RUTLAND, Vt. – Senior forward Stuart Stefan (Delhi, Ont.) became the all-time leader in career goals in Castleton men's ice hockey program history on Saturday afternoon scoring a hat trick in a 6-4 win over Saint Michael's in ECAC East action at Spartan Arena.

Stefan surpasses Brandon Heck's (2005-09) all-time mark of 48 goals which was set on February 13, 2009 against the same Purple Knights in an 8-3 victory for the Spartans.

Castleton improves to 19-3-1 overall and 13-3-1 in the ECAC East. Saint Michael's falls to 8-13-1/5-11-1.

Stefan opened up the scoring at 10:57 on the power play putting home a rebound past Purple Knights goaltender Mike Dizgun (Kirkland, Que.) for a 1-0 lead.

Saint Michael's responded at 17:35 as Reave MacKinnon (Winnipeg, Man.) potted his 13th goal of the season with a wrister over Erick Cinotti's (Mahwah, N.J.) glove for a 1-1 tie.

Late in the first (19:46), the Spartans reclaimed the lead, 2-1, on Dan Bell's (Victoria, B.C.) eighth goal of the season as the sophomore forward deposited the puck under Dizgun's left pad.

After both teams exchanged goals in the second, Stefan buried his second goal of the contest at 14:31 on the power play to give Castleton a 4-2 advantage finishing on a beautiful cross ice feed from teammate and sophomore forward Josh Harris (Torrance, Calif.). With the power play goal, Stefan moves into second place all-time in program history with 14 career power play goals tying defenseman Joe Huchko (2007-09) in that category.

Saint Michael's came out scoring early in the third period as Nic McIntyre (Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que.) tallied his first-collegiate goal beating Cinotti glove side for a 4-3 deficit. Just four minutes and 47 seconds later, MacKinnon struck again for the Purple Knights converting a breakaway bid against Cinotti beating the freshman goaltender blocker side to even the score at 4-4.

At 11:59, freshman forward Mike Cifelli (Havre De Grace, Md.) potted the eventual game-winning goal stuffing home a loose puck in the slot past Dizgun.

Stefan netted an empty netter at 19:43 to complete the hat trick and claim the all-time goals scoring mark at Castleton.

Cinotti (9-1-1) made 21 saves in the win while Dizgun turned away 22 shots for Saint Michael's.

Castleton returns to action on Friday, February 18 against Williams at 7 pm on the road.