NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Seventh-ranked Castleton advanced to the program's first-ever ECAC East championship game on Friday evening with an emphatic 4-0 semifinal victory over Skidmore at Kreitzberg Arena.
The Spartans scored twice in a two-minute span during the second period and freshman Thomas Shelley (Waterford, Ont.) was a rock in goal in earning the third shutout of his young career with 21 stops between the pipes. Junior Dan Bell (Victoria, B.C.) had a goal and two assists in the win.
Castleton improves to 19-6-2 with the victory and advances to Saturday's final to face host second-ranked Norwich at 7 p.m. Skidmore, meanwhile, ends their season at 12-13-2.
The Spartans put multiple shots on Skidmore early before finally breaking through on a breakaway attempt by Bell 10:11 into the contest. Defensemen Brad Barber (Nepean, Ont.) collected the puck in his team's end and whipped it ahead to Bell who received it at the blue line. Coming in on net, he made quick move before depositing the shot past Colin Bessey (Montclair, N.J.) for the 1-0 lead.
After killing off a penalty late in the second period, Castleton pushed their advantage to two on a goal by senior defensemen Tyler Atkins (Brockville, Ont.) at the 16:47 mark. Justin Alonzo (San Jose, Calif.) skated in on the left side on the two-on-one and backhanded the puck around a defender to Atkins' stick on the right side of the net and he put it home before Bessey could react.
Less than two minutes later, the Spartans capitalized on their second power-play of the evening. Holding the puck at the left point, Atkins found Bell camped on the right goal post. Bell received the puck and tipped a pass to an oncoming Josh Harris (Torrance, Calif.) who made a quick move before netting the goal with just 2:01 remaining in the second period.
Castleton stretched its lead to 4-0 at the 12:33 mark of the third period on a goal by Colin Murray (Oshawa, Ont.). The sophomore was right in front and able to poke the puck right under Bessey's pads for his 12th goal of the season off assists from Ben Schoeneberger (Vernon, Conn.) and Cody Ayers (Colorado Springs, Colo.).
Tonight's victory was also the 99th for head coach Alex Todd in his seventh season at the helm of Castleton Hockey.
The Spartans and Cadets will now play back-to-back tomorrow, as the women play in a semifinal matchup at 3 p.m. and the men's championship follows at 7 p.m.
