Box Score RUTLAND, Vt. – Castleton State scored the final two goals of the game, including the game-winner from Ben Schoeneberger with 7:30 remaining in the third period, as the Spartans escaped with a 2-1 victory over the Manhattanville men's hockey team in the championship game of the 2012 Rutland Herald Invitational, held on Sunday afternoon at Spartan Arena.
 
The Spartans earned their third straight Rutland Herald Invitational title by scoring once in the second period and once more in the third, negating a tally from junior Luc Van Natter (Fort Erie, Ont./Aurora Tigers (OPJHL)) that put the visitors up by a goal early in the middle stanza.
 
With 12:30 gone by in the final frame, Schoeneberger picked up a loose puck along the far boards and skated in on goal before firing a shot over the shoulder of sophomore Brian Fleming (Saint John, N.B./Northern Cyclones (AJHL)) for the eventual game-winning score.
 
The game entered the third period tied at one after both teams scored in the middle frame, albeit in very different ways.
 
Manhattanville struck first 2:56 into the middle frame, as Van Natter deposited his third goal of the year into the back of the net. Senior assistant captain Scott Hudson (St. Albert, Alta./Sherwood Park Crusaders (AJHL)) worked hard behind the net to get the puck in front for the junior, who deked past Castleton netminder Erick Cinotti and backhanded the puck over Cinotti's shoulder for the score.
 
The Valiants held that lead until the 15:11 mark of the frame, when Castleton scored a highly dubious goal. Off a mad scramble in front of the Valiant net, the puck squirted loose along the goal line but was cleared away by the visitors, and yet the goal light went on behind the cage. After play was stopped, the goal judge was called over and he somehow managed to convince the referees that the puck went in, thus evening the score. Brett Zeggil was given credit for the goal for the Spartans.
 
The Valiants finished the evening with a 26-22 edge in shots. Neither team had any success on special teams, as Manhattanville improved its streak of successful penalty kills to 24 straight with five successful kills, but also did nothing on its six man-up chances.
 
Fleming finished with 20 saves on 22 shots, while Cinotti made 25 saves on 26 shots to earn the win.
 
Manhattanville (5-2-1), which has its five-game winning streak and six-game unbeaten streak snapped with the loss, will return to ECAC West Conference action next weekend, as the Valiants travel to Elmira for a pair of games beginning Friday night at 7 p.m. The first game of the weekend series will be audio streamed live on WMVLRadio.com beginning at 6:50 p.m.