Cadets out-score top teams in PrimeLink

The Norwich men's hockey team won its seventh PrimeLink championship at Middlebury College in late November.

The PrimeLink shootout consisted of four top teams in Division III hockey: Middlebury, Plattsburgh, Elmira and Norwich.

"I think the PrimeLink shootout is the toughest tournament in Division III hockey," said Colin Mulvey, 21, a junior civil engineering major from Worcester, Mass. "It has some of the best teams in the nation coming together facing off for one trophy."

The Cadets played their first game of the tournament Friday, Nov. 25, against the Plattsburgh State Cardinals.

"Plattsburgh is a really good team," said Travis Janke, 21, a junior business major from Swiftcurrent, Sask. "It is going to be a battle for the full 60 minutes of the game."

"Plattsburgh has always played us tough," said Chris Czarnota, 19, a sophomore business major from Wakefield, Mass. "I am interested to see how they respond after we beat them last year to end their season."

The Norwich Cadets edged the Plattsburgh Cardinals 3-2 last season in overtime to advance to the Final Four in Minnesota.

"They beat us twice last year during the season, but we beat them at the end of the year when it counted," said Emmond Bell, 24, a senior communications major from Ottawa, Ont. "I'm excited to see how they respond in the first game this year."

The Cadets took an early lead in the first period, and added to the lead throughout the game.

"We came out and played hard for the entire game," said Nevin Lawler, 20, a freshman business major from Fitchburg, Mass. "I knew it would be a tough game, but we stuck to our game plan and came out on top."

"It was a great game back and forth for both teams," said Christophe Paquet, 21, a business major from Victoriaville, Quebec. "We have a great rivalry with Plattsburgh, every game is tough."

The game finished in a 3-0 victory for the Cadets as they advanced to the finals on Saturday against the Elmira Soaring Eagles.

"That first game was a big win for our goalie, Parker Carroll," said Bell. "He really set the tone for the next game."

The Cadets, ranked number one in the country, faced off in a bloodbath against the Soaring Eagles, who are ranked number seven according to NCAA polls.

"I didn't know much about Elmira's team before playing them," Czarnota said. "All I knew was that they were a big team and they played physical."

"Elmira started off the game really strong, but we answered back quickly," Mulvey said. "Our forwards used our speed and worked to our advantage."

Mulvey said Elmira's physical defense couldn't keep up with the Cadets' forwards and it cost Elmira by taking multiple penalties.

"We capitalized on all of Elmira's mistakes," Bell said. "They took a few penalties in the first period and we responded by scoring three power play goals."

Elmira came back hard in the second period and made the game closer.

The score stayed 3-2 until late in the third period when the Cadets scored a goal to put the game more out of reach for Elmira.

"I looked up from the bench and saw that Kyle Thomas had the puck," Lawler said. "Next thing you know the puck was in the back of the net."

Bell said Elmira kept putting the pressure on the Cadets and kept working hard to come back until the clock stopped.

"We took a penalty with two minutes left in the game," Paquet said. "We knew we had to work really hard to kill this penalty and not let Elmira back in the game."

"I looked up at the clock with about 30 seconds left in the game and the puck had cleared the zone," Mulvey said. "Our defenseman shot the puck down the ice and we scored the empty net goal to finish off the game."

Final score was 5-2, Norwich.

Mulvey said Elmira had been Norwich's toughest opponent so far. The Soaring Eagles will come to Kreitzberg Arena in January for the Northfield Savings Bank tournament.

According to Bell, the Cadets needed to bring their "A" game to the tournament.

"When you are at the top everyone wants to see you fall, so we needed to go into this tourney with a killer's mentality, not allowing our opponent to think that they would come close to beating us," said Bell.

"We like to use our quickness a lot, we have a lot of fast skaters on the team so that works out best for our advantage," said Thomas. "Also our power-play is ranked first in the nation, so we obviously strategize great in that area."

Since the players were not able to go home, they spent Thanksgiving together.

"While everyone else was enjoying their holidays, we trained every day, skated and worked out to prepare for this tourney," said Bell. "But it worked out good for us because we won, and we were able to eat together as family for Thanksgiving."

"I have not been home for Thanksgiving for three years, but it's always good to spend time with those you go to battle with on the ice," said Thomas. "Getting this win is a big plus for the program, also going into the season play it's a momentum pusher."