Beavers Pick Up First Home Win Over Cadets Since 1998 To Stay Unbeaten In League Play

BABSON PARK, Mass.—Sophomore Rob Devaney (Reading, Mass.) scored twice and No. 4 USCHO.com/No. 7 D3hockey.com Babson College used a four-goal first period to defeat No. 7 USCHO.com/No. 5 D3hockey.com Norwich University, 5-1, in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action on Saturday afternoon at the Babson Skating Center.

With its second consecutive victory, Babson is now 9-1-1 overall and 6-0-0 in conference play, while Norwich (7-4-0, 5-3-0 NEHC) has dropped three straight games for the first time since 2007.

Sophomore Charlie Ackerman (Bradenton, Fla.) and first-year Matt Brazel (Hingham, Mass.) and Stevie DeForge (Norwood, Mass.) all scored once for the Beavers. Junior Bill Seligman (Toronto, Ontario) finished with two assists, while classmate Dan Casey (Chatham, N.J.) and sophomores Ryan Gouveia (Dartmouth, Mass.) and Matt McMorrow (Pearl River, N.Y.) all finished with one apiece in the win.

The Green and White took control of the game with four goals in the span 8:40 in the first period. Brazel gave the hosts a 1-0 lead at the 8:03 mark when he converted a feed from Casey on the power play for his third tally of the year. Devaney doubled the lead at 10:43 with his first of the day, and Ackerman followed with his team-leading seventh goal of the year just 36 seconds later to make it 3-0. Devaney then stuffed home Seligman's wraparound attempt at the front of net to give Babson a 4-0 advantage at 16:43 of the first.

The Beavers killed off one power play in the first period and 1:25 of another to start the second. Senior goaltender Jamie Murray (Scituate, Mass.), who had to make just six saves in the opening 20 minutes, stopped 12 second-period shots to preserve the four-goal margin heading to the third period.

The Cadets got on the board 5:58 into the final period as junior Paul Russell (Andover, Mass.) scored on a one-timer from the slot to make it 4-1. Babson responded though, as Gouveia forced a turnover in the Norwich defensive zone and found DeForge alone in front of the net for his second goal of the year.

Murray, who has stopped 154-of-157 shots through the Beavers' first six conference games, turned away 28 shots to earn his eighth victory of the season. Junior Ty Reichenbach (Billings, Mont.) stopped 26 shots for the Cadets.

The Green and White finished 1-for-3 on the power play, while Norwich was unable to score on four man advantage opportunities.

Babson is off until January 2 when it takes on Amherst at 4 p.m. at Salem State, while Norwich visits Saint Michael's on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 23-37-6 all-time against Norwich, and defeated the Cadets at home for the first time since January 9, 1998.
• Babson has outscored league foes 21-0 over the first two periods this season.
• The Green and White is now 31-2-3 at the Babson Skating Center going back to February 2013.
• The Beavers have now scored six times on the power play over their last five games.
• Babson's top line of Casey, Seligman and junior Tim Searles (Chesapeake, Va.) has combined for eight goals and 16 assists in the team's first six league contests.