Ciccarelli Stops 36 Shots. Lynes and Green Net Goals

            GORHAM, Maine -- Sophomore Peter Ciccarelli (Chelmsford, Mass.) stopped 36 shots, including a penalty shot in the third period, as the University of Southern Maine Huskies earned a 2-2 overtime tie with the fourth-ranked Norwich University Cadets in New England Hockey Conference men's action Friday evening at the USM Ice Arena.

            The tie leaves the Huskies with a 4-9-3 mark overall and 3-5-2 in NEHC play.  The league-leading Cadets are now unbeaten in their last seven games (5-0-2), improving to 13-2-2 overall and 8-1-1 in the conference.

            Ciccarelli played well throughout the contest, stopping 15 shots in the opening period as USM, despite being outshot 15-5, took a 1-0 lead.  Protecting a 2-0 in the third period, Ciccarelli made a glove save on a penalty shot taken by NU senior Todd Jackson (Holly Springs, N.C.).

            Down 2-0, Norwich finally got on the board at 9:17 of the third as sophomore Gabriel Chicoine (St. Dominque, Quebec) snuck down from the left point to stuff a short pass from senior Taeron Lewis (Winnipeg, Manitoba) by Ciccarelli for his third goal of the season.

            The Huskies were tagged with a minor penalty with just 1:05 to play in regulation, and the Cadets made them pay.  With senior goalie Tom Aubrun (Chamonix, France) on the bench for the extra attacker, Chicoine and junior Colby Downs (Montclair, Calif.) set up rookie Braedyn Aubin (Woodstock, Ontario) for the tying goal with 39.3 seconds remaining in regulation.

            The teams skated through a scoreless five-minute overtime to end in the tie.

            Southern Maine got the early lead as junior Maverick Lynes (Sherwood Park, Alberta) fired a shot that eluded Aubrun for his sixth goal of the season at 5:22 of the opening period.  Classmate Jonathan Bartuccio-Pereira (St. Bruno, Quebec) picked up the lone assist.

            Sophomore Michael Green (Baie d'Urfã, Quebec) doubled the Huskies' lead at 6:00 of the second period completing a 2-on-1 with sophomore Adam Withers (Kenora, Ontario).

            Norwich finished the game with a 38-17 edge in shots on goal, and converted on 1 of 3 power-play opportunities.  Aubrun finished with 15 saves for Norwich.

            Southern Maine is back in action on Saturday (Note time change: 3:30 p.m.) hosting Castleton University.  Norwich travels to New England College on Saturday.

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