NORTHFIELD, Vt. — Playing for the first time in 27 days Friday, Nazareth’s men’s hockey team surrendered a pair of third-period goals against fifth-ranked Norwich as the Cadets rallied to take a 3-1 men’s hockey victory over the Golden Flyers in non-conference action.
The game was a first-round matchup in Norwich’s Northfield Bank Tournament and boosted the Cadets’ overall record to 11-1-1 following their seventh straight win. Nazareth dropped to 4-7-2. The Golden Flyers play again Saturday at 2 p.m. in the tournament’s consolation game against top-ranked Oswego. The Lakers (10-2-2 overall) dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to Williams in Friday’s first game. Norwich and Williams will square off Saturday’s championship game at 5 p.m.
“I was pleased with our effort especially after the long layoff,” said Nazareth Coach George Roll. “I thought we generated some good opportunities, but we just can’t bury our chances.”
Nazareth has been idle since a 2-2 tie at Cortland Dec. 3. Norwich had to rally from a 1-0 deficit after the first intermission to score three unanswered goals in the win. Nazareth struck first at the 17:18 mark of the first period with a pretty 3-on-2 odd-man rush goal by Dominik Gabaj, who leads the Golden Flyers with nine goals and 16 points.
Oliver Jansen skated in from the right wing and fed a pass to the middle for Brian Miller. Miller collected the puck and set up Gabaj by waiting out a Norwich defenseman that dropped to the ice to block a pass. He slid the puck over to Gabaj crashing at the left side of the net, who banged it home past Norwich junior goalie Braeden Ostepchuk to put the Golden Flyers up 1-0.
Norwich caught a break at the 7:18 mark of the second period with Tyler Piacentini intercepting a clearing attempt by the Nazareth goalie Brandon Lane along the boards. Lane came out to play the puck and tried to fire it up the left wall towards the Norwich bench. However, his clearing attempt was blocked by Piacentini right in front of the Cadets’ bench and he flipped the puck into a wide open net to knot the game up at 1-1.
Norwich took its first lead of the game at the 8:34 mark of the third period with Salvucci scoring his first of the night on a power play off a pretty backhanded, no-look feed from behind the net by Pelletier. Pelletier skated behind the Nazareth net and then quickly dropped the puck back to Salvucci, catching Lane and the Nazareth defense off guard. Salvucci fired the puck into the bottom left corner of the net for his eighth goal of the year.
Pelletier and Salvucci hooked up again for a de-ja-vu play to the second goal at the 17:40 mark with literally the same exact drop pass behind the net that resulted in Salvucci’s ninth of the season.
Norwich had a 35-22 advantage in shots on goal. Norwich’s Braeden Ostepchuck made 21 saves, while Lane made 32 stops for Nazareth.
