#1 Norwich Skates Past Fitchburg State, 5-1

Bertolotti nets lone goal for Falcons in 2012 Northfield Savings Bank Invitational

NORTHFIELD, Vt. (January 7, 2012) – The Fitchburg State men's ice team battled No. 1 ranked Norwich University, falling to the Cadets 5-1 in the championship round of the 2012 Northfield Savings Bank Invitational.

With the victory, Norwich claims the 2012 tournament crown, improving to 10-0-1 on the season (6-0-0 ECAC East), while Fitchburg State falls to 3-7-2 and 2-3-1 in the MASCAC.

Norwich held a 2-1 lead after one period play, using back-to-back goals from Chris Duszynski (Okotoks, Alb./Okotoks Oilers) and Kyle Thomas (Waltham, Mass./South Shore Kings). Fitchburg State was able to muster goal midway through the first period to cut the Cadets lead to only as senior Travis Bertolotti (Long Island, N.Y./New York Bobcats) registered his second goal of the season with feeds from Carlo DiPiazza (Ridgewood, N.J./Connecticut Jr. Wolfpack) and Curtis NIkitas (Leominster, Mass./Saint Bernards).

In the second period, the Cadets began to pull away, posting a pair of markers over a 3:45 span to claim a 4-1 advantage. Junior Pier-Olivier Cotnoir (Rouyn-Noranda, Que./Peterborough) regained the Norwich two goal lead with his sixth score of the year at 14:08, while Nevin Lawler (Fitchburg, Mass./Cushing Academy) collected his first collegiate goal at 17:53 to cap the surge.

In the third, Norwich iced the contest midway through the frame, taking a four goal lead on Tory Allan's (Davidson, Sask./Humboldt Broncos) fourth goal of the year. Allan took a Alec Thieda (Rochester Hills, Mich./Kenai River) feed a deposited to the back of the net at the 8:02 mark.

Norwich controlled the tempo for much of the match, hosting a 40-17 advantage in shots. Newcomer Randy Wolcott (East Haven, Conn./Wisconsin-Stevens Point) suffered the loss for the Falcons, totaling 35 saves in the complete game effort, while Chris Czarnota (Wakefield, Mass./Wakefield) improved to 3-0-0 on the season with 16 saves for the Cadets.

Fitchburg State will be back in action on Thursday as it hosts Framingham State at 7 p.m. Norwich will visit Babson College on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

All Tournament Team
Travis Bertolotti, Fitchburg State
Bobby Lesier, Fitchburg State
Kevin Willer, Elmira
Trevor Lawler, Fitchburg State
Doug Lindensmith, Norwich
Tory Allan, Norwich
MVP – Kyle Thomas, Norwich