BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior Lawson MacDougall (Williamstown, Ontario) scored the go-ahead goal at 16:30 of the third period as fifth-ranked Hobart College went on to defeat sixth-ranked Babson College, 4-1, in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) men's ice hockey action on Saturday inside the Babson Skating Center.

Babson, which had its three-game winning streak snapped, wraps up the regular season at 18-5-2 overall and 13-4-1 in conference play, and will be the second seed in the upcoming NEHC Tournament. Hobart, which has won six consecutive games, improves to 18-4-3 overall and 12-4-2 in league play, and will be seeded third in the conference playoffs.

Sophomore Ryan Black (Pomfret, Conn.) had a goal and junior Nick Rosa (Birmingham, Mich.) and sophomore Mike Egan (Billerica, Mass.) both recorded an assist for the Beavers. Fellow sophomore Aidan Murphy (Walpole, Mass.) stopped 24 shots and is now 10-2-1 this winter in 13 starts.

McDougall and junior Andrew Longo (Delbarton, N.J.) each finished with a goal and an assist for the Statesmen. Junior Ryan Lynch (Milford, Conn.) and sophomore Zach Tyson (Dublin, Ohio) also scored in front of sophomore netminder Liam Lascelle (Cornwall, Ontario), who turned away 32 shots to improve to 6-1-0 on the year.

Hobart outshot the Green and White 13-8 in the opening period and jumped on top 1-0 at 11:22 when Lynch drilled the underside of the crossbar from the left faceoff circle for his sixth goal of the season. The Beavers pulled even just 50 seconds into the second though, as Black rifled a wrist shot past Lascelle from the left wing off a feed from Rosa for his 11th tally of the year.

Lascelle kept the game deadlocked with back-to-back saves on Black in the final two minutes of the second, while Babson killed off a tripping penalty 11 seconds into the third period. Hobart senior Zach Sternbach (Loudonville, N.Y.) also hit the top of the crossbar just over midway through the final stanza.

The Statesmen went in front for good with 3:30 to go in regulation as MacDougall cut inside and lifted a shot over Murphy's right shoulder at the near post for his seventh goal of the season. The Beavers pulled Murphy for an extra skater with 2:19 remaining, but Hobart put the game away 45 seconds later when MacDougall fed Longo for an empty net tally.

Tyson was on the receiving end of a long breakout pass off the glass from senior Julie Denicourt (Bromont, Quebec) and tacked on another empty netter at the 19:44 mark for the final margin.

The Beavers, who went 0-for-2 on the power play, finished with a 33-28 edge in shots on goal. The Statesmen went 0-for-3 on the power play.

Both teams begin conference tournament play next Saturday at 7 p.m. as Babson hosts seventh-seeded Southern Maine, while Hobart will take on sixth-seeded Skidmore.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 10-6-4 all-time against Hobart.
• Babson, which has recorded nine straight top-three finishes in the league standings, will be the second seed in the NEHC playoffs for the first time since 2016.
• Black's 31 points are the most by a Babson player since Jason Schneider '10 finished with 33 in 2008-09.
• The Beavers' 18 regular season wins are the program's most since the 2013-14 campaign when they entered the postseason at 19-4-2.