It was your typical Norwich/Middlebury game … with an interesting third period twist last night at Kenyon Arena. The Cadets beat the Panthers 3-1 as Eric Tallent broke a 1-1 tie off a great give and go rush with D.J. Fimiani midway through the final stanza. That goal came only after Middlebury had two goals in the third waived off by the referees … one because the whistle had blown, the second because the puck had been played with a high stick. Then late in the period, with NU still clinging to that one goal lead, the Panthers appeared to tie the game only to have it waived off for a third time … this time because the net came off its moorings. That call was the most controversial of the three , but despite Middlebury protests the call stood up, and Shawn Baker then scored into an empty net to secure the win, which kept the Cadets unbeaten, as they ran their record to 16-0-4. A Cadet win today at Williams (not an easy task), or a Babson loss at St. Anselm, will give NU the ECAC East regular season title. Meanwhile Middlebury’s loss dropped them into sixth place in the NESCAC standings, but they remain just four points off the league lead as they play host to St. Mike’s in their final home game of the regular season this afternoon at Kenyon.
In Providence last night the UVM men got two much needed points, and they got them by scoring three much needed first period goals. Vermont jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead and went on to beat the PC Friars 5-1. It was a big turn around for a Vermont team which has struggled mightily on the first night of two night weekend series this season, but it is just half of the pie. Vermont needs four points this weekend, and anything short of a second win tonight against PC will negate a lot of what the Friday night win accomplished.
Speaking of accomplishments, consider what the Vermont men’s hoop team got done yesterday. Forced to take an eight hour bus ride to Baltimore on Thursday night because their originally scheduled flight was cancelled due to an impending blizzard, the Cats found out yesterday morning their game with UMBC was moved up 24 hours because of the storm. Bus legs? No problem. Back in his home territory Garvey Young went off for 20 points and 10 rebounds and Vermont won 76-65 to up their overall record to 17-8 and their America East record to 8-3. Next up for them, a huge league game at BU on Tuesday night.
On the high school side the Burlington Seahorses are back in a familiar position this morning … in first place in the VPA’s boy’s basketball ratings. The ‘Horses topped South Burlington 69-47 last night while Essex was losing to CVU 58-54, snapping the Hornets’ 13 game winning streak and pushing BHS back to the top rung. With two week’’s remaining BHS, Essex, Mt. Anthony and Rutland all have shot at the top seed when the state tournament field is announced later this month.