Box
Score
RUTLAND, Vt. - Steve Culbertson scored two
goals in the third period to help Castleton overcome a 2-0 deficit
and defeat 13th-ranked Norwich, 3-2, in an ECAC East men's ice
hockey game Saturday afternoon.
The result means that the Cadets (11-7-4, 9-5-3 ECAC East) hold
a slim one-point lead over the Spartans (13-8-2, 9-6-2 ECAC East)
in the league standings with just one weekend of ECAC East-NESCAC
Interlock competition left to go. New England College (14-8-1,
9-7-1 ECAC East) falls into third place after dropping a 5-2 home
decision to Amherst. The Pilgrims are now two points behind
Norwich. The three schools will head into the final weekend of the
regular season fighting for the conference's regular season title.
The other seven schools have all been eliminated from contention
for the league crown.
Norwich seemed to be in control of the game, leading 2-0 after
two periods. Castleton came out of the second intermission on fire,
scoring in the first minute of the third period when Brandon Heck
found Culbertson just 47 seconds into the stanza. Less than six
minutes later, the Spartans tied the score at 2-2 when Jonathan
Lafrance scored an unassisted marker at the 6:12 mark. Culbertson
then scored what proved to be the game-winning tally at the 11:19
mark of the period when he netted an unassisted short-handed
marker.
Norwich outshot Castleton 7-4 in a scoreless first period. The
Cadets held a 7-3 edge in shots in the second stanza, and were able
to score twice to build their 2-0 advantage. Nikita Kashirsky got
Norwich on the scoreboard at 7:45 of the second period when he
scored on the power play. The goal, Kashirsky's team-leading 14th
tally of the season, was assisted by Chad Anderson and Eric
Tallent. NU doubled its lead late in the second when Tallent found
Eskedjian for his fourth goal of the year at the 16:26 mark.
The Cadets were unable to hold onto the lead, however, as the
Spartans completed the comeback in the third period. Castleton
outshot Norwich, 12-7, in the final 20 minutes as they began to
bring more pressure on NU goaltender Ryan Klingensmith.
For the game, Norwich held a 21-19 advantage in shots.
Klingensmith finished the game with 16 saves. Castleton goaltender
Jeff Swanson stopped 19 shots in the win.
Only five penalties were called in what was a cleanly played
game. The Cadets went 1-for-2 on the power play, while the Spartans
were 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
Norwich will wrap up its ECAC East-NESCAC Interlock schedule
next weekend (Feb. 20-21), when the Cadets host NESCAC foes Colby
and Bowdoin at Kreitzberg Arena. The Colby game is on Friday, Feb.
20, at 7 p.m., while the Bowdoin contest is set for Saturday, Feb.
21, at 4 p.m. Both games will be available live on the radio (WDEV:
FM-96.1/AM-550), and on the internet (www.cadetsradio.com). Live
videostream broadcasts of both games will be available on
CadetsVision via B2 Networks.
