DANBURY, Conn. – In their final home game of the inaugural season, the Western Connecticut State University men's ice hockey team made a late push in the third period as Phil Parker (Rehoboth, Mass.) narrowed the deficit to one, but the Vermont State University Castleton Spartans came out on top, 5-3, on Saturday. The Wolves moved to 2-21-0 overall and 1-15-0 in the Little East Conference (LEC), while Castleton improved to 13-10-1 and 9-8-0.

The visitors took a two-goal lead in the opening period before Scott McNulty (Williamstown, N.J.) put the Wolves on the board at 17:53. Tyler Gobel (Lindon, N.J.) recovered the puck after Francis Rose (Clarkston, Mich.) had a close shot saved by goaltender Charles Watson, before Gobel quickly sent it to McNultty for the first WestConn goal of the night. At 9:21 in the second stanza, McNulty scores again to knot the game at two apiece, capitalizing on the shorthanded Spartans. Drew Coady (Braintree, Mass.) intercepted a Spartans' push in the attacking zone and passed it to Rose, who skated down the ice for a sideways pass to McNultty near the blueline for a high and right shot into the netting.

Castleton took the lead with a pair of goals in the second off a powerplay goal and a shorthanded tally for the 4-2 advantage at 16:28. In WestConn's zone, Laurence Lundberg (Greensboro, N.C.) sent the puck along the boards in front of the benches to Marshall Curri (New Canaan, Conn.) waiting in the attacking zone and then passed it to Parker, who dodged a falling defender for the hosts third goal of the night. Castleton padded their lead with seconds remaining off a long, empty-net goal.

WestConn closes out the regular season with two road LEC games, with the first one at UMass Boston on February 20 for a 5:30 p.m. puck drop.