Men’s Hockey: Norwich Blanks Plattsburgh, 3-0

Courtesy Norwich Sports Information

PLATTSBURGH, NY. — The Norwich University men’s ice hockey team stayed white hot in 2019, extending its unbeaten streak to 10 straight games with a 3-0 win over Lake Champlain rival Plattsburgh State on Tuesday night at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena.

Freshmen Brett Ouderkirk (Monkland, Ontario) and Maxime Borduas (St. Cesaire, Quebec), as well as senior David Robertson (Boissevain, Manitoba) each scored goals, while junior goalie Tom Aubrun (Chamonix, France) made 23 saves to pick up his fourth shutout of the season to lead the Cadets to the victory.

Ouderkirk scored the game-winning goal with a power play goal at the 15:31 mark of the second period. Coby Downs (Montclair, Calif.) and Gabriel Chicoine (St. Dominique, Quebec) each picked up the assists on a perfectly executed power play setup. Chicoine played the puck down the half boards from the point to Downs who immediately sent the puck over to Ouderkirk at the top of the slot, who then fired a wrist shot into the left corner of the net for his team-leading eighth goal of the season.

Norwich (14-4-3, 9-4-1 NEHC) pulled away late in the third period with Robertson scoring his third goal of the season off assists from Downs and Ouderkirk with 3:34 left in the game. Ouderkirk had a shot blocked that Downs picked up at the top of the right faceoff circle and then slid back to Robertson at the point. Robertson flung a soft wrist shot at the net through traffic that evaded Plattsburgh’s Jimmy Poreda to make it 2-0 Cadets.

NU finished off the scoring with an empty-net goal by Borduas w/ 30 seconds left in the game to seal the victory. Felix Brassard (St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec) and Robertson picked up the assists on the goal.

Norwich outshot Plattsburgh 32-23 in the game. Poreda made 29 saves for the Cardinals.

Aubrun improved to 11-3-3 on the season with the victory.

No. 10/8 nationally-ranked Norwich scored just the seventh power play goal vs. Plattsburgh this season, who entered Tuesday’s contest with a NCAA Division III-leading 92 percent penalty kill.

Norwich continues its four-game road trip on Friday and Saturday when it heads to Johnson & Wales and Suffolk this weekend for their first-ever trips to their new league opponents.