SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - Castleton State College sophomore Will Laking (Orillia, Ontario/Saint Andrews College) scored 1:19 into overtime on Friday evening, as the Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team lost a 4-3 decision at Cairns Arena after twice erasing a two-goal deficit. The Purple Knights are now 0-7 overall and 0-6 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East, while the Spartans are 5-3-1 and 4-2-1.

Junior Dave Donzanti (West Chester, Pa./Northfield Mount Hermon) made 33 saves for Saint Michael's, which has now lost four games by two goals or fewer and stayed in the contest despite being outshot 37-14. Junior AJ Pieprzak (Barrie, Ontario/Ridley College), sophomore Nate Potter (Stoneham, Mass./Brooks School) and first-year Josh Dickman (Kapaa, Hawaii/Saint Paul's School) all scored, and junior defenseman Mark Higgins (Plainville, Mass./Bridgewater Bandits) had two assists.

In addition to Laking scoring, sophomore Charles Bando (Wakefield, Mass./Northern Mass.) tallied a pair of goals for Castleton State, junior Ryan Frost (Fullerton, Calif./Wichita Falls) had a goal and an assist, and senior Erick Cinotti (Mahwah, N.J./Wichita Falls) made 11 stops.

With his team trailing 3-2 early in the third period, Donzanti stacked his pads to make a sliding save at the right post during a Spartan power play with 17:50 to go, and Pieprzak knotted the contest with 10:33 remaining by blasting home a power-play marker from the right point. Higgins and first-year Stephen Inman (Coventry, R.I./Odessa Jackalopes) assisted. After Pieprzak hit the crossbar 15 seconds into overtime, an ensuing Purple Knight shot ricocheted around the boards and out toward center ice, and Laking picked up the loose puck and picked the right corner during an odd-man rush.

Frost played a hand in the first two goals, including being credited with the opening marker after 1:53 of the opening period when he sent a pass from behind the net out front, where a Purple Knight skater knocked the puck in while trying to clear. Frost later sent a cross-ice pass to Bando at the right post for a power-play one-timer with 7:46 remaining. The Spartans held a 10-1 advantage in shots by the end of the first period, with Donzanti making eight stops.

Potter tipped home first-year defender Danny Divis' (Media, Pa./The Gunnery) shot from the high slot with 1:43 elapsed to put the Purple Knights on the board in the second period. First-year Jake Secatore (Woburn, Mass./Phillips Academy) also assisted. Bando put his team back on top by two by skating out front and backhanding the puck home at the right post 9:25 into the stanza, but Donzanti prevented further damage by denying a Castleton State breakaway attempt with five minutes to go. Dickman brought Saint Michael's within one once more with 2:05 left, as graduate student Tim McAuliffe (North Reading, Mass./Vermont Academy) knocked the puck out of the air near the left boards and centered to Higgins, who was stopped by Cinotti, but Dickman knocked the rebound up and over Cinotti despite the goalie nearly denying the shot while rolling backward into the net. The hosts were only outshot in the second period by a 12-9 count.

The Purple Knights cap the first semester by hosting Skidmore College tomorrow at 4 p.m.