BABSON PARK, Mass.— Junior Andrew Holland (Winchester, Mass.) scored his first goal of the season at 12:47 of overtime Saturday evening to lift No. 8 and fourth-seeded Babson College to a 2-1 victory over No. 14 and fifth-seeded Norwich University in a New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) men's ice hockey quarterfinal game inside the Babson Skating Center.

With the victory, Babson posted its fourth straight victory and improved to 17-5-2 overall, while Norwich slips to 12-6-5 overall. The Beavers advance to a NEHC semifinal game next Saturday, February 26, at No. 6 and second-seeded Elmira (time TBA) after the Soaring Eagles defeated seventh-seeded New England College in its quarterfinal game Saturday, 7-1.

On the game-winner, Norwich senior goalie Drennen Atherton (Winter Haven, Fla.) made a save on a shot from the slot by senior Trevor Marcinick (Dublin, Ohio) but Holland collected the rebound on the right doorstep and fired the puck past Atherton to clinch the victory.

Babson also got a third-period game-tying goal from senior Cam Schmitt (Andover, Mass.) with 5:47 remaining that forced the overtime. Seniors Matt Wiesner (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Jack Nisbet (Scituate, Mass.) and junior James Perullo (Revere, Mass.) picked up assists, and graduate student Brad Arvanitis (Holliston, Mass.) made 23 saves to earn the win in goal.

The Norwich goal was a short-hander by junior Callum Jones (Burlington, Ont.), assisted by first-year Clark Kerner (Kansas City, Kan.) that broke up a scoreless deadlock at 3:53 of the third period. Atherton finished with 38 saves to suffer a hard-luck setback.

Babson outshot the visitors 13-6 in a scoreless first period and 8-5 in a scoreless second frame. Norwich had a power play attempt in each period but could not capitalize. The Cadets broke the drought early in the third when Jones collected a rebound off the end boards and stuffed the puck past Arvanitis for the shorthanded goal.

The Beavers evened the score on a power play at 14:13 when Schmitt fired a shot from just inside the blue line that got past a screened goalie, setting up the overtime session.

Babson finished the game with a 40-24 advantage in shots on goal. The Beavers were 1-for-2 on the power play and killed off all three of their penalties.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are 8-10 against Norwich in the postseason and are now 27-46-7 in the all-time series against the Cadets.
• Babson has won eight of its last nine conference quarterfinal games dating back to 2013, which a pair of overtime victories.
• The Green and White is 10-0-1 this season and is unbeaten over its last 35 games dating back to November 2019 when allowing two goals or less.
• Saturday's contest was Babson's first in the postseason to enter the third period at 0-0 since March 5, 2010, when the Beavers erupted for three third-period goals to beat Skidmore 3-0 in an ECAC East semifinal.