Endicott, No. 12/13 Norwich Skate To 3-3 (OT) Tie

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's ice hockey team skated to a 3-3 overtime tie against No. 12/13 nationally ranked Norwich University on Saturday evening at Raymond J. Bourque Arena. Today's game served as the season opener for both programs.

Tied 0-0 after one period of play, the offensive floodgates opened in the second as Endicott scored all three of its goals in a 2:30 span.

Josh Bowes (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) got the scoring started by redirecting a shot through traffic at the top of the crease at 5:43, while Joseph Slovak (South Yarmouth, Mass.) potted a second chance effort in the slot at 7:14 to give the Gulls a 2-0 advantage. Both goals came on the power play for Endicott.

Bowes then capped the scoring outburst at 8:13 when he buried a one-timer feed on the rush, near the left post, from Carter Horwitz (Tustin, Calif.). Horwitz initiated the scoring chance on the penalty kill by picking off a pass in front of the Gulls' defensive blue line before he later gained entrance into Norwich's zone from the right wing.

The Cadets countered with back-to-back tallies at 14:14 and 15:55 of the second and evened up the score at 8:54 of the third to round out the remainder of the scoring in the contest.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Horwitz finished with two assists in the contest. It marks the defenseman's fifth multi-assist game of his career.
• Conor O'Brien (Pinellas Park, Fla.) made 39 saves, including a game-high 14 saves in both the first and third periods. O'Brien fell two saves shy of tying the 10th highest single-game save performance in program history in his collegiate debut.
• Norwich appeared to score the game-winner with 22.5-seconds to play in overtime, but after all four officials huddled near the right corner of the rink where Endicott enters the ice, the officials waved off the goal. O'Brien made an initial save on a Norwich rebound chance and fell immediately on the puck before it crossed the goal line but appeared to be knocked back into the net after a pile-up occurred in the crease.
• Prior to that save, O'Brien also stonewalled a Norwich scoring at 1:27 of overtime by making a pipe-to-pipe glove save on a cross-ice pass near the right faceoff circle.
• The Cadets are ranked No. 12 via the D3hockey.com poll and No. 13 by USCHO.com.
• Endicott and Norwich have only played twice since the Gulls' program started in 2015-16 and both games have ended in a 3-3 overtime tie. Both games also served as season openers for each team (10/28/16 | 10/27/18).

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (0-0-1) travels to Western New England University on Friday, November 2 for its conference opener at 7 PM. No. 12/13 Norwich (0-0-1) hosts Skidmore next Friday at 7 PM. 

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(Photo Credit - David Le '10)