NORTHFIELD, Vt. -- Junior Colin Mulvey's (Worcester, Mass.) second-period goal proved to be the game winner as the top-seeded Norwich University Cadets held off the sixth-seeded University of Southern Maine Huskies 3-2 in the first semifinal game of the 2012 ECAC Men's East Championship Tournament.

            The win extends the Cadets' current unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1), and improves their overall record to 22-2-2.  The Cadets, ranked second in the nation in this week's USCHO.com and D3hockey.com polls, advance to the championship game tomorrow night against second-seeded Castleton State College, the winner of the second semifinal over fourth-seeded Skidmore College 4-0.

            The Huskies, making their fourth appearance in the semifinals (2005, 2006, 2011, 2012) in the past eight seasons, finish the season 10-11-6 overall.

            Southern Maine, which earned its spot in the semifinals by upsetting third-seeded Babson College 2-1 last weekend, broke the scoring ice in the opening period when sophomore Troy Thibodeau (Danvers, Mass.) converted a pass from junior Jon Grandinetti (Ottawa, Ontario) into his third goal of the season at 12:23.

            The Huskies' lead was short-lived as sophomore Shane Gorman (Trumbull, Conn.) netted an unassisted goal  94 seconds later to equalize for the Cadets.  The goal was the 10th of the season for Gorman.

            Junior Pier-Olivier Cotnoir (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec), the ECAC Men's East Player of the Year, would give the Cadets the lead for good late in the first period scoring his team-leading 18th marker of the season off an assist from Gorman.

            Mulvey made it 3-1 at 6:37 of the second period to give the Cadets some breathing room.  The Huskies would not roll over as ECAC Men's East Rookie of the Year Ryan Seward (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) potted an unassisted goal at 15:41 to cut the margin to one.

            Norwich sophomore goalie Parker Carroll (West Chester, Penn.) protected the one-goal lead over the final 24 minutes, and finished the game making 17 saves.  USM second-year netminder Braely Torris (Eckville, Alberta) registered 31 stops before being lifted in the final seconds for the extra attacker.  Norwich finished the game out shooting USM 34-19.

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