RUTLAND Vt. – Kyle Thomas (Waltham, Mass.) scored a pair of goals to lead top-ranked Norwich University to a 7-5 ECAC Men's East win over number-seven Castleton State College in a match-up of the top two teams in the conference.
The game, which was played in front of a Spartan Arena record 1550 people did not disappoint, featuring 11 different goal scorers and four ties.
Castleton raced out to an early 2-0 lead, converting on a 5-on-3 opportunity just less than four minutes into the contest. Kevin Van Dyk (Grand Valley, Ont.) converted the first Spartan marker on a slap shot from the point off assists from Tylker Atkins (Brockville, Ont.) and Dan Bell (Victoria, B.C.). Justin Alonzo (San Jose, Calif.) scored just 17 seconds later, finishing off the power-play. Josh Harris (Torrance, Calif.) and Nick Lazorko (Rockwall, Texas) cycled the puck to Alonzo in the left slot where he finished the job.
The Spartans kept Norwich at bay until a Cadet flurry knotted the score at 2-2. Chris Duszynski (Ototoks, Alb.) sliced the deficit in half, finishing a two-on-one alongside Igor Martinez (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) at the 12:54. Thomas quickly drew the Cadets even just 15 seconds later, finishing a Nicolas Poulin (St. Odilon, Que.) assist. Two minutes later Norwich took its first lead of the contest as Pier-Olivier Cotnoir (Rouyn-Noranda, Que.) converted a power-play.
A scoreless 14 minutes of action in the second period ended with a goal from Bell to tie the score at 3-3. Bell corralled a loose puck off a Parker Caroll (West Chester, Pa.) save. Dru Douglas (Whitby, Ont.) took the initial shot that had Carroll scrambling and Bell deposited inside the far post.
The Spartans seemingly had all of the momentum going their way for the next four minutes, and found themselves knocking on Carroll's doorstep with the man-advantage yet again, but Colin Mulvey (Worcester, Mass.) quickly swung the pendulum back in the Cadets' direction. With the Spartans bearing down, Mulvey jumped the passing lane and stole the puck, skating the length of the and beating Erick Cinotti (Mahwah, N.J.) to make 4-3 just before the second intermission.
Norwich made it 5-3 just 23 seconds after intermission as Thomas skated free from the penalty box as the Spartan power-play expired, corralled the puck in the neutral zone and potted his second of the contest.
A Ryan Frost (Fullerton, Calif.) power-play goal sliced the deficit to 5-4, and a power-play tally from Lazorko at the 11:38 mark drew the Spartans even. The goal, which breathed new life into the raucous crowd was the 20th of the season for Lazorko setting a new single-season record for the Spartans.
The momentum was once again short-lived as two minutes later the Cadets answered with bang-bang goals yet again to put the game on ice. Blake Forkey (Boca Raton, Fla.) scored what proved to be the game-winner, and just 17 seconds later Tory Allan (Davidson, Sask.) potted the insurance goal.
Carroll finished with 23 saves as the Cadets improve to 19-2-1 overall and 14-2-0. Cinotti stopped 17 shots in the loss, dropping the Spartans to 16-5-2, 11-3-2 and stand four points behind the Cadets with two games remaining.
The Spartans will wrap up their regular season next weekend with a home-at-home against Skidmore, on the road Friday at 7 pm and back home Saturday at 4 pm.
