Northfield, VT - The Castleton State College men's ice hockey team stretched its unbeaten streak to eight games with a 4-3 victory over No. 5 Norwich in ECAC East action.

With the win the 11-10-2 (9-6-2 ECAC East) Spartans catapult into the third spot in the ECAC East standings.

Dana Thibault put the Cadets on top just 24 seconds into the game off an Eric Lauriault assist, but Castleton would score four unanswered before holding on to the slim victory.

Castleton 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. Castleton 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 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 Castleton built a three-goal cushion.

The 18-5-0, (14-3-0 ECAC East) 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.

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