KEENE, N.H. – Zack Chouinard potted a juicy rebound of a Chase Carney shot with 2:03 left in overtime as the Keene State College men's ice hockey team picked up an exciting 2-1 Little East Conference victory over Vermont State University Castleton on Friday night at Keene Ice.

The win gives KSC (7-15-0, 3-12-0 LEC) consecutive victories for the third time this season – the first time since November 13 and 15 – and helped the Owls avenge a lopsided 6-0 loss to the Spartans (12-10-1, 8-8-0 LEC) nearly a month ago.  Castleton, who currently occupies the final playoff spot in the league standings, was coming off an 8-1 stomping of the University of Southern Maine (currently in third place) last weekend.  Although KSC had several near-misses during a frustrating 11-game slide – losing three times in overtime – the young Owls might be beginning to mature.

Tonight, after the Spartans tied the game with 55 seconds left in regulation in what could have been a backbreaking goal, KSC answered in a big way by completely controlling the overtime period before winning it on a transition chance.  Jackson Edwards could not hit Trevor Castino near the goal with 2:12 left, and Carney picked up the loose puck while rushing up the right side to create a 2-on-1 chance with Chouinard.  The Lynnfield, Mass. native could not beat Josh Ward stick side, but fired a shot that had a good chance for a rebound, and Chouinard was there to bury it into what was a wide open net as Carney's shot put Ward out of position.

It was a riveting ending for a game that was a defensive battle and did not feature any scoring for the first 44 minutes as KSC limited the visitors to mostly low danger chances in the first and third periods while goalie Ben Skelton came up with a big 22 saves in a second period when the Owls got pinned in their zone.  KSC also came up big on the penalty kill, going 4-for-4 including denying the Spartans power play – which entered at 25 percent – on two chances in the third period, keeping them shotless in one.

Carney broke the scoring ice in what seemed like might be the decider with less than six minutes to go in the third, a play that began with Jared Martin intercepting a Spartans dump in pass and then feeding Carney, who gloved it down and barreled toward the net.  Ward made the initial stop, but the Owl sophomore used quick hands to flick home the rebound with 5:37 left – his eighth goal of the season but first at home since recording the first ever KSC hat trick on November 15.

Castleton forced overtime by scoring with an extra attacker in a wild sequence in front of the net as Skelton sprawled tried to whack away David Coyle's centering pass that came from behind the goal, with Trevor Castino not getting much on a shot attempt after the pass deflected in traffic.  The Owl netminder only got a small piece of it, and the puck found Spartans leading scorer Luke Chakrabarti, who scored his 17th to tie it 1-1.  Skelton made a pad stop about 12 seconds later, with the rebound not finding a dangerous spot, and KSC then took over from there, holding the Spartans shotless in overtime before finding a uplifting game-winning goal to start their final home weekend of the season.

Skelton finished with 42 stops to earn the win, allowing just three goals in his last 122 minutes and upping his season save percentage to .909.  Shaw made 23 saves for Castleton in the loss.

The Owls close their home schedule on Saturday when they welcome first-place Norwich University (15-5-3, 12-2-2 LEC) for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop on Senior Night.  The Cadets trailed 1-0 after 40 minutes at Western Connecticut State University before scoring four unanswered to avoid an upset.  KSC fell to Norwich 3-1 in the first meeting in Vermont, allowing a shorthanded goal on a power play chance in the third period to fall behind by two.