NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Senior goaltender Nick Dries (Commerce Township, Mich.) made a career-high 45 saves for the Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team, but a game-tying goal from No. 3 nationally-ranked Norwich University late in the third period allowed the Cadets to earn the 2-2 tie in overtime, Friday evening at Kreitzberg Area.
The Hawks tarnished the Cadets' perfect record as they move to 4-0-1 overall and 3-0-1 in ECAC East play, while Saint Anselm stands at 0-3-2 overall and 0-3-2 in the ECAC East.
Norwich opened the scoring at the 16:20 mark of the first period when freshman Paul Russell netted his fourth goal of the season off assists from Dean Niezgoda and Nick Pichette.
Saint Anselm found the equalizer and took the lead however, in the second period, with two power-play goals coming at the 7:33 mark and the 19:45 mark of the middle frame. Senior Joe Tebano (Glastonbury, Conn.) fired a shot into a wide open net from the left wing after a long rebound kicked out to him off an initial shot from senior Greg Merrill (Brighton, Mich.).
With the game tied at one apiece, senior Kevin Vanous (Virginia Beach, Va.) finished off a solo effort by sophomore Bryan Sullivan (Burlington, Mass.) in the closing seconds of the second period to give Saint Anselm its first lead of the game. Sullivan won the puck off a faceoff and started to break out of the zone. He carried the puck all the way to the Norwich blue line before sliding a pass over to Vanous, who fired a low shot that beat Marinsek to the far post. Marinsek made 23 total saves for Norwich.
Norwich's Shane Gorman scored with 3:50 left in the third period to tie the game at two and force the contest into overtime, where each team took two shots on goal. The Hawks finished 2-for-5 on the power play, while the Cadets missed out on all six of their extra-skater opportunities.
The Hawks return to action Saturday, Nov. 23 at 3 p.m. when they travel to Saint Michael's College. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter @STAHawks.
