HENNIKER, N.H.— Junior goalie Nate Mueller (Rogers, Minn.) made 20 saves for his first win of the season and Babson College scored twice in both the second and third periods to pull away from New England College for a 4-1 victory in a New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) men's ice hockey contest Friday evening inside Lee Clement Arena.

The Beavers snapped a two-game losing skid and improved to 5-5-1 overall and 4-3-0 in the NEHC while NEC suffered its fourth straight loss and fell to 1-6-1 overall and 1-3-1 in conference play.

Senior Wyatt George (Mount Lebanon, Pa.) and juniors Danny Cavanagh (Warwick, R.I.), Tommy Rooney (Milton, Mass.) and Brendan Kennedy (Georgetown, Ont.) scored goals for the Beavers. Sophomores CJ Beals (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Jimmy Fallon (Milton, Mass.), juniors Sam Sibold (South Hero, Vt.), Ryan Murphy (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.) and junior Ian Driscoll (Middleton, Mass.) along with graduate student Johnny McElaney (Walpole, Mass.) registered assists in the victory.

First-year Vesse-Wincent Lampen (Espoo, Finland) tallied the lone goal for the Pilgrims, with assists from seniors Wyatt Andres (Brainerd, Minn.) and Ike Taraszewski (Wayzata, Minn.). First-year Anthony Beaulieu (Lawrence, Mass.) made 42 saves in the setback, his second straight 40-plus save effort on the season.

The hosts needed less than two minutes after the opening face-off to light the lamp on their first shot on goal and take the lead. Andres stole the puck in the left corner of the offensive zone and sent a pass in front, where Lampen collected it and beat Mueller from the edge of the right circle for his second of the season and an early 1-0 lead.

After each team registered 12 shots on goal in the opening frame, Babson turned up the heat in the second period, outshooting the Pilgrims by a 17-2 count. The Green and White tied the score at the 9:30 mark when Sibold skated coast to coast on the left side with the puck, dropped a pass to Cavanagh in the left circle, and Cavanagh scored on a shot through Beaulieu's pads to put the Beavers on the board.

Babson took the lead with a power play goal at 18:12 of the second period. Fallon fired a pass from the right face-off dot to George on the back post, and George ripped the puck into an empty net for his fifth of the season and team-leading third power play goal.

The visitors continued the onslaught in the third period, outshooting the Pilgrims 17-7 in the final 20 minutes, but NEC stayed within striking distance until the final three minutes. Driscoll forced a turnover behind the Pilgrim net, centered a pass to McElaney, whose shot was denied by Beaulieu, and Rooney gathered the rebound and buried a shot for his third of the season at 17:39.

Kennedy rounded out the scoring at 18:20 with a game-sealing empty-net goal on a shot from right in front of his own net that went the length of the ice and into the wide open goal.

Babson finished with a 46-21 advantage in shots on goal and scored a power play goal after the only penalty that was called in the game.

The two teams will face-off again on Saturday at 4 p.m. inside Lee Clement Arena.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 50-24-8 all-time against New England College in a series that dates back to 1977, recording its fourth win in a row and 10th in the last 12 games against the Pilgrims since January of 2020.
• The Green and White posted their first road win of the season in six contests.
• George now has four goals and three assists in seven career games against NEC, and Kennedy has four goals and one assist in five outings.
• The Beavers are 4-1-1 this season when scoring at least three goals, and 3-2-1 when scoring at least one power play goal.