RUTLAND, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team led Castleton State College until fewer than 13 minutes remained on Saturday in an eventual 4-1 loss at Spartan Arena during Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East action. The Purple Knights, who had won five of their last seven games, moved to 6-16-1 overall and 3-13-1 in the league. The Spartans, who twice tied nationally-ranked opponents during their previous three games, are now 11-10-3 and 7-7-3.

Junior Dave Donzanti (West Chester, Pa./Northfield Mount Hermon) had 36 stops for the Purple and Gold, while sophomore Kevin Altidor (Montreal, Quebec/Millbrook School) scored. Graduate student Tim McAuliffe (North Reading, Mass./Vermont Academy) and junior Jeremy Wong (Montreal, Quebec/Tilton School) both won eight face-offs. Saint Michael's stayed close despite being outshot 40-16 and yielding the hosts a 44-of-66 advantage on face-offs.

First-year Corbin Marcotte (Houston, British Columbia/Sicamous) posted a goal and an assist for Castleton State, while senior Ross Herzog (Wainwright, Alberta/Bonneyville), junior Ryan Frost (Fullerton, Calif./Wichita Falls) and sophomore Derek Gingera (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Winnipeg) also scored. Junior Thomas Shelley (Waterford, Ontario/Huntsville) made 15 stops. The Spartans tied No. 9 Norwich University last night after knotting No. 6 Babson College on Jan. 31.

During a first period in which each team only fired five shots on net, the Purple Knights scored on their fifth and final shot by the time 6:54 elapsed when Altidor recorded his 14th goal of the season. Junior William Côté (Quebec City, Quebec/Rice Memorial Prep) assisted.

From there, Saint Michael's posted a strong defensive effort to conclude the stanza with the one-goal lead, as four different skaters blocked attempts in the final 4:21, during which time Donzanti stopped the only two shots that made it on cage. Donzanti turned away back-to-back shots in the opening 21 seconds of the second frame before a Castleton State player hit the post at 2:06, and the visitors killed off three penalties, with Donzanti making six saves during the penalty kills.

Saint Michael's headed into the third period with the 1-0 lead before Frost knotted the game at 7:14, and the Spartans later scored three times in a matter of 4:58 to take the lead and pull away. During another Castleton State power play, Donzanti made saves on the first four shots before Marcotte netted the man-advantage winner at 12:49. First-year Josh Dickman (Kapaa, Hawaii/Saint Paul's School) was the lone Purple Knight to fire a tying attempt, with Shelley saving his bid at 15:25, before Gingera and Herzog tallied at 16:16 and 17:47, respectively.

With the road portion of their ECAC East schedule complete, the Purple Knights return home to take on nationally-ranked University of Massachusetts at Boston on Friday at 7 p.m. The Beacons are ranked 12th in this week's D3hockey.com national poll.