Courtesy Norwich, St.Michael’s and Middlebury Sports Information Offices
Three Stories Below
WELLESLEY, MA. — The Norwich University men’s ice hockey team made a statement 4-0 victory over No. 9 ranked Babson College on Saturday afternoon to snap the Beavers’ nation-leading 15-game unbeaten streak at the Babson Skating Center.
Norwich (18-2-2, 13-1-1 NEHC) extended its unbeaten streak to 12 straight games in impressive fashion, sweeping Babson and UMass Boston, while outscoring the perennial NEHC contenders by a combined 9-0 score.
Senior goalie Tom Aubrun (Chamonix, France) recorded his seventh shutout of the season to set the new Norwich single-season record, passing Ryan Klingensmith ’10, who had six in 2010. Aubrun also extended his lead in the career shutout category with his 14th of his star-studded career.
Aubrun made 23 saves to pick up his third straight shutout and blanked the Beavers for the second time this season. He improved to 17-2-2 on the season.
Junior Felix Brassard (St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec) scored twice to extend his team-leading total to 16 goals on the season.
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, junior Ryan Boucher (Fitchburg, Mass.) finally broke open the scoring with his eighth goal of the season, scoring unassisted on a wraparound from behind the net to beat Babson goalie Aidan Murphy and give the Cadets a 1-0 lead.
Brassard extended the lead to 2-0 just three minutes later with a goal off assists from Gabriel Chicoine (St. Dominique, Quebec) and Jordan Hall (Anchorage, Alaska).
Brassard scored again unassisted with his 16th goal of the season at the 3:08 mark of the third period.
Senior Taeron Lewis (Winnipeg, Manitoba) capped the scoring with his sixth goal and his second in as many days off assists from Brett Ouderkirk (Monkland, Ontario) and Hall.
Norwich outshot Babson 26-23 in the game. The Cadets can clinch their 19th NEHC regular season title in the last 21 years with one more victory in its last three games or Babson losing once in any of its four remaining games. If Norwich locks up the No. 1 seed for the playoffs, the Cadets will have home-ice advantage for the duration of the NEHC Tournament.
SOUTH BURLINGTON — Junior Thomas Flack (Toronto, Ontario/Saint Michael’s Buzzers) scored with 3:57 left in the third period to lift the Saint Michael’s College men’s ice hockey team over Saint Anselm College, 5-4, on Saturday at Cairns Arena in a Northeast-10 Conference game. The Purple Knights, who erased a two-goal deficit, jump over the Hawks for second in the NE10 standings in the opener of a two-game weekend set.
RECORDS
· Saint Michael’s (11-8-2, 7-5-1 NE10), Saint Anselm (11-8-2, 6-3-2 NE10)
SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS
· Junior Thomas Flack (Toronto, Ontario/Saint Michael’s Buzzers), 1 goal, 1 assist, 14-for-27 faceoffs, 3 blocks
· Junior Noah Muller (Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Düsseldorfer EG), 1 goal, 1 assist
· Junior Sel Narby (Huntington, N.Y./Connecticut Junior Rangers), 2 assists
· Junior Cameron Stewart (Sabattus, Maine/East Coast Wizards), 1 goal, 1 assist
· Junior Paul Cerdà (Puigcerdà, Catalunya/Buffalo State), 1 goal
· Junior Paul McAuliffe (Newton, Mass./Kimball Union Academy), 1 goal
· Junior Niall Foster (Newmarket, N.H./Walpole Express), 1 assist, 20-for-26 faceoffs
· Senior William Santangeli (Oakville, Ontario/Saint Mark’s School), 1 assist, 7-for-13 faceoffs
· Senior Tim Decker (Liverpool, N.Y./Canterbury School), 25 saves
· Sophomore Andrew DeCristoforo (Medway, Mass./South Shore Kings), 5 blocks
OPPONENT LEADERS
· Senior Liam O’Sullivan, 2 assists
· Sophomore Anthony Iacullo, 2 assists
· Senior Trey Aiello, 1 goal
· Senior Mike Ferraro, 1 goal
· Sophomore Kilian Hammersmith, 1 goal
· Sophomore Kevin Ouellette, 1 goal
· First-year Nick Howard, 30 saves
GAME FACTS
· The Purple Knights move into second place in the NE10 standings with 15 points, leapfrogging Saint Anselm (14), and coming within three points of first-place Assumption College.
· The last nine games between the Purple Knights and Hawks have been decided by three goals or less.
· Decker moves into a tie with Bob Chancio ’98 and Mike Dizgun ’13 for fourth in program history in career wins (23).
· Cerdà, who joined the program this year after transferring from Buffalo State College, became the 20th Purple Knight to score a goal this year, with no one netting more than nine.
· Saint Michael’s erased a two-goal deficit to win for the third time in nine games after not doing so previously since Feb. 24, 2018.
· The Purple Knights’ five goals are just the third time the Hawks have given up five goals in a game all year, as they entered the game leading the NE10 in defensive scoring average (2.65).
· Saint Michael’s moved to 8-3-2 in games decided by one goal or less this season, with four of their five wins in the second semester coming by a single tally.
THE ACTION
· Saint Anselm scored 34 seconds into the first period when senior Sean Verrier stole the puck in the Purple Knight zone and passed the to a wide open Aiello, whose shot beat Decker.
· The Hawks extended their lead with 2:32 gone when first-year Matt Hayes passed the puck to the front of the net for Ouellette, who shot the puck between the legs of Decker.
· The Purple Knights cut into the Hawk lead 16:32 into the period on a power play after Stewart fought for the puck and passed it to Muller, whose shot from the blue line hit the top right corner of the net.
· A second Purple Knight power-play goal just 1:43 later tied things up when a shot by Flack was saved, but the rebound was hit into the back of the net by Stewart.
· The Hawks took back the lead 5:34 into the second period on a power play when a shot by Iacullo was saved by Decker, with the rebound landing left of the net where Ferraro slapped in the goal.
· The Purple Knights answered with 10:01 gone after Santangeli brought the puck up the ice and took a shot that was saved by Howard, but Cerdà was there to hit home the rebound for his first goal as a Purple Knight.
· Saint Michael’s scored a third power-play goal on a 5-on-3 just 2:23 later when Foster passed the puck through the crease from the right side of the ice to McAuliffe for a one-timer goal from the left circle.
· The Hawks tied the game up on a power play with 9.2 seconds left in the second period when a shot by O’Sullivan from the blue line was tipped into the net by Hammersmith.
· The Purple Knights scored the game-winner 16:03 into the third period when junior Ethan Hendrickson (Budd Lake, N.J./New Jersey Rockets) passed into the low slot for Flack, who picked the top right corner.
· The Hawks pulled the goalie and went on the power play with 18:20 gone, but Decker made three saves during the 6-on-4 advantage, Foster was 3-for-3 on draws, and Flack blocked a shot in the closing seconds to secure the Purple Knight victory.
NEXT SAINT MICHAEL’S GAME
· Sunday vs. Saint Anselm, 12:50 p.m.
MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury had a quick answer for its only deficit of the game, as the Panthers earned a 3-3 tie with visiting Connecticut College on Saturday in Kenyon Arena. Middlebury (7-8-3, 5-4-3) returns to action with a road contest on Friday against fourth-ranked Trinity at 7:00 p.m., while the Camels (8-8-2, 4-6-2) head to Tufts at the same time.
Conn. College awarded an early power and nearly opened the scoring in the first minute when Colin Stevens fired a shot from the right circle that hit the post. Middlebury hit a pipe of its own at the midway point, as Bret Pastor walked the blueline and sent a low wrist shot off the left post. The Panthers took a 1-0 lead with 4:41 left in the frame, when Brendan Dawson’s blast from the left point beat Camel goalie Connor Rodericks.
The second period started just like the opening stanza, as Conn. College had a power play in the first minute with Ryan Petti dinging a shot off the post. Middlebury goalie Adam Wisco thwarted Jacob Moreau on a breakaway, before the hosts doubled their lead to 2-0. Conor Breen took a feed in the high slot from Paddy Bogart and fired in his third goal of the season with 9:01 on the clock. The Camels cut the margin to one with 5:24 remaining, as Moreau created a turned over in the neutral zone, before directing in a pass at the left post from Josh Chapman.
The visitors knotted the score at 2-2 with 5:58 expired in the third frame, as Younghoon Choi raced in from the left side and used his backhand to slide a shot behind Wisco. With 10:03 on the clock, the Camels took their first lead (3-2) of the contest on a sharp wrister by Moreau from the left circle. The hosts needed only 10 seconds to pull even when Danny Tighe knocked in his own rebound after taking a pass from Alex Heinritz.
Both teams had chances in the late stages of the final frame to win the game, with Middlebury’s Owens Powers being stopped from point-blank range on the first of those bids. Wisco made a nice shoulder save on an attempt by Petti in the final minute.
In the five-minute overtime, each team recorded four shots on goal, as the game finished in a 3-3 deadlock.
Wisco stopped 20-23 for the Panthers, while Rodericks turned aside 27-30 Middlebury shots.
Both teams came up empty on the power play with Middlebury getting seven chances and the Camels five opportunities.