February 23, 2008

Castleton stretches unbeaten streak to 10 games with 3-1 win over Trinity

Rutland, VT-The Castleton State College men’s ice hockey team stretched its unbeaten streak to 10 games with a 3-1 ECAC East-NESCAC win over Trinity College. With the win Castleton nails down the third seed in the upcoming ECAC East tournament.

The 12-10-2 (8-9-2 NESCAC) Bantams controlled much of the first period, out-shooting their hosts 12-1, but could muster just one goal as Jeff Swanson turned away 11 shots. Chris Oetting broke through with just over three minutes remaining on the power play. For Oetting it was his first goal of the season and was assisted by Chris Powers and captain, Ryan Masucci.

Castleton came to life in the second period, scoring a pair of goals and evening the shot total to 12-11 on the period. Just 33 seconds into the period Kirk Bolduc evened the score at 1-1. Bolduc pounced on a rebound off a Brandon Heck shot and beat Trinity goalie, David Murison, glove side for his eighth goal of the season. Spartan senior, Travis Martell put Castleton in the lead 12:45 into the period off an assist from Omar Pacha. Martell took a pass just prior to the blue line, stopped and blasted a slap shot that was too hot for Murison’s glove and trickled past for Martell’s fourth of the season. Castleton had a golden opportunity to make it 3-1 on a Steve Culbertson breakaway, but Murison made a fantastic kick save to keep it a one-goal lead heading into the final period. Castleton inserted Jay Seals into the goal after the first period, and he turned away all 11 shots he faced in the period.

In the final period Seals made his presence known, turning away a pair of potential Bantam equalizers on breakaways. Just 2:33 into the period Seals made a sprawling save on a Daniel Maturi breakaway, and 10 minutes later stopped a Adam Houli breakaway with a kick save. With 4:47 remaining Heck sent home an insurance goal, assisted by Bolduc and Stuart Stefan.

Seals finished with 25 saves for the 13-10-2 (11-6-2 ECAC East) Spartans, while Murison stopped 16 shots in the loss.

Both teams await final pairings for their upcoming conference tournaments. Castleton will be home on Saturday March 1, while Trinity will be on the road in their first round game. [Box Score]

###Spartans###