Men’s Hockey Falls Short Against No. 4 Norwich, 2-1

CHARLESTOWN, Mass. – Suffolk men's hockey tested No. 4 Norwich to its limits, but came out on the wrong side of a 2-1 decision Friday night at Emmons Horrigan O'Neil Memorial Rink.   

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 1 | No. 4 Norwich 2
RECORDS: Suffolk (4-9-1, 0-6-1 NEHC) | No. 4 Norwich (11-2-1, 7-1-0 NEHC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Norwich connected first 2:43 into the opening period when Noah Williams and Braedyn Aubin split a Suffolk defender. Williams had the puck on Cal Wilcox right, slipped it to Aubin, who tucked it inside the post for the one-goal edge.   

Less than five minutes later the visitors added to their advantage when Felix Brassard took advantage of scrum in front to sneak the puck into the netting to make it a two-goal game.  

Suffolk sliced the margin in half at the midway point of the middle period. On their first power play of the night, the Rams used a triangle pass to catch Tom Aubrun off guard. Ryan Donnelly found Griffin Clark in the slot, who had room for an open blocker side score to trim the gap to one. Henry Bishop assisted on the marker that put the blue-and-gold on the board.  

The Rams managed to keep the Cadets off the scoreboard from there including in the final 1:36 when Alex Kolowrat went into the box for tripping. Wilcox not only secured two more saves, but his defense blocked a pair of slap shots to keep the 2-1 game intact heading into the third period.  

Suffolk commanded the third period and held off Norwich's attack to its first shot on target until there was 7:15 remaining in regulation. The Rams offense could not figure Aubrun out, however, as each of the blue-and-gold's attempts met Norwich netminder's pads and even with pulling Wilcox for the final 50.5 seconds, the 2-1 score stood in the Cadets favor.  

NETMINDER NOTES

• Wilcox picked up 27 saves in the setback. 
• Aubrun secured 15 stops in the victory.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Clark was the lone goal scorer for Suffolk with Donnelly and Bishop each dished out assists. 
• Norwich outshot Suffolk, 29-16, and won the face-off battle 31-55. 
  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk met its third ranked opponent of the season, second straight. 
• The Rams put away their ninth power play goal of the season. 
• Suffolk was the first team to pot a power play marker against Norwich since Castleton did so December 6, 2019.  

POST-GAME PIC
  

COMING UP
Suffolk is back in action in Charlestown tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 11 against Castleton. Puck drop is scheduled for 5 p.m.