SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Senior Ethan Heidepriem (Findlay, Ohio) tallied a goal and an assist and junior Joshua Seeley (Detroit, Mich.) made 23 saves as No. 9 Skidmore College skated to a 3-2 victory over Babson College in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) men's ice hockey opener for both teams Friday evening inside the Saratoga City Rink.

With the loss, the Beavers fall to 1-1-0 overall and 0-1-0 in the NEHC while Skidmore improves to 2-0-0 overall and 1-0-0 in conference play.

Senior Brendan Murphy (Arlington, Mass.) led the Beavers with a goal and an assist, including his first career goal, and junior Charlie Andriole (Branford, Conn.) added a goal for the visitors. Senior Wyatt George (Mount Lebanon, Pa.) produced a pair of assists and junior Ryan Murphy (Groose Pointe Farms, Mich.) chipped in with one helper. Sophomore Mason Rosado (Weddington, N.C.) made 18 saves in his season debut in the setback.

Sophomore Cooper Rice (Rutland, Vt.) and first-year Evan Brown (Little Silver, N.J.) also scored for the Thoroughbreds, and senior Freddie Ilias (Oakville, Ont.) contributed two assists. Seniors Zach Frisk (Long Beach Township, N.J.), Zach Lindeworth (Gillette, N.J.) and Kevin Urquhart (Burlington, Mass.) chipped in with one assist each.

Skidmore scored the only goal of the first period with a power play marker late in the stanza. Ilias fired a shot from the middle of the ice just inside the blue line and Rice deflected it in past Rosado on the doorstep at 18:34 to give the hosts a 1-0 lead after one. The hosts doubled their lead six minutes into the second period when Heidepriem took a pass from Lindeworth behind the net at the edge of the right circle, skated across the crease and snuck a shot through Rosado's pad at 5:56.

The Beavers got on the board with a power play goal at 12:41 of the middle frame. Ryan Murphy took a pass from George in the left circle and fired a pass to the far post, where Brendan Murphy buried his first career goal to cut the deficit in half. Skidmore regained its two-goal lead less than two minutes later on a one-timer by Brown from the right face-off circle on pass from behind the goal line from Heidpriem.

Babson pulled to within a goal five minutes into the third period with another power play goal as Andriole fired a shot from the right point to the far post, inside the top left corner. The Beavers had another power play midway through the third period and pulled Rosado twice in the final 2:26 but could not produce the tying goal.

Babson finished with a 25-21 advantage in shots on goal and went 2-for-5 on the power play while holding Skidmore to one goal on five opportunities with the man advantage.

The two teams will meet again in the second half of the two-game series on Saturday at 4 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 38-10-3 all-time against Skidmore in a series that dates back to 1999 but the Thoroughbreds have captured the last four meetings between the two programs.
• Skidmore was picked to finish second in the NEHC this season after advancing to the conference championship game last year while the Beavers were voted to finish fourth.
• The Green and White suffered just their second loss in 16 games (13-2-1) since the start of last season when allowing three goals or fewer.
• A pair of defensemen, Brendan Murphy scored his first goal in 28 career outings for the Beavers and Andriole notched his second goal in 56 career games.