Gorham, Maine – Castleton received a strong debut from freshman goaltender Ryan Mulder and a pair of sophomores provided the offense early as the Spartans earned a 4-0 victory over Southern Maine in their ECAC East opener on Friday night. 

Mulder stopped all 21 shots he faced for his first career win and shutout as Castleton outshot the Huskies 32-21 in the contest and the team committed just two penalties as it improved to 1-1 overall. Southern Maine drops to 1-1 on the year and 0-1 in the ECAC East. 

Sophomore Nick Kovalchik score Castleton's first two goals, with classmate Corbin Marcotte earning assists on each. Junior Will Laking scored the team's final two goals for his second career multi-goal game. 

The Spartans came out firing and outshot Southern Maine 13-3 in the first period but didn't score until 16:20 into the first period on Kovalchik's his first goal of the season following a feed from Marcotte on a two-on-one.

Neither team was able to score in the second period as the Huskies outshot Castleton 9-6. In the final frame it was Kovalchik again, scoring at 1:45 with assists from freshman Kurt Johnson and Marcotte to make it 2-0. 

Laking gave the Spartans a 3-0 advantage at 4:20 off an assist from Simon Teodorsson and then he finished off the scoring with a power play goal off a rebound of a Ryan Frost shot. 

Mulder earned the win with his 21 saves while Southern Maine's Kyle Shapiro took the loss while making 28 stops between the pipes. 

Castleton returns to action tomorrow when the team travels to face the University of New England at 4 pm.