RUTLAND, Vt. - With a matchup against No. 1 Norwich on Saturday looming, the seventh-ranked Spartans made sure not to look past a tough St. Michael's squad, taking care of business with a 3-0 shutout on Friday evening at Spartan Arena.
Castleton scored twice in less than a minute, spanning the first and second period, to give the team all the scoring they would need and freshman Thomas Shelley (Waterford, Ont.) did the rest in net to preserve the victory. Shelly make 20 saves to earn his second shutout of the season and improve to 4-1 on the year.
With the victory the Spartans improve to 16-4-2 overall and 11-2-2 in the ECAC East. St. Michael's, meanwhile, falls to 6-13-2 on the season and 3-11-1 in conference action.
Despite a penalty filled first period, the Spartans still capitalized, scoring on a man advantage with just 8.6 seconds remaining in the first. Junior Ben Schoeneberger (Vernon, Conn.) ripped a slap shot from the point and classmate Justin Alonzo (San Jose, Calif.) was in front of the net to redirect the puck past the goaltender for the 1-0 advantage.
Castleton found itself on the power play to start the second and took advantage, scoring just 29 seconds into the period. Sophomore Nick Lazorko (Rockwall, Texas) fired a slap shot from the right point and Alonso was in front once again to deflect it in for his second goal of the game.
The Spartans added to their lead 6:33 into the final period on a great short-handed effort. Lazorko split the defense and picked the puck up on the right boards by the blue line. With a defender on his left shoulder, he skated in and managed to wrist a shot by Mike Dizgun (Kirkland, Ont.) from the right circle for his team-leading 19th goal of the season.
Shelly denied the Purple Knights multiple opportunities in the final minutes to preserve the shutout victory. Dizgun finished with 32 stops between the pipes for St. Michael's.
The Spartans return to the ice on Saturday at 4 p.m. when they face top-ranked Norwich, who lost to Skidmore by a 3-1 margin on Friday night.
