Box Score
MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team played to a 2-2 tie with #11/13 Norwich University on Saturday afternoon in New England Hockey Conference action at the Sullivan arena in Manchester, N.H.
Bryan Green (Weymouth, Mass.) scored in the final minute of the third period to send the game to overtime, while Shane Joyce (Pembroke, Mass.) stopped all four shots he faced in the extra period to earn the draw.
Saint Anselm moves to 10-6-2 overall and 6-5-2 in the NEHC, while Norwich finishes the weekend at 13-6-1 and 8-4-1 in conference games. The Cadets were named the #11 team in Division III on Monday afternoon by USHCO.com and were also named #13 in the polls conducted by D3Hockey.com.
The first period was a sloppy one as the two teams combined for seven penalties in the opening 15:31 of the contest. Norwich finally broke through at the 15:36 mark, taking advantage of a 5-on-3 power play opportunity. Coming off a face-off win following a too many men on the ice penalty, Mitch Byrne played the puck back to Dean Niezgoda and he slid the puck over to Cody Smith. Smith moved to his left and fired a wrister top shelf that snuck past Joyce and gave the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Norwich extended their lead to 2-0 with a short-handed goal from Tyler Piacentini. With the Hawks on the power play, Kevin Salvucci corralled a loose puck and played a pass across ice and off the boards to Piacentini. The junior sped past his defender and went glove side to beat Joyce to put the Cadets on top 2-0.
The Hawks offense finally struck on a power play coming 14:11 into the second period. Patrick Horrocks (Braintree, Mass.) played a slap shot from the blue line that was tipped by Nick Leonard (Methuen, Mass.). Leonard's deflection went off of Braeden Ostepchuk's pads and out to Mark Meads (Middleton, Mass.), who slapped the puck out of midair into the net to cut the Saint Anselm deficit in half.
Both teams battled in the third period as the Hawks tried to find the equalizer, while the Cadets were in search of an insurance goal. After a timeout by the Hawks in the closing two minutes, Saint Anselm emptied their net and went with an extra attacker and they peppered Ostepchuk with shots. Jeremy Carignan (Amos, Quebec) had a chance on an open net, but his shot sailed high of the cross bar.
With less than a minute to play, Carignan came from behind and passed the puck in front to Peter Sikalis (Acton, Mass.), and his shot was stopped by Ostepchuk. The rebound came out in front to Brendan Green who went top shelf and tied the game at 2-2 with only 40 seconds remaining in regulation. The tally was Green's sixth goal of the week – and also his first six goals of his career.
Both teams had chances in the overtime, but both goalies were up to the task, as neither team could find the game-winner and time ran out on the game.
Saint Anselm held a 38-31 advantage in shots on goal while both teams went 1-for-3 on power play chances. Braeden Ostepchuk stopped 36-of-38 shots in the setback for the Cadets.
The Hawks return to Northeast-10 Conference action on Tuesday night when Saint Anselm travels to Stonehill for a 7:00 p.m. game.
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