Rutland, VT-Goalies Jeff Swanson of Castleton and Jamie Gilbert of Southern Maine spent 60 minutes trying to out perform each other, but in the end Swanson got the better of Gilbert and the Huskies. Swanson posted his first shutout of the season, leading the Spartans to the 3-0 win. Castleton is now unbeaten in its last six games, winning five of those contests.

Swanson made 28 saves en route to the victory, making a number of diving stops as well as some fantastic glove saves on Husky slap shots. Swanson's effort marked the first time all season Southern Maine has been shut-out. Gilbert was just as impressive in his 29 saves but left two rebound opportunities that the Spartans capitalized on. Gilbert stopped a Steve Culbertson shot from the front of the net, but could not find the puck after the stop and Evan Romeo knocked the puck home for a power play goal 8:59 into the first period. Kirk Buldoc scored by way of the rebound in the third period off a Stuart Stefan shot to put the Spartans up 2-0 with under 15 minutes to play. Freshman Omar Pacha scored an empty net goal, the first of his career, to put Southern Maine away for good.

Southern Maine had a number of chances, only to be turned away by Swanson and the defense of the Spartans. The Huskies' best chance to get back in the game came in the second period when Castleton was whistled for a five minute major. Despite the significant advantage, the Spartan defense combined with two penalties the Huskies committed resulted in the Spartans taking a 1-0 lead into the last period.

The Spartans improve to 9-10-2 (7-6-2 ECAC East) and now trail the Huskies by one point for 4th place in the conference. Castleton has four conference games remaining to continue to move up in the standings. The first of the four games comes Friday, February 15 as the Spartans travel to St. Michael's for a 7:00 pm start. Southern Maine falls to 13-5-3 (7-5-3). The Huskies return home Friday, February 15 as they host Tufts University for an ECAC East-NESCAC match-up at 7:00 pm.