DE PERE - St. Norbert College had a solid offensive start to Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play with a 7-2 win over the University of Dubuque at Resch Olympic Pavilion.

The Green Knights (2-1, 1-0 NCHA), ranked No. 6 in the USCHO.com Division III Poll, jumped out to an early lead when Grace Wittkopf scored at 7:17 into the game for a 1-0 lead. The Spartans' Malia Tetreault scored shorthanded at 12:46 to knot the score at 1-1, but St. Norbert would convert its power-play chance moments later on a Sydney Zurawik goal at 14:01. The Green Knights would carry a 3-1 lead into the first intermission after Hannah Grabianowski potted her first collegiate goal at 17:13.

Tristan Wicklund's goal at 1:43 of the second period gave St. Norbert a 4-1 lead, but Dubuque's Tetreault converted at 7:33 to bring the Spartans to within 4-2. That score would hold up until the waning moments of the second period, when Maddie Madden (pictured) puffed the next with just over four second remaining for a backbreaking 5-2 lead.

St. Norbert continued to pull away early in the third period on goals by Abby Pieper at 2:52 and Annalee Holzer at 4:37.

Madden, Wicklund and Zurawik all had one goal and two assists for three points. Wittkopf and Grabianowski both had one goal and one assist for two points, while Briar Charchenko had two assists for two points.

St. Norbert outshot Dubuque 43-15. Keira Markell made 13 saves for the Green Knights, while Emily Skanron made 36 stops for the Spartans.

St. Norbert was 1-for-3 on the power play, while Dubuque was 0-for-2.