RUTLAND, Vt. – Sophomore forward Pier-Olivier Cotnoir (Rouyn-Noranda, Que.) notched a hat-trick and dished out one assist to lead no. 4 ranked Norwich University past no. 3 ranked Castleton, 5-2, in ECAC East action on Friday night at Spartan Arena in front of a sellout crowd of 1,505 fans.
The Cadets improve to 14-5-3 overall and 12-1-3 overall in the ECAC East. The Spartans fall to 18-3-1 overall and 12-3-1 in ECAC East play.
Norwich scored early and often as Cotnoir tallied his first of three goals just 19 seconds into the contest receiving a pass from teammate Travis Janke (Moose Jaw, Sask.) from behind the net and roofed it over Castleton goaltender Seth McNary's (Woburn, Mass.) glove for a 1-0 lead.
At 18:20, Cotnoir potted his second goal of the game deking out one defender and backhanding a shot past McNary for a 2-0 advantage.
The Cadets made it 3-0 with one second remaining on the clock in the first period as senior defenseman Greg Eskedjian (Barrie, Ont.) ripped a slapshot from the right faceoff circle into the back of net behind McNary for his fourth goal of the season.
In the second, Norwich expanded its lead to 4-0 at the 5:50 mark on Chad Anderson's (Dartmouth, N.S.) ninth marker of the season. On a 3-on-2 odd man rush, Anderson corralled a pass from teammate sophomore forward Kyle Thomas (Waltham, Mass.) on the left side of the net and backhanded a shot underneath backup goaltender Erick Cinotti's (Mahwah, N.J.) stick to take a commanding lead.
Castleton responded at 15:46 as sophomore forward Chris Weiland (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) deposited a loose puck past Cadets' goaltender Parker Carroll (West Chester, Pa.) for a 4-1 deficit. Weiland's tally was his second of the season.
On the power play in the third period, freshman defenseman Dru Douglas (Whitby, Ont.) ripped a slapshot past Carroll from the top of the point to make it 4-2.
Cotnoir completed his hat-trick at 19:33 scoring an empty net goal to secure the victory.
Carroll turned away 18 shots in net while McNary had 12 saves for Castleton. Backup netminder, Cinotti, made 24 saves.
Castleton returns to action tomorrow at Spartan Arena against St. Michael's in ECAC East action at 4 pm.
