BABSON PARK, Mass.—Junior Wyatt George (Mount Lebanon, Pa) scored a pair of goals as Babson College skated to a 4-4 overtime tie against the University of Southern Maine in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) men's ice hockey opener Friday evening at the Babson Skating Center.

With the tie, Babson moves to 0-2-1 on the season and 0-0-1 in conference play while Southern Maine is now 1-0-1 overall and 0-0-1 in the NEHC.

Sophomore Egan Schmitt (Schuylerville, N.Y.) tallied a goal and an assist for the Beavers, and sophomore Ryan Murphy (Grosse Point Farms, Mich.) scored one goal. Sophomores Nolan Dion (Marshfield, Mass.), Charlie Andriole (Branford, Conn.), Brendan Kennedy (Georgetown, Ontario) and Ian Driscoll (Middleton, Mass.) all collected assists and first-year Mason Rosado (Weddington, N.C.) made 27 saves in the draw.

Senior Nolan McElhaney (Natick, Mass.) led the Huskies with a goal and an assist, while graduate student Nick Ritmo (Niskayuna, N.Y.), senior Austin Marini (Hyde Park, Mass.) and junior Mathieu Sabourin (Alexandria, Ontatio) tallied one goal each. First-year Kayde Kinaschuk (Callgary, Alberta), sophomore Conor Donovan (Nahant, Mass.), and seniors Curtis Judd (Newton, Mass.) and Cole Ouellette (Lewiston, Maine) registered assists and junior Mason Palmer (Cumming, Ga.) made a career-high 44 saves in goal in the deadlock.

The Huskies grabbed a lead less than three minutes into the contest on their first shot as Ritmo ripped a shot from the right face-off circle just inside the left post. The Beavers tied in three minutes later when George buried a back-door shot after a crossing pass from Driscoll. USM regained the lead less than a minute later on a 2-on-1 as Marini scored from the right circle on a feed from Judd, and the visitor led 2-1 just 6:28 into the game.

Babson tied the game again five minutes into the second frame with a shorthanded goal by Murphy, as he broke up the play near his own blue line and went in alone on Palmer and beat him glove-side inside the right post to even the score at 2-2. The visitors regained the lead again with two minutes remaining in the period when Sabourin redirected a feed in from from McElhaney that gave the Huskies a 3-2 lead entering the third period.

The Beavers pulled even midway through the stanza when George ripped a shot past Palmer from the slot after a drop pass from Schmitt, and then took their first lead of the game with six minutes remaining when Schmitt buried a rebound.

USM would not go ahead and tallied a game-tying goal a minute later when McElhaney intercepted a clear along the right boards and snapped a shot through a screened goalie inside the left post with 5:14 remaining, setting up the overtime.

The Green and White had the best scoring opportunity in the extra session when George ripped a shot from the right face-off circle off the right post that bounced off of Palmer's back but stayed out of the net, and time ran out with the score tied at 4-4.

Babson finished with a 48-31 advantage in shots. USM went 1-for-6 on the power play and the Beavers came up empty of six power play opportunities.

The Beavers are back in action with a non-conference game on Saturday at No. 8 Plymouth State and Southern Maine is back on the ice next Friday, hosting defending national champion Hobart at the USM Ice Arena.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 36-9-2 all-time against Southern Maine in a series that dates back to 1995, including 22-1-1 over the past decade.
• George registered his first multi-goal game in his 49-game career.
• The Beavers are 39-1-1 over the past five seasons when scoring at least four goals.