RUTLAND, Vt. - The fourth-ranked Spartans played their first overtime game of the year, but couldn't find the back of the net in the extra session as they battled ECAC East foe New England College to an 4-4 deadlock at Spartan Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Castleton gave up a pair of goals in a 2:32 minute span, spanning the end of the second period and the beginning of the third to dig a 4-3 hole. The Spartans scored the equalizer later in the period but couldn't deposit another goal as the tie moves their record to 15-3-1 overall and 10-1-1 in conference play. The Pilgrims improve to 8-7-3 overall and 5-4-3 in the ECAC East.
It was Castleton who struck first as junior Dan Bell (Victoria, B.C.) got the home crowd excited just 1:25 into the contest on a power-play goal. The forward scored off assists by senior Tyler Atkins (Brockville, Ont.) and freshman Ryan Frost (Fullerton, Calif.)
NEC responded four minutes later with an unassisted short-handed goal at the 5:35 mark by Ben Souders (Downington, Pa.). The Spartans took back the lead midway through the period on a goal by junior Justin Alonzo (San Jose, Calif.) off assists from Bell and Josh Harris (Torrance, Calif.)
The Pilgrims closed out the first period scoring with 8:30 remaining as Ben MacLaughlin (Beverly, Mass.) put the puck in the net with assists by Johan Qvarfordt (Sodertalje, Sweden) and Niko Uola (Turku, Finland).
Sophomore Nick Lazorko (Rockwall, Texas) gave the Spartans a 3-2 advantage just 5:47 into the second period on his team-leading 18th goal of the season off assists from Brett Zeggil (Dundalk, Ont.) and Frost.
Once again the Pilgrims came back to tie it, as Uola scored short handed with two minutes remaining in the second period. NEC grabbed its first lead of the game just 32 seconds into the final period, as Jarkko Leppanen (Tampere, Finland) was credited with the goal off a pass from Qvarfordt.
Facing their first deficit of the game, the Spartans responded just three minutes later as Cody Ayers (Colorado Springs, Colo.) lit the lamp on the power play at the 3:47 mark. Frost fired a shot on net and Ayers corralled the rebound and stuffed it home for the equalizer.
Both teams had their opportunities over the final 16 minutes of play, but the goalies made a number of big saves to force overtime. In the extra session Eric Cinotti (Mahwah, N.J. ) came up huge again, denying the Pilgrims four times in the five-minute period. Castleton, meanwhile, recorded a single shot on net.
Cinotti finished the afternoon with 21 saves while his counterpart, Shawn Sirman (Blezard Valley, Ont), recorded 34 stops between the pipes for NEC.
The Spartans return to action on Friday when they travel to play UMass-Boston at 7 p.m.
