CASTLETON, Vt. – Kyle Gonzalez and Sean Gray scored in each of the first two rounds of the shootout and Ben Skelton stopped two of the three shootout tries and 39 shots across regulation and overtime as the Keene State College men's ice hockey team picked up a 1-1 tie on Saturday night at the Spartan Arena before winning the shootout, 2-1.

A night after an entertaining home opener that saw a lot of goals and a lot of penalties in the revival of the first varsity men's ice hockey program at KSC since the mid-1980s, the Owls improved drastically on both accounts, holding the host Spartans scoreless over the game's final 61 minutes and giving them only two power play opportunities, both of which the Owls killed.

All of the game's scoring came in the opening 12 minutes, as Andrew Stefura put Castleton ahead 1-0 just 4:46 in 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 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, as Marcus Chrisafideis denied a Spartans 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 Jason Smith shots 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 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.

In the three-on-three extra session, it was all Owls, but Ward preserved the tie for his team by stopping Chrisafideis twice and Jack Lindholm within 16 seconds of each other in the opening minute.  KSC outshot the Spartans 6-0 in the overtime, their third consecutive game dating back to the exhibitions that needed extra time to decide.

Keene State would not be denied in their first-ever shootout, as after both teams came up empty in their first attempts, the Owls scored on their final two.  Luke Chakrabarti got the Spartans on the board first on their second attempt, but 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 with a chance to win, which Gonzalez finished off by carrying methodically up the right side before moving to the middle and rifling a shot past Ward's glove side.

"The boys are very resilient," said Owls head coach Bobby Rodrigue.  "We were much more disciplined tonight and they were rewarded for it."

KSC won 30 of the 58 faceoffs on the night.  Skelton has made 51 saves and allowed two goals over his opening 93:58 of career action, which began with a relief effort in last night's opener against Rivier University.

The Owls were 1-for-5 on the power play and the Spartans 0-for-2.

Keene State returns home to host Westfield State University (2-0; 13-12-2 in 2023-2024) on Thursday night (November 7) at 7:30 p.m.