#1 Norwich skates to 4-2 victory over Morrisville State

Visiting Morrisville State College men's ice hockey tallied two straight scores in the third period, but fell short as top nationally ranked Norwich University collected the 4-2 victory in the opening round at the Northfield Savings Bank Tournament held in Northfield, Vermont Friday night.



Morrisville State drops to 2-10-1 overall, while Norwich remains unbeaten with a 9-0-1 record. The Mustangs will face Elmira in the consolation round of the tournament Saturday at 4 p.m. while Norwich advances to the championship against Fitchburg State, who topped the Soaring Eagles 2-1 in a shoot out earlier in the evening.



Norwich jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period, netting the first score of the night 14:47 into the period, as Kyle Thomas put one past Morrisville State keeper Christopher Azzano (Oshawa, Ont.). Doug Lindensmith gave the Cadets a two goal advantage, netting a wrap around score with just over two minutes to go in the first.



Travis Janke extended the Norwich lead to three with a tally at the 17:07 mark in the second.



Morrisville State posted two straight in the final period to cut the Norwich lead to one, the first an unassisted tally from Todd Hosmer (Scarborough, Ont.) 6:42 in and a second from Kevin Gaughran (Pawling, N.Y.) on a power play opportunity at 18:50, but the Cadets added an empty net tally in the closing seconds to secure the win.



Azzano turned away 31 in the contest for the Mustangs, playing 59 minutes between the pipes.



Parker Carroll collected 15 saves to advance Norwich to the tournament championship.