PINE VALLEY, N.Y. – The Elmira College Men’s Ice Hockey continued its winning streak to begin the season on Saturday when edging the #6 nationally-ranked Cadets from Norwich University, 5-4 in overtime. Elmira, who held a 4-2 advantage with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation, would surrender a pair of quick goals before scoring with just under a minute and a half remaining in the overtime period as Jordan Gonzalez ’24 scored on assists from Shawn Kennedy ’24 and Nicholas Domitrovic ’24 to seal the victory.
Kyle Curtin ’26 picked up his fourth win of the season, making 37 saves between the pipes for the Soaring Eagles compared to just 17 for Cadets netminder Owen Hains.
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 5, #6 Norwich 4 (Overtime)
LOCATION: Pine Valley, N.Y. | Murray Athletic Center
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (4-0-0, 2-0-0 NEHC), #6 Norwich (1-2-0, 0-2-0 NEHC)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Soaring Eagles would get its first chance of the evening with just under eight minutes remaining in the first period after Hayden Heinrich was sent to the penalty box on a high sticking call. Just under a minute later, it would be Janis Vizbelis ’24 would find the back of the net to open the scoring, using assists from Bailey Krawczyk ’24 and Amedeo Mastrangeli ’24.
- Heading into the second, the Cadets would knot the score at the 11:21 mark in the period as Owen Sclisizzi scored on an assist from Bryan O’Mara. Just four minutes later, it would be Ryan Reifler ’24 who would give Elmira the 2-1 advantage as Joel Pavey ’25 and Jared Smith ’24 were credited with assists on the play. 58 seconds later, Elmira would get some much needed breathing room, as Domitrovic notched his fourth goal of the season off a pass from Kennedy to increase the EC lead to 3-1.
- Excitement would brew in the third period, as Norwich scored a quick goal just 1:16 into the final period of play off the stick of Jed Brazo. From there, the scoring would halt for just over ten minutes before Vizbelis notched his team-leading fifth goal of the early season, on assists from Kennedy and Domitrovic to give Elmira back the two-goal lead.
- The goal would be necessary, as Elmira was forced into a five-minute major following high contact while the Cadets scored its third and fourth goals of the contest at the 13:03 mark, and just 16 seconds later at the 13:19 mark to tie the game at 4-4.
- The game would head to overtime and into a 3-on-3 situation, where the Cadets had a handful of good looks and seemed to control possession for the majority of the frame. Off a turnover, Elmira would head downhill, and it would be Gonzalez scoring from the right-side of the net off passes from Kennedy and Domitrovic, who each finished with three points on the evening.
UP NEXT:
The Purple & Gold hit the road for its first NEHC roadtrip of the season on Friday November 10 when heading to Babson Park, MA to take on the Beavers from Babson before heading to Gorham, ME to take on Southern Maine on Saturday.
