NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Brandon Heck scored two goals, and Jeff Swanson made 29 saves to lead Castleton State to a 4-3 victory over Norwich in an ECAC East men's ice hockey game Saturday afternoon at Kreitzberg Arena.

Norwich (18-5-0, 14-3-0 ECAC East) did not waste any time getting its offense on track in this game, as the Cadets jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 24 seconds into the game on Dana Thibault's first goal of the season.

Castleton State (11-10-2, 9-6-2 ECAC East) tied the game at 1-1 moments later when Steve Culbertson tallied a power play goal at the 2:57 mark. It marked Culbertson's eighth goal of the season. CSC kept the momentum and Heck gave the visiting Spartans a 2-1 lead with his first  goal of the game at the 7:26 mark.

Castleton State extended its lead to 4-1 early in the second period as the Spartans scored the first two goals of the frame. Travis Martel potted the first goal at the 2:50 mark, and Heck netted his second marker of the game, and 12th of the season, at the 8:19 mark as CSC built a three-goal cushion.

The Cadets bounced back with a pair of goals later in the second period to cut their deficit to 4-3. Nikita Kashirsky kick-started the comeback by scoring his 16th goal of the season at the 10:48 mark. Eric Ouellette started the play by winning a faceoff back to Kashirsky, who blasted the puck past Swanson to make it 4-2.

Rick Cleaver drew NU to within 4-3 less than four minutes later when the senior forward scored on the power play at the 14:06 mark. The Cadets were peppering Swanson with shot after shot on the man-up opportunity and Cleaver finally broke through with his team-leading 24th goal of the season to send the Kreitzberg faithful into a frenzy.

Norwich outshot Castleton State, 16-6, in the second period.

Norwich continued to pressure Swanson in the third period, outshooting Castleton State, 9-3, in the frame. NU was unable to push across the equalizer, however, as they dropped the hard-fought game.

The Cadets outshot the Spartans 32-17 in the game.

Norwich wraps up the regular season next weekend (Feb. 22-23), when the Cadets travel to Maine to take on NESCAC foes Colby and Bowdoin.  Both games can be heard on the radio (WDEV: AM-550, FM-96.1), and on the internet (http://www.cadetsradio.com/).