SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team trailed top-ranked Norwich University by one goal nearly midway through Friday's contest before falling by a 7-1 count in Cairns Arena during an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East match-up.

The Purple Knights are 3-9-2 overall and 1-7-1 in the league, while the Cadets improved to 12-1-1 and 8-1. Norwich's national ranking in according to this week's U.S. College Hockey Online (USHCO) Division III poll. The game was the first at home for Saint Michael's since Dec. 31 and kicked off a two-game, home-and-home series, which concludes tomorrow in Northfield at 4 p.m.

Freshman Will Cote (Quebec City, Quebec/Rice Memorial) scored for the hosts, while junior Mike Dizgun (Kirkland, Quebec/OCN Blizzard) had 33 stops in his 50th career contest.

Freshman Doug Lindensmith (Sterling Heights, Mich./LaRonge Ice Wolves) netted a hat trick for Norwich, while junior Tory Allan (Davidson, Saskatchewan/Humboldt Broncos) scored twice. Junior Pier-Olivier Cotnoir (Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec/Peterborough) had a goal and two assists, and freshman Chris Duszynski (Okotoks, Alberta/Okotoks Oilers) added a marker. Sophomore Parker Carroll (West Chester, Pa./Wilkes Barre-Scranton Knights) made eight saves.

The Purple Knights didn't yield a shot until six minutes had elapsed, and Dizgun helped keep the Cadets off the board with 12 minutes remaining in the opening frame by sliding to the right post to deny a one-timer out front following a pass from behind the net. Cotnoir broke the stalemate at 13:11 with a close-range one-time shot, and Norwich doubled its advantage 1:26 later when Duszynski beat a defender to a puck and snuck a shot home.

Saint Michael's cut into its deficit 90 seconds later. Sophomore Ryan Arsenault (Reading, Mass./New Hampton School) ripped a shot just wide of the upper right corner, and Cote picked up the rebound and slipped around the front of the net while sliding a shot beyond Carroll at 16:07. Junior Justin Castagna (Los Alamitos, Calif./Los Angeles Kings) also picked up an assist on the play.

At 6:46 of the second, the Purple Knights had a potential tying penalty shot sail wide, and the Cadets countered with a pair of goals 2:34 apart soon thereafter, including one on the power play. Lindensmith netted his second man-advantage tally of the period at 12:52 to put his team on top by four, and Allan's second marker was a short-handed bid at 2:55 of the third. Lindensmith completed the hat trick at 17:04.