BABSON PARK, Mass. – The Vermont State University Castleton men's hockey team took the ice for the first time since December 7 and was defeated by Babson College 4-1 in game one of their two-game series, on Friday night. The Beavers improved to 6-3 in the New England Hockey Conference, while the Spartans dropped to 1-8.

The Beavers opened Friday's contest with a goal halfway through the first period to give them a 1-0 lead. 

Castleton found their response in the second period on the powerplay with Luke Chakrabarti and Zach Papapetros setting up Zach Trempner for his first goal of the season to tie the game up at one heading into the final period. 

Josh Ward started in net for Castleton and made 40+ saves in his second straight game. Logan Dapprich played a strong defensive game for the Spartans with three blocked shots.

Castleton took an early penalty to begin the third period, giving Babson their only powerplay of the game. Babson's Johnny McElaney took advantage of the opportunity and scored on the powerplay to put the Beavers ahead again at 2-1.

The Spartans made a strong effort to get back into the game, putting 12 shots on target but were unsuccessful in their chances. Babson extended their lead halfway through the third to give them a 3-1 lead. They went on to score on Castleton's empty net late in the period to finalize the score at 4-1 to take game one of the series.

The two sides get set to face off again tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Babson Skating Center.