Box Score NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's hockey team defeated Castleton 6-1 on Saturday afternoon at Kreitzberg Arena to complete a three-game series sweep on the week.
Senior Felix Brassard (St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec) and sophomore Niks Krollis (Riga, Latvia) each scored twice to lead the Cadets' offense, while freshman Patrick O'Neal (Indiana, Pa.) chipped in with a goal and an assist.
Norwich (3-0-0) outscored Castleton 13-1 on the week, but the Cadets did see their historic NCAA all-divisions consecutive shutout minute streak finally snapped with 3:25 left in the game.
Castleton freshman Stone Stelzl fired a slap shot from the blue line that found its way through traffic in front of the net and evaded sophomore goalie Andrew Albano (Hamilton, Ontario) by careening into the bottom corner of the net.
Stelzl's goal was the first goal Norwich had given up since Jan. 24, 2020, which was 407 calendar days and stretched across 13 games for 730 minutes and 26 seconds of game action. The Cadets had recorded 11 straight shutouts and were 3:25 away from their 12 straight and third different goaltender to contribute to it.
The previous record for consecutive shutout minutes by a NCAA Division III men's ice hockey team was the 2005-06 St. Norbert squad that held a streak of 337:22. The 2019-20 and 2020-21 Norwich men's hockey teams combined to more than double it.
Norwich opened the scoring at the 5:14 mark of the first period with Michael Green (Montreal, Quebec) rifling a slap shot from the point past Castleton starting goalie Brandon Collett for his second of the season. Cale List (Petawawa, Ontario) and Philip Elgstam (Stockholm, Sweden) picked up assists on the goal.
Krollis potted his second goal of the season at the 17:51 mark of the first period off assists from Elgstam and Callum Jones (Burlington, Ontario) to stretch the lead to 2-0 Norwich heading into the first intermission.
The Cadets poured it on in the second period, tallying three more times with two goals from Brassard and another from O'Neal to take a commanding 5-0 lead into the second intermission.
Brassard sniped a shot over the shoulder with a wicked wrist shot off a pass from Logan vande Meerakker (Dieppe, New Brunswick) for his first goal of the season.
O'Neal tallied his first collegiate goal at the 6:42 mark of the second period off assists from vande Meerakker and Noah Williams (Cortland, N.Y.) on a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play on a 4-on-4. Williams found vande Meerakker sneaking down the right wing and then vande Meerakker sent a centering pass to O'Neal parked at the top of the crease from behind the goal line that O'Neal redirected into a wide open net for the goal.
The Cadets one-upped themselves with another pretty tic-tac-toe passing play for Brassard's second goal of the game with O'Neal and Maxime Borduas (St. Cesaire, Quebec) combing on the setup to allow Brassard an easy tip in goal to a wide open net. Norwich's fifth goal prompted a Castleton timeout and the Spartans pulled Collett for Luke Cohen, who finished out the remainder of the game.
Krollis added his second of the game and third of the season at the 7:47 mark of the third period when he flipped the puck from behind the net off the back of Cohen from no angle to cap the Norwich scoring on the game. Brassard picked up the assist on the goal to complete his three-point night.
Albano made 24 saves for Norwich to improve to pick up his first victory of the season and the second of his career in as many starts.
Norwich outshot Castleton 46-25 in the game.
Saturday's win marked the 50th of head coach Cam Ellsworth's career. In just his third season, Ellsworth has compiled a 50-7-5 record for an .847 winning percentage.
The Cadets are currently scheduled to play a home-and-home series against Plymouth State next Friday and Saturday.
