Northfield, Vt. - The No. 8 ranked Trinity College men's hockey team powered past the No. 11 ranked Norwich University Cadets, 5-4, in the championship game of the Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament, hosted by Norwich in an overtime thriller. Trinity improves to 7-2-1 overall while Norwich falls to 9-5 on the season. 

The Cadets wasted no time getting on the board as Brian Rowland (Waltham, Mass.) handled the puck in the Bantams defensive third and sent a wrist shot off the top bar and into the corner of the net, past Trinity senior goalie Nano Heilbron's (West Vancouver, B.C.) blocker just 1:08 into the first period. Norwich was whistled for cross-checking with 11:35 to play in the the frame, giving Trinity a man-up advantage. Bantam junior forward Ethan Holdaway (Glastonbury, Conn.) made good on the the power play opportunity by finding the back of the net thanks to an assist from sophomore defender Griffyn Martin (Southport, Conn.) to tie things at one a piece. Less than four minutes later, Cadet senior Dean Niezgoda (Brewster, Mass.) stuffed the puck past the outstretched arm of Heilbron to reclaim the lead for Norwich, 2-1, with 6:50 remaining in the first. A resilient Trinity team answered 3:10 later when Brandon Cole (Anchorage, Alaska) found freshman forward Ryan Pfeffer (Canton, Mass.) in front of the net who flung the puck past Norwich goalie Ty Reichenbach (Billings, Mont.) to tie the game back up at two. The first period scoring did not stop there, as Ryan Cole (Anchorage, Alaska) found his brother, Brandon, streaking towards the net, and promptly assisted him for the team's third goal of the period, as the visitors took a 3-2 lead into the first intermission. 

Norwch found themselves a man-up just 4:43 into the second period after Trinity was called for tripping. The hosts converted on their first power play of the evening when William Pelletier (St. Jean Chrysostome, Quebec) cleaned up the puck during a scrum in front of Heilbron, and pushed it past the Bantams goalie. After nearly 10 minutes of scoreless action, the Cadets reclaimed the lead on Niezgoda's second goal of the evening, a hard wrist shot from a few feet inside Trinity's defensive blue line. The Bantams earned their third power play of the evening with just over four minutes to play in the second period, however Norwich killed the advantage without incident, as the Cadets took a 4-3 lead into the second intermission. 

The Bantams found their much needed equalizer 5:24 into the final period when Brandon Cole fired a wrist shot top shelf from the Cadets' defensive blue line past Reichenbach. The Bantams found themselves on the power play once again with 5:24 to play thanks to an interference penalty called on Norwich, however Trinity was unable to take the lead. Norwich finished regulation on a power play of their own but was also unable to take advantage, sending the game to overtime still tied 4-4. 

In overtime, neither team scored in the first 3:50, forcing the game to three-on-three hockey for the remaining 3:50 of the overtime period due to tournament rules. with 1:19 remaining in the extra session, Trinity had a two-on-one as Anthony Sabitsky (Sicklerville, N.J.) sent a shot towards goal that was tipped in by a Norwich defender to give the Bantams the 5-4 victory, earning them the tournament championship. 

Trinity outshot the Cadets 41-25 on the evening in route to victory. Heilbron finished with seven saves before giving way to sophomore goalie Alex Morin (St. Hubert, Quebec) who finished with 10 saves. Reichenbach finished with 33 saves despite the losing effort. 

Brandon Cole, Sabitsky, and T.J. Sherman (Chesterfield, Mo.) were named tournament MVP's thanks to their performance over the weekend.