Spartans Fall Short in Battle of Vermont
12-6-11
What was billed as the battle of Vermont between the # 3 ranked Castleton Spartans and #1 Norwich Cadets Friday night at Kreitzburg Arena almost failed to live up to that billing. Sparked by two power play goals the Cadets jumped out to an early 3-0 first period lead much to the delight of the capacity crowd. The Spartans were able to cut the lead to 3-1 when Colin Murray got one by Norwich goalie Parker Carroll.
Castleton’s Dru Douglas added a power play goal in the 2nd period and suddenly a game that early on looked like it was going to be a Norwich rout turned into a close and exciting hockey game.
The Cadets had numerous chances to pad their lead including a 5 on 3 power play in the third period and perhaps the best chance was when Kyle Thomas late in the game made a great move to get around two Spartan defenders and get in alone on Erik Cinotti. Cinotti made an awesome save to stone Thomas. Despite some chances to even the score the Spartans were unable to do so and suffered their first loss of the year.
Despite the loss they still sit atop the ECAC East standings having played more games and picked up more points than Norwich. They will get their chance at a re match in February when the Cadets come to the Spartan Arena. Until then the Spartans will be road warriors with only two other home games until then in late January. On Saturday the Spartans moved onto to Burlington to face Saint Michaels and came out of Cairns Arena with a 5 to 2 victory. Again Colin Murray netted 2 goals including the game winner to continue his early season torrid pace.
Josh Harris playing in only his 2nd game of the season after serving a suspension netted his 1st goal of the season. Castleton moves to 10-1-0 on the season. The Spartans will be idle until December 30th when they travel to Plattsburgh for the Cardinal Classic against Utica College then face either Babson or Plattsburgh the following day.
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Spartans win RHI move to 9-0 up next Norwich
11-28-2011
The number three ranked Castleton Spartan’s men’s hockey team moved to 9 and 0 over the weekend with their second consecutive title in their own Rutland Herald Invitational Tournament. On Saturday night Colin Murray paced the #1 offense in the country to a 10-0 whitewashing of Becker College with 4 goals. On Sunday it was a hard fought win over SUNY Morrisville 4 to 3 with Nick Lazorko netting a hat trick and Ryan Frost the game winner. The Morrisville team despite be 2-5-1 came to play against the Spartans and their record is a bit deceiving as they came into the tournament having tied # 2 Oswego. The Spartans have been getting excellent play of both sides of the puck and have been pretty decent on the power play and near the top in the nation in penalty killing. Tufts University defeated Becker in the consolation game by a score of 4 to 0.
For the Spartans the real test begins now not only are they headed out on the road for most of the remainder of the season only a weekend series with New England College and Saint Anselm in late January as well as a February series with Norwich and Saint Mikes as well as a game against Skidmore will be contested at Spartan Arena.
Despite their 9 and 0 record and number 3 ranking the Spartans will head north to Northfield, Vermont on Friday night to face the number one ranked Norwich Cadets on their home ice at the Kreitzburg Arena. Norwich is 6-0 on the season coming off a win of the prime link tournament over the weekend at Middlebury College. The two split the series last year winning on each others home ice but Coach Alex Todd feels despite their play so far this year they have been prone to lapses and will need to minimize their mistakes against a tough Cadets team.
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Spartan Express Keeps on Rolling
11-23-2011
Two more games in the 2011-12 season for the Castleton Spartans in the record books and two more wins. The Spartans are flying high starting the season at 6-0 and sitting atop the ECAC East Standings. On Friday night it was Babson coming to town. The Beavers ended Castleton’s season last year when they bounced them from the ECAC East playoffs last March.
Lindsey Gullet the Spartans on the board early in the 1st period however the Beavers equaled it soon after. But from that point on it was all Spartans as they netted the game winner by Ben Schoenberger on the power play in the 2nd period. Once the third period started the Spartans netted 4 more goals by Brett Zeggill, Dan Bell, Nick Lazorko and Chris Weiland to give the Spartans a 6-1 win. On Saturday afternoon it was the U Mass Boston Beacons coming to town.
The Spartans came out flying in the first period netting four goals two by Nick Lazorko and one each by Ryan Frost and Cody Ayers the Beacons sandwiched a goal in there to cut Castletons lead to 4 -1 at the end of the 1st.
The Beacons got a goal in the 2nd period and one early in the third period to cut the Spartans lead to one. But from there Lindsey Gullet and Dan Bell added tallys to give the Spartans a 6-3 win. Castleton goes to 6-0 on the season and will host Plymouth State on Tuesday night in a non league affair then this weekend the Spartans will end a long homestretch as the host the annual Rutland Herald Invitational on Saturday and Sunday with SUNY Morrisville, Tufts and Becker coming to town.
Castleton will face Becker in the first round and Tufts and SUNY Morrissville will square off with the winners skating for the championship on Sunday. Interestingly enough the Spartans fast start has come from success on both sides of the puck. Dan Bell has had a least a point in every Spartans game this season.
They are tied for 4th in the nation in total offense with a 5.50 avg goals per game and rank 5th in the nation in total defense giving up only an average 1.83 goals per game. There power play has been pretty decent as they sit 12th in the nation as they have cashed in 9 out of 31 times. They are also 7th in the country on the penalty kill only allowing 2 goals in 26 times being a man down and have a shorthanded goal to boot
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Spartans Roll out to 4-0 start
11-16-2011
After missing out the NCAA tournament last year the Castleton Spartans men’s hockey team has made this years focus to try and get over that playoff hump where they always seem to stumble after a successful regular season.
Well to get to the postseason you’ve got to play the regular season well enough to get there. So far so good for the Spartans after posting two wins in the home opener last weekend against the University of New England and Southern Maine the Spartans headed out on the road to the Granite State.
First up it was a battle for first place in the ECAC East against the New England College Pilgrims in Henniker, NH Friday night. The Spartans got two goals from Dan Bell in the 1st period and then Mike Cifelli and Justin Alonzo added a goal each in the 3rd period to pace Castleton to a 4-2 win over the Pilgrims.
On Saturday at Saint Anselm Kyle Pichler put the Spartans up 1-0 just over 2 minutes into the game. The Hawks would tie it late in the 2nd period but rookie Ryan Frost netted the game winner on a power play just into the third period and Castleton beat the Hawks 2-1.
Next weekend Castleton returns home to the Spartan Arena to host the Babson Beavers who ended the Spartans season last year and the U Mass Boston Beacons.
The Spartans sit atop the ECAC East Standings at 4-0 with New England
College in 2nd at 3-1 and the Norwich Cadets in third at 2-0.
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Spartans bounced by Babson
Now play waiting game
3-5-2011
The Castleton Spartans men's hockey teams season possibly came to end on Friday night at the Kreitzburg Arena on the campus of Norwich University with a 4-3 loss to the Babson College Beavers. The Spartans who came out flat and were down 3-0 quickly before rallying with two late 2nd period goals to cut the lead to 3-2. They couldnt keep the momentum going and fell behind 4-2 before cutting the lead to 4-3 but that is how it would end.
In the earlier ECAC East semifinal the host Norwich Cadets blanked Southern Maine 4-0 The Cadets and Babson will square off here on Saturday night at 7pm in the ECAC East championship game with the winner gaining an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
For Castleton it is now a waiting game until late Sunday night when the NCAA selects the 11 team Division 3 tournament field. With Oswego losing in the SUNYAC playoffs they will recieve one of the four at large bids available. One of the bids will go to a conference without an automatic qualifier leaving two bids left.
The Spartans need to have everything go true to form in the conference tournaments if they hope to recieve an at large bid. So Castleton fans want to see Norwich win tonight as well as Plattsburgh in the SUNYAC, ST Norbert out west in the NCHA and possibly Adrian Collge in the MCHA as well. Too many upsets and the above mentioned teams will need at large bids as well probably forcing Castleton out.
Stay tuned to vermontsportsnow.com and this blog and we willl have the NCAA field or you either late Sunday night or sometime Monday
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