BABSON PARK, Mass. -- The New England College Pilgrims scored four times in a four-minute, 24-second stretch of the second period en route to a 6-2 victory over host Babson College in the opening game of the 2011-12 ECAC East ice hockey season at the Babson Skating Center on Friday night.

Chances were limited for both teams in the scoreless first period. NEC (1-0-0 overall, 1-0-0 ECAC East) had two strong opportunities midway through the session - the first coming when senior Niko Uola (Turku, Finland) has his wide open wrister from the high slot stuffed by Babson senior goalie Andrew Peabody (Marblehead, Mass.) at the nine-minute mark, and the second when first-year Andre Stalberg's (Alingsas, Sweden) screened wristshot from the right point hit the upper left post at 11:30. Babson's best chance in the first period came when junior Jay Haseley (Rochester, N.Y.) redirected a wrister from sophomore Matt Furey (Quincy, Mass.) on net from just outside the crease, but NEC junior goalie Shawn Sirman (Blezard Valley, Ontario) made a nice kick save to preserve the scoreless tie.

After a relatively uneventful first period, the game opened up during a high-scoring second - highlighted by a furious five-goal flurry in a 4:24 span midway through. Uola opened the scoring when he took a Samuli Turenen (Joensuu, Finland) pass from across the slot and tucked it behind Peabody for a powerplay goal at 9:56. Babson then tied it with a powerplay score of its own at 12:28, as Haseley tipped a Furey shot from the left point past Sirman for the Beavers' first goal of the season.

The Pilgrims regained the lead just 23 seconds later, as junior Jonathan Boxill (Bracknell, England) took a rebound of senior Jarkko Leppanen's (Tampere, Finland) shot and stuffed it in from the lower left circle at 12:51. NEC junior  Ben Souders (Downington, Pa.) then made it 3-1 when he converted feeds from Boxill and sophomore Jesse Ostring (Ylojarvi, Finland) on the powerplay at 14:11, and senior Brett DiClementi (Southwick, Mass.) capped off the scoring barrage when he scored off passes from sophomore Greg Girtatos (Tyngsboro, Mass.) and Leppanen at 14:20 to make it 4-1 in favor of the visitors.

Babson got one goal back on another powerplay late in the second, as sophomore Ben Kravitz (Huntington, N.Y.) took a feed from Furey at the right point and wristed a screen shot through a crowd in front and into the five-hole at 17:35. However, NEC senior Johan Qvarfordt (Sodertalje, Sweden) tacked on two insurance goals in the third – the first at 7:36 and the second on the powerplay at 16:47 - to complete the 6-2 victory.

Sirman finished with 25 saves in net for NEC, while Peabody turned away 27 shots in goal for Babson.