RUTLAND, Vt. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's hockey team earned their first New England Hockey Conference victory of the season after defeating Salve Regina University 5-3 Saturday afternoon. 

VTSU Castleton's first-years broke out for careers games with Emmett McHardy collecting his first hat trick, while Trevor Castino and Luke Chakrabarti added to the Spartans' goal tally to improve Castleton's record to 3-9-1. Junior Josh Ward played an outstanding game, making 41 saves to secure his third victory of the year.

Castleton's penalty kill units were the unsung heroes of the game, shutting down all four of the Seahawks' powerplays in Saturday's contest. Captain Justin Stairs was the focal point of the penalty kill, where he helped shut down any chances Salve tried to set up. Stairs also assisted McHardy's first goal of the game, which came shorthanded to give the Spartans a 1-0 halfway through the first.

SRU responded with a first career goal by defenseman Jack Franklin to bring the score level to one after 20 minutes of play. 

The Spartans took over in the second period, with McHardy scoring two unassisted goals to achieve the hat trick and Castino scoring his first career goal with the help from Stairs to give Castleton a 4-1 entering the final period of play. 

The Seahawks came out firing in the third period looking to get back into the game, but Ward stood tall and kept the Seahawks from closing the gap on multiple opportunities with 15 huge saves in the third period. 

Salve Regina did manage to find a goal halfway through the third and bring the score back within two. However, they were running out of time and decided to pull their goalie with three minutes left to play.

As SRU desperately searched for a late goal to rally, a Chakrabarti empty net goal put the game away to secure the victory for the Spartans.

VTSU Castleton concludes play in 2024 and will return in the New Year on Friday, January 10 against NEHC opponent Babson College for a two-game series on the road.