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by VSN Writer MAtt Keith 3-4-2007
Northfield, VT. In Hockey sometimes it’s the bounce of the puck that decides a game and for the Castleton College Spartans on Saturday night at the Kreitzburg Arena in Northfield it was a bounce in New England College’s favor that determined the outcome.
At 15:32 of the second period Mike Mullen’s shot bounced of a Spartan defenders skate and scored the game winning goal for the Pilgrims and thus ending Castleton’s season. The goal came on a power play when there wasn’t a Pilgrim in sight of the net. “It was a hard fought game and a battle for 60 minutes” said New England College coach Tom Carroll. “Clearly it was fortunate bounce for us.”
The Spartans came out flying high in the first period controlling much of the play early in the game. Castleton would draw first blood at 11:30 when Jared Lavender took the puck in his own zone from goalie Jeff Swanson (23 saves) and skated down the right side into and fired a shot past Ron Baia (30 saves) for a 1-0 Spartans lead.
Just over a minute later at 12:02 the Pilgrims would answer back on a goal by Jeff Armando knotting the score at 1-1. Just 23 seconds later the Spartans would take the lead for the final time when Steve Culbertson tipped in a pass from Matthew Link. The Spartans would carry the lead into the locker room at the end of the first period.
At the start of the second period New England College came out with a greater intensity. Castleton seemed to back on their heels a bit. “Our guys in the 2nd period were playing not to lose instead of playing to win,” said Spartans coach Alex Todd.
Just 2:10 seconds into the period Jon Globke knotted the score at 2-2 for the Pilgrims. The two teams battled for the remainder of the game and after New England went up 3-2 the Spartans had several opportunities to tie the game but just couldn’t get the puck in the net. Baia made several great saves and had lady luck with him down the stretch to preserve the Pilgrims lead.
The win moves New England College to 17-9-1 on the season. The Pilgrims will play Babson who shocked Norwich 4-1 earlier for the ECAC East championship on Sunday and the right to go the NCAA tournament.
For Castleton their season ends on a disappointing note at 17-6-4. But this team made great strides this season exceeding the expectations of many. Looking back on the season coach Todd said “ It was a testament to the kids and their work ethics” He was pleased that due to their off ice strength conditioning the team didn’t have a single player miss a game due to injury.
A large gathering of fans and parents waited outside the Spartans locker room door following the game to offer their support and encouragement to the team as it boarded the bus back to Castleton. The general feeling was how proud they were of the team and the effort put forth this season. “There is much to build on” said one fan in the crowd and everyone agreed this team will be back with the great foundation it has built over the past three seasons.
Although it was a tough way for the Spartans to end the season they will be back in next years season as this team only graduates two players. With another year of experience under their belt this team will be a force to reckon with in the upcoming season.
Everyone here at VermontSportsNow.com is very proud to have been a part of the great College Hockey experience that Castleton has given us this season. We look forward to next year and will be expanding our coverage with the Spartans in 07-08. Thanks for the great ride Spartans have a great off season.
Chris, Matt, & Sheryl
Contact us at info@vermontsportsnow.com
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BY VSN STAFF WRITER MATT KEITH 2-25-2007
Gorham ME. When freshman Kirk Bolduc of nearby Lewiston, Maine was deciding which college to choose it came down to nearby Southern Maine or five hours away from home Castleton in Vermont. 14 seconds into overtime Saturday night at Gorham, Maine Bolduc was very happy he chose that five hour ride to Castleton. Bolduc took a rebound off a play mishandled by Southern Maine goalie David Beckles (20 saves) and put it home for a 3-2 Castleton victory advancing the Spartans to the ECAC semifinals at Norwich University next Saturday. “It was special for me to score that goal in front of a home crowd and my parents who don’t get to go to many of my games.” Said Bolduc “Coach Todd is a great recruiter and this is why I am at Castleton, this is great”.
Early on in the contest it looked as though things might go the way of the Southern Maine Huskies again. The two teams had meet back on February 2nd here in Gorham with the Huskies coming away with a 3-1 win. The Huskies controlled the early tempo of the game keeping much of the 1st period play in their offensive zone and coming away with a 9-8 advantage in shots on goal and getting a couple of close shots on Spartans goalie Jeff Swanson (33 saves) However the teams remained scoreless after one period of play.
In the 2nd period the penalty bug would again begin to plague the Spartans who ended with 8 visits to the box by games end. But the host Huskies would end the evening 0 for 8 on the power play. At 10:42 of the 2nd period it was Castleton who got on the scoreboard first on an unassisted goal by senior Captain Joe Huchko. It was a goofy looking goal going in and after the USM players on ice argued with the referee the goal stood and the Spartans were up 1-0. The Spartans would add a second goal at 18:59 when Craig Richardson fired a shot from the right side past Beckles for a 2-0 Castleton lead.
Southern Maine would cut the lead in half just one second after a power play opportunity for them ended Chris Helms found the back of the net and then the Huskies would get the equalizer at 10:47 on a Ben Loss goal. “ My defense made it easy for me all night” said Castleton goalie Jeff Swanson. “ They just got lucky on a couple of goals, we were caught out of position and those things are going to happen once in a while.” The teams would then remain scoreless for the remainder of the third period thus sending the game into overtime and setting up Bolduc’s game winner.
Castleton coach Alex Todd was very pleased with the performance of his club tonight in Maine, “This was one of the levelest games we have played all year. We took 2 or 3 bad penalties but the guys kept going. It’s never going to be easy when playing at this level as emotions and uncertainty are always there. It was big for us to get that goal quick in overtime because anytime you play in some else’s barn the longer it goes the more the momentum shifts to the home team” said Todd of the game tonight.
With the win the Spartans will now move to the Kreitzburg Arena on the campus of Norwich University for the ECAC semifinals and finals next Saturday and Sunday. Winning the game against Southern Maine was a bit of a revenge factor for an earlier season loss to the Huskies. The semifinals at Norwich will be a chance for the Spartans to settle a couple more scores as their semifinal opponent New England College whom they face at 6pm Saturday handed Castleton a 3-0 loss in their 2nd game of the season back on November 18th. “We will be digging out some older game footage to get a grip on what New England has. They have no idea what to expect from us as that game with them was a long time ago” said Coach Todd of next weekend’s playoff action at Norwich. “We will be looking forward to the opportunity of seeing them again”.
If the Spartans can settle the score with the Pilgrims perhaps a Sunday rematch with mighty Norwich looms with an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament up for grabs. The Cadets handed Castleton their lone home ice loss on February 9th 3-1.
Contact Matt Keith mattk@vermontsportsnow.com
by VSN Staff Writer, Matt Keith 2-19-2007
The regular season has ended and the dust has settled. Now it is time for the annual postseason conference tournaments where that precious automatic bid to the NCAA tournament is up for grabs. Both the NESCAC and the ECAC East came down to the final weekend of regular season play with positions and seeding up for grabs.
Starting in the ECAC East a resurgent Norwich team clawed their way back to their familiar post atop the standings and thus receives the number 1 seed they will host #8 U Mass Boston at the Kreitzburg Arena next weekend. New England College earned the number 2 seed and will host # 7 Salem State. Now here is where it gets tricky Southern Maine, Skidmore and Castleton all finished tied for third but through a series of complicated tiebreakers Skidmore comes out as the number 3 seed and will host #6 Babson. That puts Southern Maine as the number 4 seed and Castleton as the number 5 seed. This sends the Spartans back to Southern Maine for a rematch of two weekends ago where the then first place Huskies came out on top. All games will be played on Saturday February 24th with the Spartans and Huskies dropping the puck at 7pm.
After the quarterfinals the teams will be re seeded and the highest remaining seed will host the semifinals and finals on their campus on the weekend of March 3 and 4. The winner of the tournament receives the automatic bid into the NCAA Division III hockey tournament. Barring a huge upset in the first round it is looking like those games will be held at Kreitzburg Arena on the campus of Norwich University.
Over in the NESCAC when things all shook out the Bowdoin Polar Bears ended up the number one seed and will host number 8 Trinity on Saturday February 24th. Middlebury finally put together a run over the past couple of weekends and ends up with the number two seed. They will face number 7 Williams College at the Kenyon Arena on Saturday at 4pm. The Panthers defeated Williams earlier in the season at home. Number 3 Colby hosts number 6 Connecticut College while number 4 Wesleyan hosts number 5 Amherst who led the division much of the season.
Again like the ECAC East after the quarterfinals teams will be reseeded with the highest remaining seed hosting the semifinals and finals. Middlebury has pretty much had a stranglehold on hosting that over the past years but in order for that to happen this year Bowdoin will have to fall to Trinity in the first round and Middlebury will have to skate by Williams. Either way the NESCAC semifinals and finals will take place on March 3rd and 4th with the winner getting an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Although the regular season is all over the fun is just beginning in NCAA Division III hockey. Stay tuned folks to see how it all plays out.
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Castleton College President David Wolk (Center) along with the coaching staff of the mens Hockey program share a photo moment with seniors Joe Huchko and Rich McKenna following the big win over ST. Michaels at the Rutland Regional Field House.
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