Murray Makes 23 Saves To Post Third Shutout

BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior Andrew Bonazza (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia) scored a pair of third-period goals and junior goaltender Jamie Murray (Scituate, Mass.) posted his third shutout of the season, as No. 7 USCHO.com/No. 9 D3hockey.com Babson College defeated visiting Castleton State College, 3-0, in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East men's ice hockey action on Saturday afternoon at the Babson Skating Center.

With the victory, Babson is now 5-0-0 overall and 4-0-0 in conference play, while Castleton drops to 3-4-0 overall and 3-3-0 in the ECAC East.

Sophomore Tim Searles (Chesapeake, Va.) notched the game-winning goal for the Beavers, while classmate Michael Phillips (Richmond Heights, Ohio) contributed a pair of assists. Junior Jared Wiedemann (Pembroke, Mass.) and first-years Matt Holtshouser (Londonderry, N.H.) and Rob Devaney (Reading, Mass.) all had one assist apiece in the win.

The Green and White outshot Castleton 12-7 over the opening 20 minutes, but it was the visitors that had the best early scoring opportunity. After first-year Trevor Hannah (Whitehorse, Yukon) won a face-off in the neutral zone, junior Charles Bando (Wakefield, Mass.) drove to the net and ripped a shot over Murray's shoulder from the right slot that hit the outside of the left pipe at the 6:49 mark.

Babson sophomore Bill Seligman (Toronto, Ontario) suffered the same fate just 1:08 into the second period as his shorthanded chance clanged off the iron, and Murray followed with a big stop, denying junior Derek Gingera (Winnipeg, Manitoba) on an odd-man rush just under two minutes later to keep the teams deadlocked. First-year Spartans' goaltender Ryan Mulder (Ottawa, Ontario) also came up with some impressive saves, including four on a pair of Beavers' power plays as the game remained scoreless after 40 minutes.

After coming up empty on an early third-period power play, the Green and White broke through at the 7:23 mark as Searles redirected a Wiedemann slap shot for his first goal of the year. Bonazza followed with a shorthanded goal, converting a feed from Phillips at 13:12 of the third period to make it 2-0, before adding his second tally just 3:14 later to give the Green and White a commanding 3-0 lead with 3:34 to play.

Castleton pulled Mulder with 3:25 remaining but was only able to get two shots on net, both of which were stopped by Murray. The Babson defense did its part as well, blocking four shots over the final two and a half minutes to preserve the shutout.

Murray finished with 23 saves on the afternoon for the Beavers, raising his save percentage on the season to .982 and lowering his goals against average to 0.41 on the year. Mulder came up with 36 stops for the Spartans.

The Green and White held a 39-23 edge in shots, while the teams combined to go 0-for-9 on the power play.

Babson returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts UMass-Dartmouth at 7 p.m. Castleton will return home to host Manhattanville College in the first round of the Rutland Herald Invitational on Friday at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES: The Beavers are now 11-4-3 all-time against the Spartans and are unbeaten in the last five meetings (4-0-1) between the teams…Babson has now outscored its opponents 8-1 in the third period through five games…the Beavers are 18-1-2 in their last 21 games at the Babson Skating Center going back to the 2012-13 season and have won 16 consecutive games in the month of November.