Hall, McMorrow Finish with Three Points Apiece as Beavers Pick Up First Win

CASTLETON, Vt.—Seniors Bobby Hall (Westwood, Mass.) and Matt McMorrow (Pearl River, N.Y.) produced three points apiece and visiting Babson College built a three-goal first-period lead on its way to defeating Castleton University, 6-1, in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) men's ice hockey action on Friday night at Spartan Arena.

With the win, Babson improves to 1-1-0 overall and 1-0-0 in conference while, while Castleton drops to 1-1-0 overall and 0-1-0 in the NEHC.

Hall scored twice and added one assist for a career-high three points, while McMorrow had a goal and two assists for the Beavers. First-year Nick Rosa (Birmingham, Mich.) also recorded a goal and an assist, and senior Charlie Ackerman (Bradenton, Fla.) and junior Matt Brazel (Hingham, Mass.) both chipped in with a goal apiece in the victory.

Seniors Joe DePietto (Westbury, N.Y.), Ryan Gouveia (Dartmouth, Mass.), and Zach Phelps (Manorville, Pa.), junior Tommy Munichiello (Weymouth, Mass.) and first-year Patrick Flynn (Framingham, Mass.) all finished with one assist for Babson.

Senior Trevor Hanna (Whitehorse, Yukon) scored the Spartans lone goal just over five minutes into the third period, while classmate Ryan Mulder (Ottawa, Ontario) turned away 24 shots in the loss.

Ackerman gave the Green and White a 1-0 lead at 8:24 of the first and McMorrow followed with a power play goal to make it 2-0 just over two minutes later. Hall capped the first-period outburst with his first tally of the season at the 19:31 mark, and then netted his second goal of the night 3:47 into the second to give the Beavers a 4-0 advantage.

Hanna cut the Castleton deficit to 4-1 with his first goal of the year early in the third period, but Rosa and Brazel followed with back-to-back power play tallies less than three minutes apart midway through the stanza for the final margin.

Junior goaltender Bryan Botcher (Mequon, Wis.) made 16 saves in just over 45 minutes of action, while classmate Matt Pompa (Palm City, Fla.) came on in relief and stopped all four shots he faced in the third period for Babson.

The Beavers outshot the Spartans 30-21 and scored three times on seven power play opportunities. Castleton went scoreless on five extra-man opportunities.

Both teams return to action on Saturday at 4 p.m. as Babson visits No. 5/6 Norwich, while the Spartans host UMass Boston.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 15-5-4 all-time against Castleton and are 5-1-1 in the last seven meetings between the teams.
• Babson's three-goal first period is its most goals over the opening 20 minutes since scoring three times in a 5-1 win at Saint Michael's on February 6, 2016.
• The Green and White has won five straight conference openers going back to the 2013-14 season.
• The Beavers are 34-0-1 over their last 35 contests when scoring at least three goals.