Fast Start Propels Castleton Past Southern Maine 3-2

            GORHAM, Maine -- The visiting Castleton State College Spartans scored twice in the opening four minutes to take an early lead, then held off the University of Southern Maine Huskies for a 3-2 victory in ECAC Men's East play Saturday at the USM Ice Arena.

            The win snapped a two-game losing skid for the Spartans and improved their record to 9-8-1 overall and 5-5-1 in ECAC play.  The win also gave the Spartans a sweep of the teams' home-and-home regular-season series.  The Huskies, winless in their last 10 games (0-5-5) despite five ties, fell to 4-8-5 overall and 3-6-2 in conference action.

            The Spartans took the lead just 65 seconds into the game as senior Ryan Delorme (Kanata Ont.) was set up in front of an open net by rookie Brock Labelle (Holland, Ohio) and junior Ryan Frost (Fullerton, Calif.).  Frost drew USM junior goalie Josh Hillegas' (Middleton, Wis.) attention coming in from the left wing side before sliding a pass across to an uncovered Delorme who deposited the puck into the wide-open net.  The goal was the first of the season for Delorme.

            Less than three minutes later Frost made it 2-0 with the first of his two goals in the game.  Frost beat Hillegas from the left wing circle after being set up by line mates Labelle and sophomore Eric Mack (Rutland, Vt.).

            Southern Maine steadied itself and cut the deficit in half at 15:52 of the period as senior Angelo Vrachnas (St. James, N.Y.) scored his fifth goal of the season by burying a 20-foot shot after taking a feed from sophomore Zach Dymock (Dutton, Ont.).  Junior Sam Guimond (Portland, Maine) picked up the second assist.

            Frost potted what proved to be the game winner at 5:37 of the second period as he picked the pocket of a USM defender and beat Hillegas from 20 feet out in the slot for an unassisted goal.

            Freshman Kelby Lorenz (Mississauga, Ont.) pulled Southern Maine within one at 11:25 of the third period with a power-play goal.  Lorenz took a pass from classmate Cole Klippenstein (Franklin, Tenn.) and blasted a shot from the blue line over the shoulder of Castleton junior goalie Thomas Shelley (Waterford, Ontario) for his team-leading seventh marker of the season.

            The Huskies received a late power play and lifted Hillegas for the extra attacker with 1:35 to play, but Shelley was able to protect the lead and preserve the win.

            Castleton finished the game with a 21-19 edge in shot on goal.  Shelley stopped 17 shots and received strong support from his mates who blocked 20 USM shots during the game.  Hillegas had 18 saves before going to the bench.

            Southern Maine is on the road next weekend traveling to Saint Michael's College on Friday (7:00 p.m.) and Norwich University on Saturday (4:00 p.m.).  Castleton State returns home to face New England College on Friday (7:00 p.m.) and Saint Anselm College on Saturday (4:00 p.m.).  All four games are conference games. 

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