February 3, 2007

No. 9 Castleton gets back on track with 4-2 win at Salem State

Salem, MA-The first place Castleton State College Spartans scored a pair of shorthanded lamplighters en route to a 4-2 victory over the Vikings in an ECAC East game played at Richard Rockett Arena.

The Spartans (14-4-3, 9-3-3 ECAC East) first two scoring strikes came via the man-down route.  Sophomore forward Jeff Lazeran (Marquette, MI) at 18:41 of the first period and sophomore blueliner Jared Lavender (Cleveland Heights, OH) at 21 seconds into the middle stanza accounted for the visitor's shorthanded goals.  The ECAC East leaders increased their lead to 3-0 when freshman forward Eric Curtis (Rockford, MI) converted at 14:09 of the second period.

SSC (8-13, 4-11 ECAC East) received a pair of third period goals from sophomore forward Jeff Chillson (Enfield, CT) at 4:20 and 15:27, respectively.  The Spartans iced the game with a power-play strike off the stick of junior defenseman Travis Martell (Kelowna, BC) with just 1:47 to play.

Castleton sophomore goaltender Jeff Swanson made 22 saves.  SSC starter Ryan Hatch (Medway) stopped 17 shots and gave up three goals, and freshman Joshua Ex (Flint, MI) made five stops and allowed one score.

Castleton has won nine of their last 10 games and will play host to Norwich on Friday, February 9 at 7:00 PM. [Box Score]

###Spartans###