Box Score

RUTLAND, Vt. – Sophomore Tyler Beasley (Indianapolis, Ind.) scored his seventh goal of the season late in the second period to help lead Nichols College to a 3-2 win against Castleton in non-conference action Saturday night at Spartan Arena.
 
Castleton got on the board first, converting their only man advantage of the evening. Senior Colin Murray (Oshawa, Ontario) found sophomore Charles Bando (Wakefield, Mass.) in the slot to put Castleton up 1-0 just 2:40 into the game.
 
In the second period, Nichols played much more aggressively, applying pressure on the forecheck and forcing mistakes. Sophomore Sean Fleming (Eastampton, N.J.) evened things up at 5:26 of the second period putting one past junior Thomas Shelley (Waterford, Ont.). Sophomore Frank Butler (East Haven, Conn.) and junior Kyle Shapiro (Ambler, Pa.) were credited with assists on the play.
 
Less than a minute later, Butler picked up his second assist of the game after sending the puck over to junior Chris Gularte (Salinas, Calif.) who then got it to sophomore Paul Prescott (Oakdale, Minn.) for a power-play goal to give the Bison a 2-1 lead.
 
Beasley notched the third goal of the game for the Bison at 17:16 of the second period after receiving the pass from junior Joe Sposit (Cleveland, Ohio).
 
The Castleton offense continued to struggle in the third. With the team trailing by two goals in the final minutes, senior Kyle Richards (Halifax, Nova Scotia) gave the squad a glimmer of hope. The senior played the puck from behind the net in towards the middle. The pass struck a Nichols defender and squeezed past sophomore Alex Larson (Madison, Ala.) to bring the Spartans within a goal.
 
Larson earned his seventh win of the season in net for the Bison (8-2-2), making 34 saves on the evening. Shelley stopped 22 shots in net for the Spartans but took the loss.
 
The Spartans outshot the Bison 36 to 25, including outshooting the Bison 17 to 6 in the first period.  Nichols was led by Prescott with four shots on goal.
 
Nichols host Hobart Friday at 6:40 p.m. at Levy Rink.  Castleton moves to 7-5-1 on the season and will return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Skidmore at 7:00 p.m. 

Contributions from Castleton sports information