BABSON PARK, Mass.—First-year Ignat Belov (Minsk, Belarus) scored a pair of goals and No. 1 Hobart College finished off the game with a pair of empty-net goals to hold off an upset bid by No. 11 Babson College, 4-1, Saturday afternoon in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) men's ice hockey action inside the Babson Skating Center.

With the loss, the Beavers had a four-game winning streak snapped and drop to 11-5-2 overall and 6-3-2 in the NEHC while Hobart won its second straight to improve to 16-1-0 overall and 9-1-0 in league play. The Statesmen also defeated the Green and White by the same score back on November 4 in western New York

First-year Brendan Kennedy (Georgetown, Ontario) scored a first-period goal for the Beavers to tie the game at 1-1 less than four minutes into the contest, with an assist from junior Thomas Kramer (Bridgewater, Mass.). Senior goalie Nolan Hildebrand (Penticton, B.C.) made 27 saves on 29 shots in the setback for just his second loss of the season (9-2-2).

Sophomore Matthew Iasenza (Montreal, Quebec) and junior Autin Mourar (Spring City, Pa.) sealed the win with empty net goals for the Statesmen. Junior Wil Crane (Littleton, Colo.) and first-years Tanner Hartman (Chicago, Ill.) and Tristan Fasig (Sherman, Conn.) collected a pair of assists each, and junior Gagik Malakyan (Moscow, Russia) added one helper. First-year goalie Mavrick Goyer (Ste-Sophie, Quebec) remained unbeaten in goal (8-0-0) with a 22 save effort.

Hobart took the lead just 2:09 into the contest on Belov's seventh goal of the season. Hartman's centering pass from the right wing deflected to Fasig in the slot where his shot was blocked before Belov buried the rebound. The Green and White responded less than 90 seconds later though as Kennedy regained possession of the puck behind the net following a neutral-zone face-off and took a feed from Kramer before beating Goyer with a blast from the right circle at the 3:32 mark to make it 1-1.

Belov struck again 5:34 into the second period to put the Statesmen in front for good with the wrist shot from the left circle over Hildebrand's shoulder for a 2-1 advantage.

Hobart was whistled for a five-minute major with 6:11 remaining in the third period but Goyer made a key save on Babson senior James Perullo (Revere, Mass.) with less than four minutes to go and the visitors blocked three shots before putting the game away with a pair of empty net goals. Crane forced a turnover in the neutral zone to set up Iasenza's tally at 18:34 to make it 3-1 and Mourar scored from long range following a center ice face-off at 19:50 for the final margin.

The visitors finished with a 31-23 advantage in shots. The game had just three penalties with Hobart going 0-for-1 and Babson 0-for-2 on the power play, and Iasenza's empty-netter was also a short-handed goal.

Both teams will be back in action next Friday as the Beavers travel to Attleborough, Mass., to take on Johnson & Wales while Hobart returns home to host Elmira.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 11-8-5 all-time against the Statesmen in a series that dates back to the 1987-88 season, including 0-3-2 at the Babson Skating Center.
• Saturday's contest was the first time a top-ranked team visited the Babson Skating Center since the Beavers tied No. 1 Norwich 2-2 on February 3, 2017.
• The Beavers lost at home for just the second time in nine games this season (6-2-1) and dropped to 21-4-3 at the Babson Skating Center since the start of 2020-21.
• Kennedy has at least one point in four straight games for the Beavers, compiling a goal and five assists in that span. Kramer has at least one point in four of his last five outings, producing three goals and four assists in that stretch.