SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Danny Magnuson tapped in a backhand feed from Mason Beecher to give the Skidmore College men's hockey team a 4-3 overtime victory over Castleton Friday evening.
 
Magnuson's second goal of the year came on a delayed penalty after Mike Gelatt was taken down with a slash on a rush. Beecher worked a give-and-go with Gelatt to set up the nifty pass across the crease to a waiting Magnuson.
 
Skidmore finishes the first half at 6-4-1 and 3-3-1 (10 points) in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC). The Thoroughbreds are tied with Elmira and UMass Boston for fourth place. Castleton is 4-9-1 and 0-6-1 (2 points).
 
Kaeden Patrick scored on a rebound off a Reid Russell shot at the 8:19 mark of the third period to tie it at three and eventually send the game into overtime. Austin Rook got the secondary assist, his second helper of the night in his return to the lineup.
 
Everett Wardle put Skidmore ahead in the middle of the first period when he volleyed the puck out of the air and into the Spartan net for his team-leading seventh goal of the year. Will Dow-Kenny sent the puck across for the assist on the power-play goal, which extended the freshman blue-liner's point streak to five.
 
Stone Stelzl tied it up for the visitors with 5:55 left in the opening frame after forcing a turnover behind the Skidmore net and potting the wraparound on Castleton's first shot on goal of the game over 14 minutes into the contest.
 
Skidmore grabbed ahold of the lead again at the three-minute mark of the second when Thomas Finck took advantage of his own offensive zone faceoff win with a tip from the slot after a D-to-D pass between Matthew Monk and Kyle Delmaestro.
 
Glenn Wiswell was credited with the equalizer 1:44 later when a centering pass by Calvin Moïse deflected off his skate. Zach Papapetros got the secondary assist thanks to his play to Moïse in the neutral zone. Zach Temper scored on a deflection on a Jahwara Rennalls shot from the point to give the visiting Spartans the lead with 11:11 left in the second.
 
Freshman Wes Williamson was called into action and earned the win for the Thoroughbreds between the pipes with 14 saves. He stopped all eight shots he saw in the third period and came up with one save in overtime. Kyle Alaverdy was busy for the Spartans, finishing with 58 saves. Total shots finished at 62-17 for Skidmore.   
 
Each team scored once on the power play. Skidmore had five chances while Castleton had three. Skidmore was called for an offensive zone tripping minor with 4:05 left in regulation, but the penalty kill afforded Castleton just one shot and very little zone time to squash the threat.

Skidmore will come out of the break on New Year's Day to face SUNY Canton in the first round of the Oswego Hockey Classic.