BABSON PARK, Mass.-Sophomore Rob Devaney (Reading, Mass.) finished with a goal and two assists, and senior goaltender Jamie Murray (Scituate, Mass.) stopped 24 shots as second-seeded Babson College blanked third-seeded Norwich University, 5-0, in a New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) semifinal on Saturday night at the Babson Skating Center.

With the victory, No. 9 USCHO.com/No. 10 D3hockey.com Babson moves to 19-5-3 on the year, and advances to the conference championship game for the fourth consecutive season and the eighth time in the last 10 seasons. No. 14 USCHO.com/No. 13 D3hockey.com Norwich will likely sees its season come to a close at 17-8-2.

Junior Michael Phillips (Richmond Heights, Ohio) finished with a goal and an assist, while classmate Dan Casey (Chatham, N.J.) and sophomores Charlie Ackerman (Bradenton, Fla.) and Ryan Gouveia (Dartmouth, Mass.) each scored once for the Beavers. First-year Matt Brazel (Hingham, Mass.) contributed two assists, and juniors Tim Searles (Chesapeake, Va.) and Bill Seligman (Toronto, Ontario), and sophomores Josh Casper (Lake Forest, Ill.) and Matt McMorrow (Pearl River, N.Y.) all recorded one apiece in the victory.

The Green and White jumped on top just 1:49 into the opening period on Gouveia's second career goal. He took a feed from Devaney and ripped a shot from just inside the blue line that beat Cadets' sophomore netminder Braeden Ostepchuk (Lethbridge, Alberta) five-hole for a 1-0 lead. Norwich, which was outshot 19-9 over the first 20 minutes, killed off a pair of Babson power players to keep the deficit at just one at the first intermission.

Beavers' first-year Tommy Munichiello (Weymouth, Mass.) and senior Jimmy Magrath (Medfield, Mass.) both had shots go off the post in the opening minutes of the second period before Phillips broke through with his first career playoff goal to make it 2-0 at the 7:59 mark. Babson killed off a pair of penalties over the final eight minutes of the stanza and then broke the game open with a trio of third-period goals.

The Green and White took advantage of a Norwich cross-checking penalty at 4:21 of the third when Ackerman scored his 12th goal of the season 45 seconds later on the power play. Phillips sent the puck down low to McMorrow, who found Ackerman with a centering feed for a 3-0 lead.

Casey extended the lead to four at the 7:51 mark when he tipped home a pass from Searles for his ninth tally of the year. Devaney then followed with his ninth goal of the season, ripping a shot past Cadets' junior goaltender Ty Reichenbach (Billings, Mont.) on a breakaway for a 5-0 advantage.

The lead was more than enough for Murray, who recorded his fourth shutout of the season and 16th of his career while also earning his 62nd career victory. The two-time conference player of the year and three-time goaltender of the year is now 7-2 with a 1.57 goals against average and a .948 save percentage in nine postseason starts.

Ostepchuk made 34 saves in 47:51 of action before giving way to Reichenbach, who stopped two shots over the final 12:09 of the third period for Norwich.

The Beavers finished 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Cadets went 0-for-3.

Babson will travel to top-seeded UMass-Boston for the NEHC Tournament championship game next Saturday at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers have won seven consecutive conference tournament semifinal games and are 11-3 in the postseason over the last four years.
• Babson is 16-1-1 this season and 71-2-6 since the start of the 2011-12 campaign when leading after two periods.
• The Beavers are 18-1-2 this year when allowing two goals or less.
• The Green and White has outscored its conference opponents 48-15 over the first and second periods this season.
• Babson is now 12-3-3 over its last 18 games in the month of February.