Courtesy Norwich Sports Information
NORTHFIELD –– The Norwich University men’s ice hockey team put in its most complete performance of the 2018-19 season on Friday night in tune to a 4-0 victory over rival Babson College at Kreitzberg Arena.
Norwich (9-4-3, 6-4-1 NEHC) got a pair of goals from junior Jordan Hall (Anchorage, Alaska), while freshman Maxime Borduas (St. Cesaire, Quebec) stayed red hot as of late with a goal and two assists to lead the Cadets’ offense in the victory.
Junior Tom Aubrun (Chamonix, France) stopped all 19 shots he faced to earn his third career shutout in goal.
Norwich took a 1-0 lead at the 12:05 mark of the first period with Hall capitalizing on a fortuitous bounce to put the Cadets on top for good. Sophomore defenseman Connor Swystun took a shot from the blue line that deflected oddly off a Babson player and then off the boards and then Hall swooped in to tap the puck over the goal line from the left half boards for his fifth goal of the season. Borduas picked up the second assist after playing the puck back to Swystun at the blue line.
Hall increased the lead to 2-0 just 34 seconds into the second period with a snipe wrist shot off the cross bar and into the back of the net for his sixth goal of the season with an assist to Borduas.
Borduas stretched the lead to 3-0 at the 6:12 mark of the third period, taking a long dump in pass from Swystun in the corner, walking out to the front of the net and slipping the puck past Bryan Botcher along the ice for his second goal of the season.
Dockery notched the second assist with a d to d pass to Swystun.
Carter Cowlthorp (Boissevain, Manitoba) iced the game with 1:35 left with an empty net goal to make it 4-0 Cadets. Babson pulled Botcher with just over five minutes to play to try and spark the offense to no avail.
Aubrun improved to 7-3-3 on the season, while Botcher dropped to 7-2-1.
Norwich picked up a very valuable two points in the NEHC standings, leapfrogging Hobart with the victory. The Cadets sit in fifth, just one point behind New England College and Skidmore, who are tied for third in the standings. New England College has played one more game than both Norwich and Skidmore.
The Cadets will now turn their attention to NEHC-leading UMass Boston, who has 20 points on the season and lost just once so far this year.
Norwich will take on the Beacons at 4 p.m. in Kreitzberg Arena as part of the inaugural Norwich Hockey Sock Toss, presented by Darn Tough Vermont. When the Cadets score their first goal of the game, fans are invited to throw one of the 1,400 pairs of socks onto the ice that Darn Tough is donating to the event that will then be distributed to those in need in the Central Vermont community.