The historical season ended for Keene State Women’s Ice Hockey as they came up short against Vermont State Castleton (Castleton) in the quarter-final round of the Little East Conference (LEC) playoffs. On Wednesday, Feb. 25, the Owls traveled to Vermont to take on the fourth seed as the fifth seed road team.
The Owls began the game on their heels and Castleton forced the pressure with two shots on net, both saved by sophomore goaltender Ai Chung. The sophomore faced 42 total shots throughout the playoff game.
While forcing the pressure on the Owls, Castleton drew an early high-sticking penalty that put KSC shorthanded just three minutes into the game. Keene State fended off the tough Castleton power play with Chung stopping three shots and several players diving to block shots. The home team eventually found the back of the net toward the end of the power play goal to go up 1-0 just four and a half minutes in.
Castleton did not slow down, though, continuing to apply even strength and pressure. Keene State caught a break by drawing a tripping penalty and gaining the one-skater advantage. The Owls fired several pucks on net that were either saved or blocked, but a minute after the power play ended, KSC found the back of the net with a goal from sophomore captain Ellie Patrick.
The game was tied at 1-1 after both teams had a power play advantage, an even playoff game in the first period. That was until Castleton scored another goal in the first frame to once again give it a one-goal lead. The period ended 2-1 with the road team on the ropes.
The second period began with an Owl picking up a tripping penalty 90 seconds into the middle period. A powerful Castleton team used this opportunity to supply more of its offense and scored less than a minute into the power play. The team went on to get four more power play opportunities in the second period, but all were unsuccessful.
Keene State’s one power play gave itself a chance to come back within one, but was unable to capitalize.
With the score 3-1 at the start of the third period, Keene State had to put more pressure on the net to get back into the game. Castleton continued with the same recipe for pressure as seen in a minute of the third and Chung stopped three different shots on net.
The power plays continued for both teams, but neither was able to slot the game-sealing goal or the comeback goal.
A costly penalty with four minutes to go gave Castleton the perfect opportunity to seal the game. Which is what it did. Castleton scored quickly on the powerplay to go up 4-1 and end the hopes for the Owls. First-year Tabby Jones was able to slot a goal in the final minutes of this battle, and the game ended with Castleton beating Keene State 4-2.
This was the last game for the Keene State Women’s Ice Hockey team in the 2025-2026 season.
Jacob Enscoe can be contacted at
jenscoe@kscequinox.com
