NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Castleton men's hockey team couldn't complete the comeback on Saturday night, falling by a final score of 5-2 in the New England Hockey Conference semifinals to top-ranked Norwich at Kreitzberg Arena.

The Spartans twice cut into Norwich leads, but each time the Cadets widened the gap to keep the threat at bay. Castleton ends its season with an overall mark of 11-10-6, while Norwich advances to the NEHC championship with a mark of 22-1-3.

Brock Labelle and Kurt Johnson each got in the goal column for Castleton, while Gus Carlsson, Troy Taylor, Caleb Fizer and Kevin Rosset added assists. Ryan Mulder stopped 37 shots in the contest, allowing four goals in the loss.

Kevin Salvucci notched a hat trick for Norwich, scoring three of its final four goals in the contest. William Pelletier added three points in the Cadets' win, scoring a goal and two assists, and Ian Williams added a goal of his own. Braeden Ostepchuk stopped 17 of the 19 shots he faced in the contest for Norwich.

Castleton had an early power-play chance to open the contest, as Norwich was hit with a penalty for hooking at the 1:58 mark of the first frame. The Spartans were held without a shot on the opportunity, however, and Norwich capitalized soon after. The Cadets opened the scoring just 6:53 into the game, when Williams knocked home a rebound to make it 1-0. The Spartans were hit with a penalty on the play, going shorthanded for the next two minutes. Castleton killed it off, bringing the game back to 5-on-5 action.

With the game still at 1-0 with six minutes to play, the Cadets broke out on a 2-on-0 chance after a Spartan turnover in the neutral zone. Mulder came up with a big blocker save, preserving the 1-0 score for the time being. Norwich doubled its shortly after, as Salvucci redirected a shot in front to make it 2-0 in favor of the home squad with just more than five minutes to play.

After a first period that was largely controlled by the Cadets, Castleton tilted the ice back in its favor in the second stanza. The Spartans had multiple long possessions in their offensive zone, while creating odd-man rushes that were unavailable in the first period. With the team in transition early in the period, Rosset found Taylor at the blue line with a full head of steam. Taylor carried the puck on goal, where Labelle finished the play to halve the Cadets' lead to 2-1. The two sides battled back-and-forth through the rest of the period, though Norwich was charged with a five-minute major for board late in the frame, giving Castleton an extended power-play opportunity that carried over into the final 20 minutes of action.

The Spartans had a golden chance early in the third period, as Patrick Thornton rang a puck off the post, but Norwich killed off the entirety of the penalty to hold on to a 2-1 advantage. The Spartans continued to search for scoring chances, but the attack was hindered midway through the frame as Castleton was assessed a five-minute major for boarding. After killing off more than two minutes of the penalty, Norwich suffered a boarding penalty of its own, making it 4-on-4 hockey for two minutes.

As time ran out on the Cadets' penalty, Norwich found the back of the net as Salvucci potted his second goal of the game. He added a hat-trick goal less than a minute later, as he buried a rebound in the slot to push the Norwich lead to 4-1.

Castleton didn't back down, as it pulled Mulder to gain an extra attacker on the offensive end. The decision paid off, as Kurt Johnson knocked the puck into a wide open net on an assist from Gus Carlsson. Norwich soon after took a penalty for too many men on the ice, giving the Spartans a 6-on-4 chance with just more than 2:30 to play in the contest. The Spartans were called for interference during the power play, however, nullifying the advantage. Norwich tacked on an empty-net score with 0.9 seconds left to push the final to 5-2.

Norwich had a hefty shot advantage, at 42-29, and won 38 faceoffs to Castleton's 31. The Cadets went 2-for-6 on the power play, and Castleton was shut out with a man advantage at 0-for-3.

Norwich will face New England College for the NEHC title on Saturday, March 4.