RUTLAND, Vt. –The Vermont State University Castleton men's hockey team was defeated by Salve Regina University Friday night, 3-2 in game one of their New England Hockey Conference series.

VTSU Castleton hosted their 14th annual teddy bear toss, with all bears going to the Rutland County Parent-Child Center. The Spartans fell to 2-9-1 (0-7-0 NEHC) while the Seahawks improved to 5-3-1 (4-3-0 NEHC).

The two sides battled in the opening period but would stay scoreless thanks to Josh Ward, who made 10 of his 17 saves in the first period, and Cayden Bailey for Salve Regina who made a total of 30 stops in Friday's contest.

Cade Destefani opened the scoring for Salve Regina with a goal five minutes into the second period to take a 1-0 lead. The Seahawks scored a powerplay goal in the second period and a goal halfway through the third to extend their lead to 3-0.

Castleton dominated the third period, outshooting SRU 15-3, and had three chances on the powerplay to get back into the game. On Castleton's last PP, Andrew Stefura stuffed a rebounding Luke Chakrabarti shot to get the Spartans back into the game with less than three minutes remaining. Cam Reid was tagged to the play with an assist on the goal.

Taking the momentum by storm, the Spartans found a quick answer with Logan Dapprich taking a shot from deep that tracked into the top corner to close the gap on Salve's lead 3-2. Zach Trempner and Chakrabarti set up Dapprich for his first career goal with just 1:41 seconds remaining. 

Despite the late rally, the Spartans could not find the last goal they needed to head to overtime and the Seahawks would escape with the win in game one.

The two sides take the ice at Spartans Arena tomorrow at 4 p.m. as VTSU Castleton celebrates the 20th anniversary of Spartan Arena.