RUTLAND, Vt.—Juniors Eric Mack (Rutland, Vt.) and Charles Bando (Wakefield, Mass.) each scored second-period goals, and first-year Ryan Mulder (Ottawa, Ontario) made a career-high 46 saves as Castleton State College defeated No. 7 USCHO.com/No. 7 D3hockey.com Babson College, 3-1, in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East men's ice hockey action on Friday night at Spartan Arena.

With the victory, Castleton improves to 7-12-0 overall and 5-7-0 in the conference, while Babson, which has dropped back-to-back games for the first time in over two years, is now 14-4-2 overall and 9-3-1 in ECAC East play.

Sophomore Patrick Thornton (Orillia, Onatario) also scored for the Spartans. Seniors Ryan Frost (Fullerton, Calif.) and Brian Greene (Falmouth, Maine), sophomore Corbin Marcotte (Houston, British Columbia), and first-years Jimmy Burns (Middletown, N.J.) and Ryan O'Toole (Ogdensburg, N.Y.) all had one assist in the victory.

First-year Rob Devaney (Reading, Mass.) scored the Beavers' lone goal, while senior Joe DiPietro (Pembroke, Mass.) and junior Jared Wiedemann (Pembroke, Mass.) both contributed an assist.

Castleton outshot Babson, 15-9, in the opening period but both Mulder and his counterpart, junior Jamie Murray (Scituate, Mass.), kept the game scoreless going into the first intermission. Mack had a golden opportunity to put the Spartans on the board just 3:06 into the contest, but was denied as Murray went post-to-post to deny his breakaway opportunity.

Beavers' first-year Bobby Hall (Westwood, Mass.) appeared to score the game's opening goal just over seven minutes into the first period, but his shot went off the pipe and was cleared out of danger.

Mack gave Castleton the lead just 21 seconds into the second with his first goal of the season. Greene fired a shot toward the net that Mack was able to redirect past Murray for the 1-0 lead.

Murray kept Babson's deficit at just one with a spectacular glove save on a wrist shot by Greene just past the midway point of the middle period, but Bando struck for his third tally of the year just 3:24 before the second intermission to make it 2-0. The goal was just the fifth of the season on the power play for the Spartans, who struck just 42 seconds after a Beavers' interference penalty.

Castleton killed off a slashing penalty late in the second period and then added a key insurance goal as Thornton notched his first goal of the year just 1:11 into the third period to make it a three-goal game. Babson cut its deficit to 3-1 at 8:31 of the third as Devaney scored a short-handed goal, converting a feed following a turnover at the blue line.

It was as close as the Beavers would get though, as Mulder made 20 third-period stops to preserve the win. Babson held a 21-2 edge in shots over the final 20 minutes and put six on net after pulling Murray with 3:38 to go in the game.

Murray finished with 29 stops for the Green and White, which held a 47-32 advantage in shots on goal. The Spartans' defense also blocked 19 other shots.

Both teams return to action on Saturday at 4 p.m. as Babson visits Skidmore College, while Castleton hosts nationally-ranked UMass-Boston.

GAME NOTES: The Beavers are now 11-5-3 all-time against Castleton, but they had their six-game unbeaten streak against the Spartans snapped on Friday night…the back-to-back losses for Babson marks the first time in 61 games it has dropped consecutive contests…the Beavers are now 2-3-1 on the year when allowing the first goal of the game…the loss was also the first on a Friday night this season for Babson, which was 5-0-1 in its six previous Friday contests.

Note: Portions of this release courtesy of Castleton State College.