GORHAM, Maine- The Norwich Men's Ice Hockey team rounded out their season ending road trip Saturday afternoon with their final stop being at USM Ice Arena in a crucial matchup with Southern Maine with Sami Molu (Toronto, On.) returning to the goal crease.

He would be tested early, with Molu and Husky netminder Kyle Penton exchanging saves in the first few minutes. But, four and a half minutes in, the Cadets would draw first blood. After a Clark Kerner (Kansas City, Kan.) faceoff win, the puck would come to Harris Hilfiker (Middletown, N.J.) at the left circle. Hilfiker touched it to the blueline for Hayden Heinrich (Richmond Hill, On.) whose long shot deflected off Holden Doggett (Oakville, On.) and into the net to open the scoring.

Smelling blood in the water, Norwich would keep up the pressure, but Penton kept the game close. Late in the period, the Huskies would go on the lone man advantage of the game. The Cadets killed it off, but soon after the game would be all tied up. In the final minute of the period, USM took a neutral zone turnover into their attacking end. A centering pass by Austin Marini found Ethan MacDuff for the one-timer which tied the game with 45 seconds remaining in the period.

In the second, the two teams would exchange chances early on, but Norwich would eventually break the tie. Seven and a half minutes in, off a Ben van Waterschoot (Whitby, On.) faceoff win in the attacking zone, the puck would go behind the cage, where it was retrieved by Bryan O'Mara (Syracuse, N.Y.). O'Mara put the puck in front for van Waterschoot who put the puck over Penton breaking the tie.

Two and a half minutes later, the Cadets would add some insurance. Paul Schmid (Linz, Austria) rang the puck around the boards on a zone entry, which was retrieved by Johnny Johnson (Naperville, Ill.). Johnson would poke the puck loose to Patrick Del Vecchio (Mississauga, On.), as he was circling the zone, and would rifle a wrist shot by Penton to pad the lead. With Norwich keeping their foot on the gas, they would add another tally prior to the break. After gaining possession in the neutral zone, Owen Sclisizzi (Milton On.) would drop the puck to O'Mara for Norwich's third goal of the period.

Midway through the third period, USM cut their deficit to two. After the Huskies moved the puck around the offensive zone, Curtis Judd made a move around Molu, and found the back of the net to make the score 4-2. As the period went along, the two teams exchanged extended possessions in their respective offensive zones, but the score remained. After USM pulled Penton for the extra attacker in the final minute, Colin Elliott (Peterborough, On.) buried the empty netter clinching the 5-2 victory, and the 100^th career win for Head Coach Cam Ellsworth.

"I though we put together a very good team effort," said Ellsworth.

The win, combined with a Skidmore loss, placed Norwich in second place in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) playoffs. In their quarterfinal matchup, the Cadets and Huskies will do battle for the second straight Saturday. This time inside Kreitzberg Arena at 7 PM.