BOX
SCORE
BABSON PARK, Mass. - Salem State College senior goalie Ryan
Hatch (Medway, Mass.) stopped 33 of the 34 shots he faced to help
the visiting Vikings claim a 3-1 victory over host Babson College
in an ECAC East men's ice hockey contest at the Babson Skating
Center on Saturday afternoon. With the win, Salem State improved to
10-5-1 overall and 6-5-0 in the conference, while the Beavers
dropped to 6-8-1 overall and 5-6-0 in the ECAC East.
Babson posted a 14-7 shot advantage in the opening period, but
Hatch kept the hosts off the board with 14 stops in net. Meanwhile,
senior Zach Doyen (Ortonville, Mich.) put the Vikings in front when
he converted a feed from junior Damen Nisula (Gardner, Mass.) at
16:16 of the first.
Salem State added to its lead in an evenly-played second period,
as first-year Ian Flanagan (New Hampton, N.H.) scored just 1:57
into the period. The Vikings later made it 3-0 with another early
goal in the third, as sophomore Justin Fox (Whiby, Ontario) struck
just 16 seconds in.
That would be more than enough offensive support for Hatch, who
stopped 11 more shots in the third before allowing his lone blemish
of the contest on a Babson powerplay in the final minute. With a
penalty and an empty net providing two extra skaters on the ice,
the Beavers finally broke through when senior Alex DiPietro
(Winthrop, Mass.) netted his fourth goal of the season off
consecutive feeds from junior Casey Fazekas (Montreal,
Quebec) and senior co-captain Brad Baldelli
(Northboro, Mass.) with 39.1 seconds remaining. Babson
would keep its net vacant for the remainder of the period, but
Hatch did not allow any more offense as Salem State held on for the
3-1 win.
First-year Andrew Peabody (Marblehead, Mass.)
finished with 22 saves in net for Babson before being pulled for
the final 2:28 for the extra skater.
During the first intermission of Saturday's game, there was a
brief ceremony recognizing the silver anniversary of Babson's 1984
National Championship team. That year, the Beavers went 27-5-1, won
the ECAC league title, and went on to capture the program's
first-ever NCAA Championship.
