Rutland, VT – The Castleton State College men's ice hockey team scored early and often in the first period eventually defeating Becker, 6-1, at Spartan Arena in the opening round of the Rutland Herald Invitational (RHI) in front of 600 fans.
The Spartans scored three times in the first period to pick up their first win of the season (1-1-1). Becker falls to 2-4-1 with the loss.
Lindsey Gullett (Wawanesa, Man.) started Castleton's scoring in the first period by drawing a faceoff directly back to teammate Kirk Bolduc (Lewiston, ME) who sniped a shot off of the left post beating Hawks' goaltender Jake Rosenthal (Wantagh, NY) for a 1-0 lead at 4:09.
Less than a minute later, Eric Curtis (Rockford, MI) sent a wrister by Rosenthal just inside the left post for his first goal of the season. Senior Evan Romeo (Kanata, Ont.) and freshman Brenden Beer (South Windsor, CT) assisted on the goal.
Gullett made the contest 3-0 in favor of Castleton at the 16:01 mark with a snapshot in the right faceoff circle that beat Rosenthal's glove. Stuart Stefan (Delhi, Ont) notched his second assist of the season.
Becker got on the scoreboard six minutes and 45 seconds into the second period with Robert Johnson's (Fenton, MI) fifth goal of the season. Patrick Bellew (Newington, CT) fed Johnson in the slot from behind the net for the bang-bang tally beating Castleton netminder Seth McNary (Woburn, MA) to cut the deficit to 3-1.
The Spartans answered back quickly scoring two power-play goals just 31 seconds apart to increase their lead, 5-1.
Senior captain Nick Westcott (Kanata, Ont.) ripped home the first-of-two power-play goals with a slapshot from the point. Beer and Curtis cycled the puck to Westcott just a few feet in front of the blueline and Westcott finished high glove side past Rosenthal for his first goal of the season.
Moments later, Justin Alonzo (San Jose, CA) scored his first collegiate goal at 15:53 on a wrist shot that whistled by Rosenthal. Gullett and freshman Dan Bell (Victoria, B.C.) each had an assist on the score.
Castleton put the game to bed at 18:55 on Stefan's team-leading third goal of the season. Alonzo and Gullet picked up assists on the goal. Gullett finished the night with one goal and three assists tying him with Stefan for the team-lead in points with five a piece.
Becker forced McNary to play on his toes in the third period as the sophomore goaltender made several key saves to keep the score 6-1. McNary finished with 13 saves on the night while Rosenthal made 25 saves.
The Spartans advance to the championship round of the tournament tomorrow against Tufts University for a scheduled start time of 3:00 p.m. at Spartan Arena. Castleton has lost in the championship game the last two seasons to Neumann who will play Becker tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. in the consolation game.
