Nov. 17, 2007

BABSON PARK, Mass. - Babson College scored three unanswered goals over a key 10-minute stretch to pull away for a 5-3 victory over visiting Colby College in an ECAC East/NESCAC ice hockey matchup at the Babson Skating Center on Saturday night. The Beavers, ranked 11th in the country in the most recent U.S. College Hockey Online poll, improved to 2-0-0 overall and 2-0-0 in the ECAC East with the win, while the White Mules fell to 1-1-0 overall and 1-1-0 in the NESCAC.

Babson held a 2-1 advantage after the first period of play, as junior Alex DiPietro (Winthrop, Mass.) and sophomore Jason Schneider (Littleton, Mass.) each netted goals. Colby then evened the contest at 2-2 when sophomore Eric Simmons (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) scored at 12:37 of the second, but Schneider ignited a 3-0 Babson run with his second of the day off an assist from sophomore Shane Farrell (West Warwick, R.I.) with 53 seconds remaining in the period. Senior co-captain John Geverd (Hookset, N.H.) would make it 4-2 with his first of the year from junior JT Balben (Wayland, Mass.) and junior Brad Baldelli (Northboro, Mass.) just 34 seconds into the final session, and sophomore Casey Fazekas (Montreal, Quebec) pushed the lead to 5-2 when he scored off feeds from DiPietro and sophomore Chris Wood (Medford, Mass.) at 9:10. Colby managed one final goal by rookie Wil Hartigan (Arlington, Mass.) with 8:04 left to play but it would not be enough to prevent the 5-3 Babson victory.

Junior Skylar Nipps (Orlando, Fla.) was impressive in net for the second straight night, making 20 saves in the victory, while Colby junior Andy Cook (Golden Valley, Minn.) also finished with 20 stops between the pipes for the White Mules.