Spartans drop two on to Playoffs
2-22-2010
After dropping the final two games of the regular season to Williams and Middlebury the Castleton Spartans men’s hockey team will try to re group and prepare for their upcoming ECAC East Quarterfinal match up against New England College next Saturday night at the Spartan Arena.
On Friday night the Spartans dropped a 4-1 decision to #8 ranked Williams College. Then on Saturday the Spartans hosted their Route 30 rivals the Middlebury College Panthers. It was a see saw battle until midway through the 2nd period as Castleton kept pace with the #6 ranked Panthers. But Middlebury pulled away and won the contest 7-3. Despite the two losses the Spartans received a little help from other teams and secured the #3 seed in the ECAC East and as mentioned above they will host #7 seed New England College on Saturday night at 7pm.
The Spartans have never beaten the Pilgrims but the teams skated to a 2 all tie in the second game of the season back in November at the Spartan Arena. Castleton will try to turn the tables on New England College and extended their season by advancing to the ECAC East semifinals and finals to be held the following weekend at the highest remaining seed. Currently Norwich goes into the tournament as the #1 seed and is in line to host the final four at Kreitzburg Arena.
Speaking of Kreitzburg Arena the Rutland Raiders girls hockey will playing there Tuesday night in the Division II state semifinals. Best of luck to the lady Raiders. It could be a lucrative season for area teams in the battle for the state championships as Fair Haven’s boys basketball, Rutland girls basketball, West Rutland girls basketball and both Proctor and Rutland’s boys basketball all have a real shot at winning the championship. |
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Spartans Swept
2-14-2010
After getting dominated on Friday night at Norwich in a 6-2 loss the Castleton Spartans men’s hockey team gave up an early 2 goal lead an fell to the St. Michael’s College 4-3 Saturday afternoon at Cairn’s Arena in South Burlington The Spartans fall to 7-7-3 in league play and 9-9-5 overall. Castleton will return home for the final weekend of regular season play with games against NESCAC foes Williams and Middlebury.
On the line is their position in the ECAC East standings and their seeding for the postseason conference tournament. The Norwich Cadets have clinched first place and the number one seed. First year program the University of New England will be the the number eight seed and travel to Northfield to face the Cadets in the first round of the ECAC East conference tournament.
Castleton has a chance to secure the number two seed but currently sits in third and could fall to fourth or fifth. Anything above fourth and they will get to host a first round game at the Spartan Arena.
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Big Week on Tap For Spartan Men and Woman Hockey
2-11-2010
A big week of hockey action is on tap for both the Castleton Men's and Women's Hockey Teams and it all started Wednesday night at Spartan Arena The Girls hosted the Norwich Cadets at Spartan Arena. While the Spartans came up on the short end of a 2-0 score the real winners of the night where the Rutland Regional Medical Center's Foley Cancer Center and breat cancer research. For Wednesday night was “pink the rink” night at the Spartan Arena. Fans. Media and coaches and school officials all wore some form of pink to raise breast cancer awareness and the women’s team skated in special commerative pink jerseys. Dr. Lovett and President Thomas Huebner of the Rutland Regional Medical Center dropped the ceremonial first puck.
Over 5000 dollars in gate money and raffles was donated to the Rutland Regional Medical Center’s Foley Cancer center for breast cancer research. Three lucky fans had an opportunity to shoot at the goal and try and win a 2009 Toyota Corolla. No one was successful in the effort.
As for the game Castleton seniors Brittany Pressey, Denise Cardello and Maryanne Diehm where recognized for their efforts. The visiting Cadets struck first blood at the 7:57 mark of the 1st period on a goal by Julie Fortier which would prove to be the game winner. Norwich struck again at 8:16 of the second frame when Kelsey Cone from nearby Manchester, Vermont gave the Cadets a 2-0 lead.,
For the men's team they will take the show on the road this weekend with pivotal games at ECAC East foes Norwich on Friday night and St Michael's on Saturday afternoon. The Spartans have beaten Norwich two years in a row and would like that streak to continue. But more important is the fact that although Norwich pretty much has a lock on first place in the ECAC East the Spartans trail Babson for second place by just two points going into the final two weekends on play. Head to Head the Spartans have beaten Babson this year so second place in the league is a reality and would put Castleton is great shape going into the ECAC postseason conference tournament where the all important NCAA automatic berth is up for grabs.
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Spartans ringing in New Year with a bang
1-13-2010
When 2010 started off things didn’t look all that great for the Castleton Spartans men’s hockey team. Having began the season in lat 2009 the Spartans stumbled through a 1-5-2 start but we have seen this story before. Last hockey season the Spartans were 4 and 4 at the holiday break and then went 11-5-2 the rest of the way. To go back a year further in 2007-08 Castleton stumbled out of the gate with a 2-6 record but then finished off going 11-5-1 the rest of the season.
So if history repeats itself the Castleton Spartans start off with whimper and end with a bang. So far this year that seems to be the case. The Spartan hockey men have gone 3-1-1 since the calendar turned to 2010 avenging an earlier season loss to Skidmore and picking up their first weekend sweep this past weekend against Trinity and Wesleyan in vital league games. For those not familiar with the hockey schedule Trinity and Wesleyan are NESCAC teams but the ECAC East in which Castleton is a member of plays and interlocking schedule with the NESCAC and those games count in the league standings. The Spartans then skated to a 2 all tie on Tuesday night in a non league affair with Geneseo.
It appears that things are starting to click for the Castleton and they hope to carry on the streak this weekend when they travel down to U Mass Boston and Babson for league games. The remaining 12 games on their schedule including the U Mass Boston and Babson games are all league games. Starting with next weekends trip the Spartans are on the road every other weekend and at home every other weekend. After the U Mass/Babson trip the Spartans play at home against Hamilton and Amherst before hitting the road and going to Tufts and Connecticut College.
Castleton returns home the first weekend of February when Southern Maine and the University of New England come to town. Then its off to Norwich and a battle with the Cadets who are always seemingly on top of the ECAC East and St. Michaels. The final weekend of the Regular season will be at Spartan Arena as Williams and Route 30 rival Middlebury come to town. All these games are vital as the teams look to gain the highest seeding possible in the postseason ECAC East conference tournament where the winner gains an automatic NCAA berth.
The Spartans have proved over the last couple years that they can finish strong so they look to carry that ability again this season. However once in the postseason tournament that has been their stumbling block as they have yet to advance beyond the semifinal round. Lets see what happens this year.
ECAC East Standings League games only does not include overall record
1 Norwich 6-0-1 13 pts
2 Babson 4-3-0 8pts
3 Skidmore 4-3-0 8pts
4 St. Anselm 4-3-0 8pts
5 Mass Boston 3-3-1 7pts
6 So. Maine 3-3-1 7pts
7 CASTLETON 2-4-1 5pts
8 NE College 2-4-1 5pts
9 St Mike’s 1-5-1 3pts
10 U of New England 0-7-0 0pts
**Note in the postseason ECAC East tournament St. Michaels and St. Anselm do not participate in the tourney as they are division 2 schools and instead compete in a separate tournament with other D2 schools however their regular season games against other ECAC East and NESCAC opponents do count as league games. The ECAC East tournament will feature the remaining 8 teams matched up in a quarterfinal round with #1 playing #8, #2 versus #7, #3 vs. #6 and #4 against #5. Quarterfinals will be held highest seeds home rink. Both semifinal round matches will be contest at the home rink of the highest remaining seed left in the tournament as well as the final round. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic bid into the NCAA Division 3 tournament and a chance to play for the national championship.
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One Down Many To Go
11-25-09
Well folks just like that Week one of the 2009-10 Division III hockey season is already in the record books. For our local boys in green the Castleton Spartans it was a rough start to the season as the boys looked a little off in a loss to St. Anselm and and a tie against New England College. The Spartans come out of the first weekend with just one point in the ECAC East standings but on the bright side it is early yet. On an even brighter note the Rutland Regional Fieldhouse looked better than ever as it began its new life as the Spartan Arena. Many improvements in the off season were made and to top it off on opening night the student section of the bleachers was packed full as well as having the band on hand. The atmosphere was electric and hopefully this will continue throughout the season. I have had the pleasure of attending hockey games at three other Vermont schools UVM, Norwich and Middlebury and the atmospheres in their barns are just as exciting. Hopefully the Spartan Arena will be rocking week in and week out.
Coming up this weekend after every one has digested their turkey and all the fixings the Spartans will host the third annual Rutland Herald Invitational on Saturday and Sunday. The Spartans are looking for their first tournament title in the brief history of the RHI. Standing in their way again will be the defending national champion Neumann College Knights who have also garnered the RHI tournament title both times it has been contested. The action gets underway Saturday at 3 as Neumann plays Tufts University and then at 6pm Castleton takes on Becker College.
Taking a quick look at the ECAC East Standings below we find the Norwich Cadets in a familiar spot on top. Castleton is in 8th but as we said before it is early yet. The Spartans have beaten Norwich the past two years so this years match up at the Krietzburg Arena in Northfied looks to be another great one,. For Castleton and the other teams in the ECAC East the road to the championship and a possible NCAA berth goes through Norwich.
Hope everyone had or has a great Thanksgiving
Stay tuned next week for information concerning the Castleton Spartans and Division III hockey. -----------------------------------------------------------
Spartans Ready to Kickoff NEW Season
11-20-2009
New is the word as the 2009-10 Castleton Spartans Men's hockey season is upon us. There will be lots of new faces on the ice as last year's edition saw 11 seniors graduate. Also new is that Castleton College recently purchased the Rutland Regional Fieldhouse and it is now renamed the Spartan Arena. There will be festivities prior to next Friday night the 20th's hockey game to officially christen the new Spartan arena.
Excitement was in the air on Saturday night as the men held their annual Green and White game. After Steve Miles gave the white team an early 1-0 lead in the first period Kirk Bolduc tied the score late in the 1st frame for the green team. Blake Barber put team green ahead early into the 2nd period but Omar Pacha tied the score at the 11:58 mark. The teams would remain tied through two periods of play.
Following the two periods of hockey was a skills competition. First up was the fastest skater competition and it was a green team sweep in the semifinals as Tyler Atkins and Lindsey Gullet bested Daniel Bell and Jonathon Lafrance giving team green a 4-2 lead. In the puck control competition Steve Miles beat Lindsey Gullet for a white team point and Blake Barber bested Nick Wescott giving green a point. In the finals Barber bested Miles putting the green team up 8 to 3. Back to the fastest skater competition it was again team green with Lindsey Gullet beating fellow green team member Tyler Atkins
Green was now up 11 to 3 going into the accuracy shooting competition. Here Andrew Francis scored a point for white over Stuart Stefan netting 3 goals to Stefans' 2. In the other semifinal Brenden Beer of team green bested Nicke Wescott 3 goals to 1. Francis would net two goals in the final to beat Beer and cut the green lead to 12 to 7.
Next it was onto the hardest shot competition and it was Evan Romeo blasting a 96 mph shot into the net cutting team greens lead to 12 to 11.
The fifth competition was a 3 on 0 rush and white again netted 2 goals giving them the 13 to 12 lead.
In the breakaway competition Justin Alonzo netted a goal and Stuart Stefan netted 3 for team green. Cody Ayers, Omar Pacha and Evan Romeo each tallied a goal for the boys in white and the score was now knotted at 16 a piece.
Coach Alex Todd then decided the teams would have alternate breakaways in a sudden death until there was a winner. First up was Stuart Stefan who tallied a goal for team green Ben Schoenberger was unable to match for team white giving the win to team green 17 yo 16
Most of all fun was had by all and senior Evan Romeo even attempted to score a goal in the breakaway competition using two sticks. The improvements to the Spartan Arena are looking great and personally i cant wait until it starts for real next weekend.
The 2009-10 Spartans season will officially kickoff on Friday night November 20th as ECAC East foe St. Anselm comes to town. The Spartans are 0-3-03 lifetime against the Hawks and will look to start the campaign off a good note by getting their first ever win against the Manchester, New Hampshire school. On Saturday afternoon at 4 New England College comes to town .
Most importantly with lots of new faces on the squad and a good group of talent coming back from last year the Spartans are picked to finish second in the league. In the past few years this program has gained national ranking, beaten top programs such as Middlebury and Norwich and finished in the top four of their league. Their hopes now are to take things one step further in the postseason and perhaps win the conference tournament and maybe even an NCAA berth.
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