January 7, 2007

Castleton falls to Middlebury 4-3

Middlebury, VT-Castleton fell to 1-2-3 in the ECAC East after losing to defending national champion Middlebury 4-3. Mickey Gilchrist scored the game-winner 12:37 into the third period. Gilchrist skated out of the corner towards the slot before scoring with a backhander. The Panthers held a 47-19 shots advantage on the night, going 3/9 on the power play.

Middlebury came out strong as the Panthers took a 1-0 lead on a power play goal at the 3:30 mark. Mickey Gilchrist drove to the goal and found an open Jamie McKenna in the slot, who slid the put past Jeff Swanson. The lead doubled at 9:02 as Scott Bartlett found Darwin Hunt open on the far post for the quick redirect and power play goal. The Panthers ended the period with a 17-4 shots advantage.

Castleton struck just 15 seconds into the second period when Steve Culbertson picked up a bouncing puck and roofed a shot past Ross Cherry. The Spartans tied the game at 5:13 as Eric Curtis put in a rebound from the slot after a shot from Culbertson was saved.

Castleton took its first lead of the game at 15:52 Kirk Bolduc picked up the puck, drove to the goal and fired a shot to the top left corner of the net. Middlebury tied the game late in the period as Eric LaFreniere drove to the goal before dropping a great feed to Justin Gaines, who finished from the slot with 1:07 remaining in the second period.

The Panthers put on a lot of pressure midway through the third period, before scoring the game-winner at 12:37. Castleton threatened late with a power play at the 17:36 mark, but could not score the equalizer.

Cherry ended the day with 16 saves, while Swanson made 43 stops for Castleton. [Box Score]

###Spartans###