RUTLAND, Vt. – The third-ranked Castleton State College men's ice hockey team saw 12 different players reach the scoring column and scored four third-period goals, in a 6-1 triumph over visiting Babson College in ECAC Men's East action Friday evening at Spartan Arena, as the Spartans improved to 5-0 on the season.
The 5-0 start is the best in program history, eclipsing last season's 4-0 stretch out of the gates. All five wins have come in conference play, while Babson falls to 1-2, 1-2.
Justin Alonzo (San Jose, Calif.), Cody Ayers (Colorado Springs, Colo.), TJ Hermans (Chesterfield, Va.) and Brian Greene (Falmouth, Maine) each recorded two assists to lead the multi-faceted attack.
Troy Starrett (Bellingham, Mass.) scored the lone goal for the Beavers.
Castleton senior captain Lindsey Gullett (Wawaneesa, Manitoba) put the Spartans up just five minutes into the contest, corralling the rebound from a Hermans shot for his first goal of the season.
Starrett drew the Beavers even eight minutes later, scoring his first of the season off assists from Ben Kravitz (Huntington, N.Y.) and Mike Driscoll (Milton, Mass.).
Castleton goalie Erick Cinotti (Mahwah, N.J.) kept the game knotted at 1-1, putting in some fantastic work in between the pipes with 15 first-period saves, and the Spartan offense took over after the first intermission.
Ben Schoeneberger (Vernon, Conn.) rocketed a slap shot home 4:42 into the second period for what proved to be the game-winner. On the power play, the Spartans cycled the puck around the blue line to Schoeneberger who was camped out on the right flank and ripped one past Babson goalie Zeke Testa (Wellesley, Mass.) on his glove side.
Brett Zeggil (Priceville, Ontario) potted the first of four insurance markers in the third period, just 1:53 into the stanza, sending home a wrister on the break. Sophomore Dan Bell (Victoria, British Columbia) and Nick Lazorko (Rockwall, Texas) followed, each scoring their sixth of the season and Chris Wieland (Royal Palm Beach, Fla.) rounded out the scoring for the Spartans.
Cinotti finished with 27 saves, while Testa ended the evening with 25.
Both teams return to the ice tomorrow afternoon as the Spartans play host to UMass-Boston at 4 pm, and the Beavers travel to Skidmore for a 4 pm face off.
