmore College on Saturday night at Kreitzberg Arena in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East action.
Norwich (20-2-1, 16-0-0 ECAC East) became the first team in NCAA Division III hockey to reach 20 wins this season with the victory and the Cadets also maintained their four-point lead on second place UMass Boston in the ECAC East standings. NU needs one point next weekend when it travels to UMass Boston and Babson to clinch its record 17th straight ECAC East regular season title.
Norwich got a goal and two assists from sophomore forward William Pelletier (St. Jean Chrysostome, Quebec) all in the third period as the playmaking center catapulted the Cadets to the victory.
Senior Gerard McEleney (Canton, Mass.) and freshman Justin Charbonneau (Bromont, Quebec) each tallied a goal and an assist to help pace the offense as the Cadets picked up head coach Mike McShane's 673rd career coaching victory, which ties him with legendary Boston College head coach Len Ceglarski for seventh on the all-time NCAA men's hockey coaching wins list.
Norwich got on the board just 3:03 into the contest when sophomore forward Austin Surowiec (Louisville, Ky.) picked the top corner of the net for his 10th goal of the season off assists from Tyler Piacentini (South Weymouth, Mass.) and Trevor Stewart (Denver, Colo.).
Skidmore (4-16-3, 3-12-1 ECAC East) got on the board with Marc Cibelli scoring on a breakaway at the 10:41 mark of the first period off an outlet pass from Ondrej Krajnak to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Thoroughbreds struck twice more with a pair of power play goals midway through the second period to take a 3-2 lead on the Cadets on goals by David Limoges and Connor Pelkey.
Limoges slipped a rebound past NU freshman goalie Braeden Ostepchuk (Lethbridge, Alberta) after he made an initial save on Cibelli's shot from the corner at the 10:50 mark.
Pelkey gave Skidmore its first lead of the game at the 11:25 mark of the middle stanza with a shot through a screen of traffic in front of the net off an assist from Krajnak.
McEleney finally put a stop to Skidmore's momentum by tying the game at 3-3 at the 16:56 mark of the second period with an absolute snipe into the top left corner of the net off assists from Charbonneau and Smith.
Pelletier gave Norwich the lead for good at the 8:26 mark of the third period by diving at full extension to poke home a rebound off an initial shot from the left point by Alec Thieda (Rochester Hills, Mich.). The goal was Pelletier's team-leading 13th of the season.
Freshman defenseman Alec Brandrup (Rochester, Minn.) kept his recent hot streak going with his third goal in the last two games off assists from Brian Rowland (Waltham, Mass.) and Pelletier.
The Cadets capped the scoring at the 14:55 mark with Dean Niezgoda (Brewster, Mass.) notching his 12th goal of the season while shorthanded off a pass from Pelletier.
Senior goalie Matic Marinsek (Ljubljana, Slovenia) picked up his first victory of the season after coming in relief of Ostepchuk for the final 28:35 after making six saves.
Jack McDonald took the loss for Skidmore after making 24 saves.
Norwich closes out the regular season next weekend at UMass Boston and Babson on Friday and Saturday respectively.
