Rutland, VT-In front of a sell-out crowd of 1,336 at the Rutland Regional Fieldhouse, David Thompson stopped 22 shots and Rick Cleaver sent home a pair of second-period goals to hand No. 10 Castleton their first home loss of the 06-07 season 3-1.
The No. 9 Cadets found the net first as Nick Quagliani fired a rocket past Jeff Swanson off from a Rico Piatelli assist. The goal was Quagliani's second of the season. Castleton had their chances to even the score, but Norwich's Thompson was equal to the task, stopping all 13 shots he faced.
Norwich tacked on another pair of goals in the second period as Cleaver found the net twice. Cleaver, who entered the game second in the ECAC East in both points scored (31) and goals scored (15) broke away when the Cadets won a face-off after taking a penalty. Cleaver beat the final defender and Swanson for the short-handed marker. With just over four minutes remaining in the period Cleaver scored on a 2-on-1 situation, assisted by Eric Lauriault, his 20 th of the season. Thompson was once again stellar in between the pipes as he sent away eight shots to increase Norwich's shut-out streak to 160 minutes plus.
In the third Norwich out-shot the Spartans 15-2, but Swanson stopped all 15 to hold the guests scoreless for the final 20 minutes. Steve Culbertson was able to skate free and score Castleton's lone goal with 5:15 remaining in the game, but it was not enough to come back against the more experienced Cadets. Thompson finished the game with 22 saves, while Swanson ended the night with 25.
With the win, Norwich improves to 16-6 overall and 11-5 in conference play. Castleton falls to 14-5-3 and 9-4-3 in the ECAC East. The win by the Cadets catapults them ahead of Castleton in the standings with a total of 22 points to the Spartans' 21. Norwich is now tied with Southern Maine and Skidmore atop the standings, while Castleton sits fourth. The Spartans return to the Rutland Regional Fieldhouse tomorrow afternoon when they host St. Michael's at 3:00. Norwich will travel to Skidmore for a 4:00 PM face-off.
