RUTLAND, Vt. – The Castleton University men's hockey team clinched a spot in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) Tournament with a 5-3 victory over Suffolk on Friday night. 

Junior Glenn Wiswell had two goals and an assist and Calvin Moïse finished with a goal and assist to get the Spartans back to the playoffs. Freshman goalie Brandon Collett had 37 saves to earn his fourth win of the year.

Castleton will be the eighth seed in the NEHC Quarterfinals and will match up with top-ranked Norwich at Kreitzberg Arena on Saturday, Feb. 22, with the time to be determined. Castleton upset Norwich in Northfield, 2-1, back on Dec. 6. The Cadets settled the score last Saturday at Spartan Arena with a 5-0 triumph. 

The Spartans scored on their first two shots on goal, separated by 31 seconds, to take an early lead, but the Rams answered with two of their own 34 seconds apart to tie it back up. All four goals were scored in a 100-second span. Wiswell out-waited the Suffolk goalie and stuffed the puck in at the 5:31 mark to open the scoring, and Alex Maunula doubled the lead after getting a feed from Matt Bloomer behind the goal line. 

Joseph Mortillaro found a loose puck in the slot and shot it in at the 6:37 thanks to a steal behind the cage by Matt Bucher to cause the turnover in front. Then, Devin Lowe followed up on his own rebound to knot it up. 

With 1:44 left in the busy period, Moïse finished off a tic-tac-toe play with Wiswell and Nick Gravina, who had two assists, to give the Spartans the lead on the power play. 

Suffolk got the equalizer again at the 3:54 mark of the second period when Peter Nugent scored his first of the year on a nifty backhand shot on a rush.

The game stayed tied until Wiswell got his second and eventual game-winning goal at 11:16 of the third. On the power play, Moïse walked along the left-wing and handed off to Troy Taylor next to the net, who found Wiswell open in the slot and it was quickly untied after a pair of stick handles and a wrist shot under the bar. 

Ladaouche provided the insurance 38 seconds later on an unassisted goal on a 2-on-1 rush and accurate low wrist shot across his body.  

Anton Tarvainen, Jahwara Rennalls, and Matt Bloomer picked up the other assists for Castleton (6-16-2, 4-12-1 NEHC). For the Rams, Joe Vingi, Nick Lachaine, and Brian Brooks added helpers. Jarret Bovarnick turned aside 21 shots. Suffolk (7-15-2, 3-12-2 NEHC) was eliminated from playoff contention with tonight's loss and closes its season on Saturday at Norwich. 

Before the game, Castleton honored Bob Fredette '77 for his 43-year career with the Rutland Herald and presented him with a custom Spartan Hockey jersey. 

Castleton will honor its seniors on Saturday with 4 p.m. tilt with Johnson & Wales for the regular-season finale.