RUTLAND, Vt.- The Norwich Men's Ice Hockey team rode a three goal first period to victory over intrastate rival Vermont State Castleton Saturday afternoon at Spartan Arena.

The Spartans were caught on their heels early on, as they were whistled for a slashing minor 57 seconds in. Late in the man advantage, after a shot attempt by Jed Brazo (Homer, N.Y.) was blocked, the puck came to the left circle for Bryan O'Mara (Syracuse, N.Y.) who left the puck for a circling Clark Kerner (Kansas, City, Kan.). As he found his way to the high slot, Kerner sent a wrist shot through a screen to put the Cadets up by one 2:22 into the contest.

The two teams would trade chances back-and-forth, but Norwich would extend their lead just before the halfway point of the frame. A juicy rebound from a Cooper Bertrand (Caledon, On.) wrist shot from the point, came to Patrick Del Vecchio (Mississauga, On.) who touched it over to Patrick O'Neal (Indiana, Pa.). O'Neal's wrist shot skimmed along the ice surface, through a mass of bodies and underneath Spartan netminder Dominic Rodrigue.

Sensing the urgency of the moment, Castleton pressed the attack looking to claw back, but they were shut down by freshman Bryce Walcarius (Aylmer, On.). Against the flow, Alex Lewis (Moncton, N.B.) skated a Spartan turnover into the Norwich attacking zone. Lewis would find the oncoming defenseman, Jason Galotti (Hanover, Mass.), whose wrist shot was turned aside by Rodrigue. But another big rebound came to Johnny Johnson (Naperville, Ill.) at the net mouth who would make it a 3-0 Cadet lead at the end of the first.

Out of the break, Castleton looked to claw back into the game, and eventually would break through. A turnover in the Cadets' zone led to an odd man rush for the Spartans where Andrew Stefura would bury a wrist shot to get the home team on the scoreboard at 5:42. Both sides continued to trade chances throughout, but it remained a two goal Norwich lead after 40 minutes, even with Castleton holding a slight shot advantage. In the third period, the Spartans would press even more. They would shrink the Cadet lead to one, but at a cost.

On a net mouth scramble, Stefura would jam home his second of the game. As part of the scrum, Zach Papapetros knocked over Walcarius in the crease. The first-year goaltender was slow to get up, and remained in the game, while Papapetros was handed a five-minute major and a game misconduct.

One minute later, Johnson and O'Mara would set up Bertrand for his first collegiate goal, a wide-open wrist shot from the slot off the post and in to stretch the Norwich lead back to two with their second power play tally of the day. Late in the period, the Cadet lead would become three again. Paul Schmid (Linz, Austria) won a defensive zone faceoff back to Hayden Heinrich (Richmond Hill, On.) who sent the puck to Zach Ophoven (Burlington, On.). After gaining the offensive zone, Ophoven through a puck from an off angle over Rodrigue's blocker to make the score 5-2 at the final horn with Walcarius making 34 stops.

"I'm happy with the result and the weekend on the road," Head Coach Cam Ellsworth said.

Norwich will return to action over Thanksgiving weekend when they take on intrastate rival Middlebury as part of the Layer Eight Shootout in Plattsburgh on Nov 24 at 3 PM.