Beavers Extend Unbeaten Streak to 13 Games, Move Past Pilgrims into Second Place in NEHC

BABSON PARK, Mass.—Sophomores Ryan Black (Pomfret, Conn.) and Mike Egan (Billerica, Mass.) finished with three points apiece as 13th-ranked Babson College defeated visiting New England College, 4-2, in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) men's ice hockey action on Friday night inside the Babson Skating Center.

Babson, which extended its unbeaten streak to 13 games, improves to 13-3-2 overall and 8-2-1 in league play, while New England College slips to 11-6-1 overall and 8-4-0 in the NEHC.

Egan finished with two goals and assist, while Black chipped in with a goal and two assists for the Beavers. Sophomore Matt Wiesner (Newport Beach, Calif.) extended his points streak to four games with a goal and juniors Brendan Casey (Glastonbury, Conn.), Patrick Flynn (Framingham, Mass.) and Nick Rosa (Birmingham, Mich.), and first-year Andrew Holland (Winchester, Mass.) all collected an assist.

Junior goaltender Brad Arvanitis (Holliston, Mass.) stayed unbeaten over his last six starts with 22 saves.

Senior Patrick DeBlois (Lewiston, Maine) had a goal and an assist and sophomore Connor Inger (Macom, Mich.) scored once for the Pilgrims. Senior netminder Anthony Pupplo (Shirley, N.Y.) stopped 30 shots in a losing effort.

The Green and White dominated the opening period outshooting New England College 16-3 and went in front 1-0 on Egan's goal at the 11:07 mark. Egan intercepted a pass in the defensive zone and fed Black on his left, who drew a pair of defenders and Pupplo before sliding it back to Egan for his ninth goal of the year.

The Pilgrims pulled even just 1:06 into the second period when Inger beat Arvanitis with a one-timer from the bottom of the right faceoff circle on the power play. The Beavers responded though, as Black and Egan combined for a pair of tallies in the stanza. Black scored his seventh goal of the year from the left wing off a centering feed from Egan to make it 2-1 at the 2:06 mark, and Black returned the favor, weaving through the New England College defense following a defensive zone faceoff to set up Egan's second score of the night at 18:00.

Arvanitis came out to the top of the blue paint to stop sophomore Nikita Pintusov's (Mogilev, Belarus) blast from the right circle with 5:47, and Wiesner put away his seventh goal of the season 27 seconds later to extend Babson's lead to 4-1. DeBlois scored with a blast from the high slot on the power play for the Pilgrims with 1:08 for the final margin.

The Beavers, who finished with a 34-22 edge in shots, went 0-for-3 on the power play despite generating a total of six shots on two first-period man-advantage opportunities.

Both teams are back in action on Saturday at 4 p.m. as Babson hosts Southern Maine, while New England College travels to UMass Boston.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are now 42-22-8 all-time against New England College.
• Egan (4-1-5) and Black (1-4-5) have combined for 10 points in two games against the Pilgrims this season.
• During its 13-game unbeaten streak, Babson has outscored its opponents 32-8 over the first two periods.
• Four of the six power play goals the Beavers have allowed this season have been scored by New England College.