The Keene State Men’s Ice Hockey team was looking to bounce back on the road against Vermont State Castleton on Saturday, November 2.
All of the game’s scoring came in the opening 12 minutes, as Andrew Stefura put Castleton ahead 1-0 just 4:46 in. The goal came off a transition chance where Bryce Irwin batted a puck from mid-air to free Emmett McHardy into the zone. His cross-ice pass was then cashed in as Stefura beat first-year goalie Ben Skelton past his right shoulder.
The Owls’ goalie prevented the deficit from growing any further as he made five saves in the ensuing seven minutes to keep it 1-0. It did not take KSC, who erased a pair of two-goal deficits in their opener before falling in overtime, long to respond. Sophomore forward Marcus Chrisafideis denied a Spartan clearing attempt at the beginning of an Owl power play and was alone in front for an unassisted tally to make it 1-1 at the 12:25 mark.
Skelton finished with 15 stops in the opening period to keep it a 1-1 game and added three more in the opening two minutes of the second period.
It would stay tied for a while, as KSC came up empty on 3:21 of power play time in the second period. Stone Stelzl blocked three consecutive shots from junior defenseman Jason Smith within 16 seconds of each other and Josh Ward saved a shot by Chrisafideis, who scored three of the Owls’ six goals on the weekend.
There was a flurry of action to start the third, as Skelton saved five shots from five different Spartans in the opening 4:33, while on the other end, junior forward John Belisle rang the pipe three minutes in on a shot that could have given the Owls the lead. KSC ultimately landed only two shots on Ward in the final 20 minutes, with four others getting blocked and two others sent wide. Skelton made 12 stops in each of the final two periods.
An overtime period took place that saw much action but resulted in zero goals for either team.
Following the overtime period both teams cleared the ice to set up a shootout. Luke Chakrabarti got the Spartans on the board first on their second attempt, but first-year forward Sean Gray answered by beating Ward. Stefura then lost the puck on his attempt and did not get a solid attempt on Skelton to set up KSC. First-year forward Kyle Gonzalez finished off by carrying methodically up the right side before moving to the middle and rifling a shot past Ward’s glove side.
It was a tie on the scoresheet, but the Owls were able to pull it out in the shootout in the fresh season. Keene State returns home on Thursday, November 7 to host Westfield State.
Teddy Steinberg can be contacted at
tsteinberg@kscequinox.com
