RUTLAND, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's hockey team fell short to No. 12 Skidmore College, 5-4 in New England Hockey Conference play Saturday afternoon.

Skidmore's Zach Lindewirth scored the game-winning goal with 3:26 left remaining in the third period to improve the Thoroughbreds to 5-2-0 in conference play. Luke Chakrabarti collected three goals for his first career hat trick and tallied four goals in the series.

The two sides battled back and forth in a high-energy atmosphere on the ice. Each team was scoreless in the first period with the help of Dominic Rodrigue and Josh Seeley in the net. Rodrigue made 34 saves in Saturday's contest. Seeley provided 31 stops for Skidmore.

The Thoroughbreds opened the scoring on a powerplay opportunity to kick off the second period. 

Cedrick Theodore and Justin Stairs connected with Chakrabarti who blazed by the Skidmore's defense and tucked one behind the goalie for the Spartans' first goal of the game and bring Castleton back level. 

Skidmore's Danny Magnuson, who tallied a four-point performance scored his first goal of the game to give the Thoroughbreds a 2-1 lead entering the final period of play.

In just two minutes of the third, Skidmore extended their lead to 3-1. 

Looking for an answer, Stairs and Logan Dapprich reset from their defensive zone and found Chakrabarti across the ice. The first-year forward dangled his way past the last defenseman and beat the goalie once again for his second of the game to close the gap on Skidmore's lead.

After a good penalty kill by the Spartans, Andrew Stefura found a wide-open Chakrabarti up the ice for a breakaway opportunity, where he buried the chance to score his hat trick goal and tie the game up 3-3 with just under 12 minutes remaining to play.

Magnuson scored his second of the game with a shot from the blue line that traced its way to the back of the net to give Skidmore the lead once again at 4-3. The game continued its onslaught of goals as Balint Mesterhazy and Zach Papapetros assisted Jackson Edwards on a bar-in shot that tied the game up with 3:49 left to play.

The game didn't stay tied for long as it only took Skidmore 23 seconds to set up Lindewirth for the game-winning goal and seal the deal for Skidmore to escape with the victory.

VTSU Castleton gets set to host the Terry Moran Invitational, starting Friday, November 29 with Keene State vs. King's set to take place at 4 p.m. Followed by Castleton vs. MCLA at 7 p.m.