BABSON PARK, Mass.— No. 9 Babson College's top line of seniors Ryan Black (Pomfret, Conn.) and Mike Egan (Billerica, Mass.) and sophomore Thomas Kramer (Bridgewater, Mass.) combined for five goals and three assists Tuesday evening to lead the Beavers to a 7-5 victory over Tufts University in non-conference men's ice hockey action inside the Babson Skating Center.

With the victory, Babson improves to 5-1-2 overall while Tufts drops to 0-2-1 with the loss. The Jumbos rallied from a two-goal deficit to tie the game at 3-3 early in the third period, but the Beavers scored two goals in a three-minute span to regain the lead and added two insurance goals later in the period to seal the win. The home team outshot the visitors 58-25 in the game, including 27-7 in the third period.

Black tallied two goals and two assists for his second four-point game of the season while Egan registered his second two-goal game and Kramer finished with a goal and assist to lead the Beavers. Seniors Cam Schmitt (Andover, Mass.) and Matt Wiesner (Newport Beach, Calif.) also scored for Babson as the Green and White erupted for four third-period goals. Senior Aidan Murphy (Walpole, Mass.) picked up the win in goal after making 20 saves.

Senior Justin Brandt (Ann Arbor, Mich.) scored twice to lead the Jumbos, while classmates Tom Tresca (Newton, Mass.) and Angus Scott (Salt Lake City, Utah) collected a goal and two assists each. Senior Brendan Skarda (Minnetonka, Minn.) also scored for Tufts in the loss, and sophomore goalie Ryan Welch (Danvers, Mass.) had a busy night in goal, finishing with 51 saves in his collegiate debut.

Each team scored once in the first period, with Skarda giving the Jumbos the first lead of the game at 11:15 and Wiesner answering for Babson at 16:07. The Beavers pulled ahead in the second period when Egan and Schmitt tallied back-to-back goals to put the hosts up 3-1, but Brandt got one back with a power play goal at 9:41 of the middle frame and Babson took a 3-2 lead into the final 20 minutes.

Tufts got the equalizer at 6:15 of the third with Brandt potting an unassisted short-handed goal to make it 3-3, but Black gave the lead back to Babson with an unassisted goal of his own less than two minutes later and Kramer made it 5-3 Babson at the 10:55 mark.

The Jumbos would not go down easily and Scott tallied a power play goal with just over six minutes remaining to close the gap to 5-4, but Egan notched his second of the game with four minutes to play as Babson regained the two-goal advantage. Tufts pulled its goalie late in the game and Tresca scored in the final minute with an extra skater to pull the Jumbos back to within one at 6-5, but Black sealed with win with an empty netter in the closing seconds.

The visitors had the advantage on special teams, going 2-for-3 on the power play along with a shorthanded goal while Babson was 0-for-6 with the man advantage.

Babson will take a trip to Maine for two more games against NESCAC schools over the weekend, visiting Bowdoin College on Saturday and Colby College on Sunday. Tufts travels to Maryland for the weekend for a two-game set Friday and Saturday at Stevenson University.

GAME NOTES
• Babson has won five consecutive games against Tufts and leads the all-time series, 17-2.
• Babson is 27-0-1 when leading after two periods over the last two seasons.
• The seven-goal outburst is a season-high for Babson and the most goals in a game since a 7-0 win over New England College last March.
• Egan has tallied at least one point in all eight games this season, extending his points streak to 10 games dating back to last season. He has eight goals and six assists in the 10-game streak.