RUTLAND, Vt. – Senior captain and forward Stuart Stefan (Delhi, Ont.) wristed home a goal at 19:05 of the first period, on the power play, and hundreds of teddy bears began to fly on Friday night at Spartan Arena. Stefan also netted the game-winning goal at 4:38 of the overtime session to lift the Spartans to a 5-4 win over Skidmore as a part of the inaugural Toys for Kids Vermont Teddy Bear Toss Night in ECAC East action.
Castleton improves to 5-2-1 overall and 3-2-0 in ECAC East play. The Thoroughbreds fall to 3-5-1/2-2-1.
Fans received free admission to the game if they brought a teddy bear or any other stuffed animal and after Stefan's goal fans threw the stuffed animals out onto the ice for collection by players and volunteers. Every stuffed animal will be donated locally to children in need for the upcoming holiday season with help from The Salvation Army.
Late in overtime, Stefan received a beautiful feed from teammate Justin Alonzo (San Jose, Calif.) up ice freeing him for a breakaway bid and Stefan potted the game-winner blocker side past Andrew Ross (McKinney, Texas) to snap the Spartans two-game losing skid.
Skidmore opened up the scoring at 12:05 of the first period as junior forward Tyler Doremus deposited a loose puck in the slot past Spartans' goaltender Seth McNary (Woburn, Mass.) for a 1-0 lead.
On the power play at 16:16, Joe Melnyk (Rotterdam, N.Y.) gave the Thoroughbreds a 2-0 advantage with a backhander from the right faceoff circle after the puck was not cleared by Castleton defensively in a scrum for possession.
Stefan netted his fourth goal of the season with under a minute remaining by gathering a rebound off of teammate Josh Harris' (Torrance, Calif.) initial shot and roofing it over a sprawled out Ross for a 2-1 deficit. Then, the bears and stuffed animals immediately flew onto the ice.
In the second, sophomore forward Dan Bell (Victoria, B.C.) tied up the contest at 2-2 with a wrist shot over the glove of Ross from the left faceoff circle only 57 seconds into the period.
The Spartans took the lead several minutes later (7:23) on the power play as Harris fed Alonzo with a tape-to-tape pass across the crease and the sophomore forward finished for his second marker of the season.
Castleton's lead was short-lived as freshman defenseman Phil Buonocore (Westfield, N.J.) potted a power play goal at 12:23 setup by teammate Hunter Thayer (Shelburne, Vt.), his third helper of the night, to even the score at 3-3.
In the third, junior captain Lindsey Gullett (Wawanesa, Man.) gave the Spartans a 4-3 advantage on the power play at 1:50 sniping a wrist shot over Ross' blocker into the top left corner of the net for his third goal of the season.
Julian Malakorn (Kharkiv, Ukraine) forced overtime punching home a rebound at the doorstep at 10:29 on the power play. Alex Essaris (Dollard-Des-Ormaux, Que.) assisted on the tally.
McNary turned away shots 22 in net for Castleton while Ross made 30 saves for Skidmore.
The Spartans return to action tomorrow as they travel to Norwich to take on the Cadets at 7:00 p.m.
