Northfield, Vt. - Castleton fell just short of an ECAC East finals appearance, falling at top-seeded Norwich 4-3 on Saturday night at Kreitzburg Arena. The squad pulled within one in the third, and nearly tied the game, but couldn't finish off the tying goal before time expired.

Chris Czarnota finished with 10 saves and earned the win for the Cadets. Thomas Shelley made nine saves but suffered the loss, allowing three goals in the first period. Erick Cinotti came in off the bench and made 12 saves, allowing just one goal over the final 39 minutes.

Castleton pushed the tempo in the first period, using their physicality to dictate the pace of the game. The tactic paid off as the Spartans took a 1-0 lead halfway through the period. Castleton took the puck into the Norwich zone, and created a scrum to the goalie's left. The puck squirted from the scrum right to Brian Greene in the high slot and the junior one-timed the puck over Czarnota's pad and into the net, putting the Spartans ahead.

The Spartans' lead did not last long though as the Cadets were able to tie the game on a power play goal from Chris Duszynski. The senior was camped out in the slot and buried a quick pass from behind the net to tie the game. Quickly after their first goal, Norwich struck again. Cody Smith collected a blocked shot and ripped a heater past Shelley to put the Cadets ahead 2-1 with 4:16 left in the period.

Just 26 seconds into the second period, Norwich added to their lead with a goal. Dean Niezgoda forced a defensive-zone turnover and beat a Castleton defender to get a wide-open chance and buried it, putting the Cadets ahead 3-1. Later in the second, Travis Janke added to the Norwich advantage, burying the puck off of a rebound to put the home team up 4-1. 

With under a minute left to play in the second period, Kyle Pichler cut the Norwich lead to 4-2 with a goal in the right slot. Czarnota parried away a shot from the left side, but Pichler was there on the doorstep to bury the rebound, bringing the Spartans within two goals before the end of the second.

In the third, Castleton had a 5-on-3 penalty in the first minute of play, but the Cadets were able to kill off both penalties without allowing a Spartan goal. Later in the period, Charles Bando cut the lead even further with a breakaway goal. The sophomore collected a loose puck on a breakaway and deked to his backhand to beat Czarnota and make it 4-3 with 10:09 remaining in the game. Castleton nearly tied the game with an extra attacker on the ice, but Czarnota pulled out a fantastic save, denying the Spartans the tie.

Castleton finished the game going 0-for-2 on the power play, and allowed one goal on three Norwich power play chances. 

The Cadets advance to their fifth straight ECAC East final and will face the winner of the other semifinal featuring Babson and UMass-Boston. The Spartans finish their season with a 13-11-3 record. The graduating senior class will leave with the winningest record in program history, going 69-31-8 over the course of their Castleton careers.