SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team lost to in-state rival Vermont State University Castleton, 6-2, during an exhibition game on Friday in Cairns Arena.
 
SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Sophomore Ben Baxter (Hyannis, Mass./Seahawks Hockey Club), 1 goal, 6-for-11 faceoffs
• First-year Sj LeComte (Port Monmouth, N.J./Wisconsin Rapid Riverkings), 1 goal
• Junior Jackson Cole (Newark, Del./Vernal Oilers), 27 saves
• Sophomore Ty Bloom (Helena, Mont./Helena Bighorns), 8-for-15 faceoffs
• Junior Jake Leale (Suffern, N.Y./Connecticut RoughRiders), 3 blocked shots

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Graduate student Stone Stelzl, 1 goal, 1 assist
• Sophomore Cam Reid, 1 goal, 1 assist
• First-year Emmett McHardy, 1 goal, 1 assist
• Senior Simon Brenter, 6 saves in 20 minutes
• First-year Charles Watson, 7 saves in 20 minutes of relief, win
• Senior Dominic Rodrigue, 9 saves in 20 minutes of relief

THE ACTION

• LeComte scored only 56 seconds into the contest, taking sophomore Hans Forselius' (Guilford, Conn./Seahawks Hockey Club) quick pass out of the left corner in front of the net.
• McHardy evened the score at 1:42, finishing a 2-on-1 with senior Jackson Kobelka to Cole's glove side.
• The Purple Knights went ahead on a power play with 9:28 gone, as Baxter picked off a pass just inside his own blue line before weaving through the Spartan defense and picking the net from the right circle.
• Reid rung the post on a breakaway around the 13-minute mark of the second period, but Stelzl tied the game at 13:15, one-timing Reid's pass from behind the net into the slot.
• Reid then struck for the winner during a power play from the left circle at 16:02.
• VTSU Castleton added three goals by three different players in the third period, with junior Anthony Persi scoring from the slot at 2:31 to make it 4-2 before the Spartans scored twice in the final eight minutes.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Friday vs. Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts at 7 p.m. for regular-season opener.