Courtesy Norwich Sports Information
NORTHFIELD –– The Norwich University men’s ice hockey team finished off an impressive weekend sweep of the top two teams in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) with a 2-0 victory over No. 10/7 nationally-ranked UMass Boston on Saturday at Kreitzberg Arena.
Norwich (10-4-3, 7-4-1 NEHC) also defeated No. 13/12 Babson College on Friday by a 4-0 score to shutout the top two teams in the league on top of sweeping the crucial four points.
Junior goalie Tom Aubrun (Chamonix, France) stopped all 28 shots he faced to pick up his second consecutive shutout and third overall this season to backstop the Cadets to the win.
Freshman Maxime Borduas (St. Cesaire, Quebec) continued his hot streak, scoring what proved to be the game-winning goal at the 15:02 mark of the second period on the power play off assists from Gabriel Chicoine (St. Dominique, Quebec) and Coby Downs (Montclair, Calif.).
Borduas slammed home a rebound on the left doorstep of the crease through a pile of bodies after UMass Boston goalie Bailey MacBurnie made the initial save on Chicoine’s shot from the point.
Borduas has now scored eight points over the last four games for the Cadets.
Senior captain David Robertson (Boissevain, Manitoba) added the proverbial nail in UMass Boston’s coffin with 31 seconds left in the game with an empty-net goal to finish off the Beacons and clinch the four-point weekend sweep.
Borduas’ goal sent 1,400 socks onto the ice that Darn Tough Vermont donated that will now be distributed out to four local organizations for those in need. The Veterans Place in Northfield, Good Samaritan Haven in Barre, Trinity United Methodist Church in Montpelier and Resource in Burlington will help distribute the socks into the Central Vermont community to help keep our citizens warm during the winter.
Norwich moved up to third place in the NEHC standings with the four-point weekend. The Cadets now have 15 points and are three points back of Babson and five points back of UMass Boston. NU was just the second team to beat UMass Boston this year in league play.
Norwich will travel to Middlebury on Tuesday, January 22 for a 7 p.m. puck drop with the rival Panthers at Kenyon Arena.