Manchester, NH-The Castleton State College men's ice hockey team dropped its second-straight game to open the season 3-2 at Saint Anselm College.

The Spartans got on the scoreboard first with a wrist-shot goal by senior forward Ross Carmichael at 10:28 in the first period with assists from freshman defenseman Tom Carroll and freshman forward Jeremy Hilliard.

Saint Anselm was able to reel off three unasnwered goals in the second period to take a 3-1 lead into the second intermission. Tom Kerwin tied the score 6:38 into the period on the power-play for his second goal of the season, assisted by Coleman Noonan and Brian Hartigan. Noonan gave the Hawks the lead at the 12:12 mark and Mike Ninzianto scored what proved to be the game winner with 57 seconds remaining in the period.

Omar Pacha brought the Spartans back to within one with 1:02 remaining in the game off a Stuart Stefan assist, but it was as close as they would come. Castleton falls to 0-2-0 (0-2-0 ECAC East) on the season, while Saint Anselm is 2-0-0 in both to start the year.

The Spartans out-shot Saint Anselm 40-20, but Hawk goalie Alex Wyse turned away 38 for the win. Jeff Swanson took the loss, stopping 17.

Castleton is back in action this weekend when the Spartans host the Rutland Herald Invitational Tournament. The second-annual tournament kicks off with Neumann taking on Becker College at 3:00 pm, followed by Castleton and SUNY-Brockport squaring off at 6:00 pm on Saturday. The winners of Saturday's games will square off in the championship on Sunday at 3:00 pm, while the losers will duel at 12:00 noon.