RUTLAND, Vt. – Castleton used six different goal scorers to defeat Becker, 7-1, in the opening round of the fourth annual Rutland Herald Invitational (RHI) on Saturday night at Spartan Arena in non-conference action to advance to the championship round against Brockport, tomorrow, at 3:00 p.m.
The Spartans remain perfect on the season at 3-0-0 overall. The Hawks fall to 2-3-2 on the season and play Tufts University, tomorrow, at 12:00 p.m. in the consolation round of the tournament.
Becker is 0-1 in the consolation round in the three-year history of the tournament losing to Neumann, 9-0, during the 2009-10 season. Tufts is 1-0 in the consolation round beating Morrisville, 5-4, in the first-ever RHI in the 2007-08 season. The Hawks have never faced the Jumbos in the RHI.
Castleton scored three goals in the first period and never looked back.
Shorthanded, sophomore forward Brett Zeggil (Pricevill, Ont.) opened up the scoring for the Spartans with a breakaway goal at 7:39 of the first. Freshman forward Kyle Pichler (Anchorage, Alaska) intercepted a pass at his own blue-line and found Zeggil open up ice and the sophomore forward beat Becker goaltender Jake Rosenthal (Wantagh, N.Y.) with a beautiful backhand-to-forehand deke for a 1-0 lead.
Josh Harris (Torrance, Calif.) made it 2-0 at 11:54 corralling a Justin Alonzo (San Jose, Calif.) pass from behind the net, near the crease, and wristed it home behind Rosenthal.
Just 36 seconds later, Ben Schoeneberger (Vernon, Conn.) stuffed home a feed from teammate Kyle Richards (Halifax, N.S.) for his first goal of the season and a 3-0 lead.
In the second, Colin Murray (Oshawa, Ont.) netted his second goal of the season finishing a one-timer that was zipped in front of the net from the left boards by teammate Jonathan Lafrance (N.D.I.P., Que.) to put the Spartans ahead 4-0.
Alonzo tallied his first goal of the season at 10:58 of the second redirecting a shot from teammate Tyler Atkins (Brockville, Ont.) past Hawks goaltender Tom Natoli (Suffern, N.Y.) to make it 5-0.
Just 19 seconds into the third period on the power play, senior forward Stuart Stefan (Delhi, Ont.) potted his second marker of the season on a one-timer in the slot on assists by Harris and Schoeneberger.
Becker cut into the deficit at 5:33 of the third as Korby Anderson (Owanonna, Minn.) stuffed in a rebound at the doorstep behind Castleton goaltender Erick Cinotti (Mahwah, N.J.) for a 6-1 score.
Stefan answered back with his second power play goal of the contest diving at a loose puck in the crease and pushing it in for a 7-1 advantage. Harris and Atkins were credited with assists on the score.
Cinotti made 25 saves while Rosenthal stopped eight shots and Natoli turned away 16 shots and Shaun Millerick (Hampton, Mass.) had four saves.
