The Spartans took to the road this past weekend heading to Boston for a pair of tough conference games. Babson and UMass Boston are ranked nationally in the top-15. With playoff seeding an important factor nearing the end of a season, Castleton had the opportunity to slide into the fourth spot of the ECAC standings with a win over Babson. The move in seeding would secure a home quarterfinal game given they kept that spot for the last few games of the regular season.
Castleton’s Derek Gingera scored the game tying goal with 30 seconds left sending it into overtime Friday night.
The Spartans flew out of the gate taking a quick two goal lead in the first period. Goals were scored by Kevin Rosset (Kovalchik, 11:20) and Nick Kovalchik (Herzog and Greene, 14:41).
Staying out of the box has been something Castleton’s Coach Moffat has been reiterating to his team. The Spartans managed to get three penalties in the game, but killed them all off.     
Castleton went into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead despite being outshot by Babson 10-9.
The sixth nationally ranked Babson Beavers wouldn’t back down. The Beavers would net two goals back-to-back with a tie score of 2-2 in the second period.
Both teams opened up the third with competitive back-and-forth play until Babson’s Andrew Bonazza cut the tie with a goal at 6:40 remaining.
It looked like it was all over reaching the final minute until Castleton’s Derek Gingera scored a clutch game-tying goal with 30 seconds remaining the Spartans came back to life.
The Spartans and Beavers battled relentlessly for five more minutes, but neither side could muster another offensive punch. The teams ended in a 3-3 tie.
Castleton moved to 10-9-2 before playing another tough opponent in U Mass Boston.
Moving onto the Beacons Saturday afternoon, Castleton looked to rebound after squandering a two goal lead to Babson the night before.
The Spartans had a slow start and the Beacons took advantage.
The Beacons top ranked scoring attack in the ECAC at 4.30 goals a game was apparent as they exploded with five goals against the Spartans; three of which came in the first period.
Castleton senior Brian Greene found the back of the net making it 3-1, but wasn’t enough as the Beacons kept the pedal down.
Coming out of the first intermission, UMass’s Giovanni Marinelli scored seven minutes into the second period, deepening the hole for Castleton 4-1.
Hopes of making anything out of the third period were crushed after a Beacon goal 38 seconds after the drop of the puck extending their lead 5-1.
Castleton usually has a tough time of staying out of the penalty box was on the opposite end of things; especially in the third.
UMass received five penalties in the third and seven total for the game. Castleton however, only cashed in on one of their power plays back in the first period.
The storm calmed as UMass’s scoring ceased after their fifth goal.
Coach Moffat made no excuses for his team.
“We need to learn something from UMass,”  Moffat said. “They played with good energy.”
Castleton received their 10th loss making them 10-10-2 where they’ll prepare for in-state rival Norwich next Friday at 7:00 p.m.