RUTLAND, Vt. – Junior Glenn Wiswell scored two more goals and had an assist to finish the weekend with four goals and five points, but the Castleton University men's hockey team fell to Skidmore on Saturday, 7-4.

Skidmore used four consecutive goals to close a wild first period to flip a one-goal deficit into a three-goal lead. Seven different players scored for the Thoroughbreds as Austin Rook finished with a goal and two assists and a game-high seven shots on goal to pace the squad. John Litscher and Callahan Johnson both had a goal and an assist while Tyler Hall, Mike Gelatt, Cole Beckstead, and Reid Russell all finished with two assists.

Sophomore Andrew Barber and senior Mark Shroyer both scored goals for the Spartans. Freshman Calvin Moïse had two assists.

Skidmore controlled play early and struck first at the 6:38 mark on a Litscher tip from a point shot from Rook. Then, Andrew Barber tied it just 28 seconds later when his shot from the blue line struck a Thoroughbred defender and into the net. Wiswell finished a forehand wrister at the 11:58 mark to give the Spartans the lead.

Skidmore wasted no time in scoring the equalizer just 47 seconds later when Tyler Hall's wrister from distance hit the body of Johnson and bounced in. William Brochu netted a power-play goal on a one-timer at the 14:25 mark to give the Thoroughbreds a one-goal lead. Then, Owen Campbell ripped in a wrist shot from near the left faceoff dot at 16:51 and Rook made it 5-2 with 18 seconds left in the action-packed period on a backhand after beating a defenseman. 

Castleton inched closer with second-period goals from Shroyer and Wiswell to make it a one-goal game, but the Thoroughbreds got two goals in the third period, including an empty-net tally, to seal the win and weekend split. 

Castleton, after dropping both contests at home over the weekend drops to 5-13-2 (3-9-1 NEHC). Skidmore slid back into fourth place in the conference at 10-5-4 and 6-4-2. The Spartans have five conference games remaining, while the Thoroughbreds still have six to play. 

Kyle Alaverdy had 39 saves in the effort with six goals surrendered. Brandon Kasel improved to 9-5-4 for the visitors as he finished with 34 stops.       

Castleton hits the road next weekend to visit nationally 13th-ranked Babson and UMass Boston.