BABSON PARK, Mass.— Senior Wyatt George (Mount Lebanon, Pa.) scored two goals and junior Brendan Kennedy (Georgetown, Ontario) potted the game-winning goal with four seconds remaining in regulation play as Babson College nipped No. 11 Plymouth State University, 5-4, in the men's ice hockey season opener Saturday afternoon inside the Babson Skating Center.

The Beavers, which won their home opener for the fifth straight season, starts the season at 1-0-0 while Plymouth State, which opened its campaign with a 5-0 loss at the University of New England on Friday evening, is off to an 0-2-0 start.

Junior Ian Driscoll (Middleton, Mass.) tallied a goal and an assist for the Beavers and sophomore Sean Senier (Melrose, Mass.) scored one goal. Juniors Ryan Murphy (Groose Pointe Farms, Mich.) and Nolan Woudenberg (Collegeville, Pa.) collected two assists each, junior Danny Cavanagh (Warwick, R.I.) and graduate student Johnny McElaney (Walpole, Mass.) added one helper each, and junior Brett Cleaves (Summit, N.J.) earned the win in his first career start in goal with 38 saves.

Senior Cameron Patton (Bible Hill, N.S.) led the Panthers with a pair of goals and junior Will Redick (Wasaga Beach, Ont.) and sophomore Will Pray (Prague, Czech Rep.) added one goal apiece. Seniors Ethan Stuckless (Conception Bay South, Nfld.) and Donte' Diponio (Trenton, Mich.) produced two assists each, junior Rider McCallum (Langley, B.C.) and sophomores Eddie Mulligan (Lincoln, R.I.) and Patrick McConnell (West Chester, Pa.) chipped in with one helper each, and sophomore Connor Strobel (Butler, Pa.) made 35 saves in goal in the setback.

After a scoreless first period, Pray broke the deadlock for the visitors when he beat Cleaves with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle at 7:51. Babson answered just 52 seconds later when McElaney fed Driscoll in the slot from behind the net and Driscoll buried his first goal of the season.

The Beavers took their first lead of the night with a power play goal at 15:51 of the second, as Driscoll sent a cross-ice pass from the right circle to George on the left face-off dot and George slapped a one-timer past Strobel. This time Plymouth State answered two minutes and 20 seconds later on a power play when Redick snapped a wrist shot past a screened Cleaves to made it 2-2 heading into the third period.

The teams traded goals 18 seconds apart early in the third period. Patton gave PSU the lead back when he tipped in a shot by DiPonio near the right post at 2:39, and Babson retied the game at 3-3 as Senier redirected a pass from Woudenberg from the right point past Strobel near the left post.

Babson produced the third lead change of the game with eight minutes remaining in the third period. Murphy won an offensive zone face-off on the right side and fed George in the slot and George beat Strobel inside the left post for a 4-3 lead.

The visitors pulled even for the fourth tie of the game with just 1:21 remaining in regulation when Pray fired a shot from just inside the blue line that went through traffic in front of the goal and into the back of the net. The game appeared to be headed for overtime but Driscoll stole the puck behind the PSU net with five second left and threw it out in front, where in ricocheted off a Panther skate and into the net for the game-winner.

 PSU finished with a 42-40 advantage in shots and went 1-for-4 on the power play while Babson scored once on two chances with the man advantage.

Babson opens New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) play next Friday at Skidmore at 7 p.m. Plymouth State returns home to host No. 9 Plattsburgh State next Friday at 6 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson leads Plymouth State 7-2-1 in the all-time series that dates back to the 2002-03 season, although Saturday's outcome was the fourth consecutive one-goal game in the series.
• The Beavers are 18-5-3 on home ice since the beginning of the 2022-23 season.
• The Green and White 32-2-1 over the past four seasons when scoring at least four goals.