NU opens season by beating University of New England
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Staff Report - Published: November 21, 2009
BIDDEFORD, Maine – The Norwich University men's ice hockey team opened its 2009-10 campaign with a 4-2 victory over the University of New England on Friday.
Norwich needed a pair of third-period markers to pull away from the pesky Nor'Easters, who gave the Cadets all they could handle.
Norwich freshman Kyle Thomas scored the game-winning goal off assists from classmate Eric Siegel and sophomore Tim Houston at 2:12 of the third period, giving the Cadets a 3-2 lead. Norwich was able to hold UNE at bay during the remainder of the final stanza, and freshman Tory Allen iced the game with an empty-net goal off an assist from sophomore Owen Carpino with 19 seconds to play.
New England (0-2, 0-1 ECAC East) opened the scoring at the 7:08 mark of the first period when Justin Miner scored off a feed from Scott McManaman. The Nor'Easters carried that lead into the second period despite being outshot by the Cadets, 15-6, in the opening 20 minutes.
Norwich tied the score at 1 early in the second period when freshman Scott Schroeder scored at the 3:41 mark. Senior Eric Tallent and Allen picked up assists on the goal, which came on the power play. The Cadets pulled in front for the first time in the contest midway through the second period when freshman Matt McCann scored off assists from junior Chad Anderson and senior D.J. Fimiani at the 11:27 mark.
New England knotted the score at 2 late in the middle frame when Jack Nolin scored a power-play goal at the 17:26 mark. Kyle MacLennan and Mike Roper were credited with assists on the goal, which helped the Nor'Easters even things up heading into the third period.
Norwich held a 40-21 edge in shots for the game. Both squads went 1-for-5 on the power play.
Senior Ryan Klingensmith earned the victory for the Cadets between the pipes, stopping 19 of the 21 shots that he faced. Roper made 36 saves in the loss.
The Cadets will complete their first road weekend of the season today when they travel to face ECAC East rival Southern Maine at 4 p.m. A live audio broadcast of the game can be heard on the radio at WDEV (550 AM; 96.1 FM) and on the internet at cadetsradio.com.
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