BOX SCORE

BABSON PARK, Mass. - Tufts University first-year Nick Resor (Westwood,Mass.) scored an empty-net goal - his third of the game - with 59.6 seconds remaining in overtime to cap off a 3-2 Jumbos comeback victory over host Babson College in the final game of the ECAC East/NESCAC regular season at the Babson Skating Center on Saturday afternoon. With the win, Tufts improved to 11-11-2 overall and 7-10-2 in the NESCAC, while the Beavers fell to 10-13-1 overall and 9-10-0 in the ECAC East.

With Salem State defeating NEC and Skidmore tying Wesleyan on Saturday, Babson needed a victory to earn a home seed in next weekend's ECAC East Quarterfinals, with either a tie or loss sending the Beavers on the road. As a result, Babson pulled senior goalie Skylar Nipps (Orlando, Fla.) in favor of an extra skater twice late in the game, first over the final 31 seconds of regulation and then again with 1:37 left in overtime. The Beavers did manage five shots on Tufts rookie goalie Scott Barchard in the extra session, but the Jumbos' freshman capped off a spectacular performance in net by stopping all five bids. Meanwhile, Tufts gained control deep in their own zone with just over one minute left and sent the puck up ice to Resor, who easily put away his third goal of the contest to clinch the 3-2 victory.

Barchard finished the game with 59 saves in the victory for the Jumbos, including a pair of brilliant stops on Babson 2-on-1 advantages. First, he denied senior Matt Harrington (Hanover, Mass.) with a stellar glove stop on a break with junior Corey Griffin (Hingham, Mass.) at 18:40 of the second, and he then turned away first-year Mike Hoban (Medfield, Mass.) with the right pad on a 2-on-1 with senior Pat McLaughlin (Berlin, Mass.) at 12:30 of the third.

Nipps played just under 63 minutes in net for the Beavers, finishing with 18 saves in the final regular season game of his outstanding career.

Tufts struck first at 2:21 of the opening period, when Resor collected the puck out of a flurry in front of the net and lifted a shot into the upper right corner for the game's only powerplay goal. Babson later knotted the score when senior JT Balben (Wayland, Mass.) sent the puck behind the Tufts net to senior co-captain Brad Baldelli (Northboro, Mass.), who tucked a wraparound inside the left post at 12:18 of the first.

Midway through the second, sophomore Terry Woods (Duxbury, Mass.) sent the puck out to the right point, where first-year Sean Roche (Franklin, Mass.) ripped a slapper into the upper right corner to give Babson a 2-1 advantage. Things stayed that way until 14:48 of the third, when sophomore Tom Derosa (Charlestown, Mass.) sent a pass from the right circle to Resor, who fired a one-timer into the lower left corner for his second goal of the game. Resor would then cap off the hat trick with the empty-netter in the overtime session finishing off the 3-2 comeback win.

Babson will now enter the ECAC East Tournament as the seventh seed, and will travel to second-seeded Castleton State for a quarterfinal matchup next Saturday. An official game time for that contest has yet to be announced.

Saturday also marked the final regular season home game in the collegiate careers of Babson's eight seniors. Over the last four seasons, Nipps, McLaughlin, Balben, Baldelli, Harrington, Patrick McCarthy (Warwick, R.I.), Alex DiPietro (Winthrop, Mass.), and co-captain Nick Jones (Melrose, Mass.) have helped lead the Beavers to an outstanding record of 62-39-5, including an 18-10-1 mark, an ECAC East Championship, and a trip to the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals in 2007.