BABSON PARK, Mass.— Junior Ryan Murphy (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.) finished with a goal and an assist and nine different players recorded a point as Babson College pulled away for a 4-1 win over visiting Vermont State University Castleton in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action on Friday night inside the Babson Skating Center.

With its fourth straight win, Babson improves to 8-5-1 overall and 6-3 in conference play. Castleton slips to 3-10-1 overall and 1-8 in the NEHC with the loss.

Senior Wyatt George (Mount Lebanon, Pa.), graduate student Johnny McElaney (Walpole, Mass.) and junior Brendan Kennedy (Georgetown, Ont.) scored for the Beavers, who tallied three goals in the third period. Sophomores Joseph Kramer (Bridgewater, Mass.) and Jimmy Fallon (Milton, Mass.), junior Ian Driscoll (Middleton, Mass.), graduate student Kyle Gierman (Shelby Township, Mich.), and first-year Raphael Marcoux (Quebec City, Que.) produced assists and junior Nate Mueller (Rogers, Minn.) made 23 saves to earn the win in goal.

Senior Zach Trempner (Lethbridge, Alb.) scored the lone goal for the Spartans, with assists from classmate Zach Papapetros (North Andover, Mass.) and first-year Luke Chakrabarti (White Rock, B.C.). Junior Josh Ward (Ottawa, Ont.) made 40 saves but took the loss in goal for the Spartans.

The Green and White jumped on top midway through the first period on George's seventh goal of the season. Castleton turned the puck over along the left boards and George one-time a centering pass by Murphy past the left pad of Ward from the slot.

The Spartans took advantage of the first penalty of the game to tie the score at 13:23 of the second period when Stempner redirected a shot by Papapetros from the blue line that floated over the left shoulder of Mueller for his first goal of the year. Mueller made a pair of saves to keep the game tied late in the second and the Beavers rewarded him with three third-period tallies.

McElaney put Babson in front for good with his first goal of the season on the power play just 2:12 after intermission. He missed just wide from the left face-off dot on his initial attempt but Kramer tracked down the loose puck and hit him with a centering pass that he buried with a slap shot under the crossbar for a 2-1 advantage.

Kennedy scored his team-leading eighth goal of the year at the 10:54 mark of the third, weaving through multiple Castleton defenders before ripping a shot past Ward from the left circle, and Murphy put the finishing touches on the win with an empty netter at 17:37.

Babson finished with a 44-24 advantage in shots on goal. Each team was whistled for just one penalty in the game and both capitalized with a power play goal on their only attempt with the man advantage.

The two teams will go at it again on Saturday in a rematch at 4 p.m. at the Babson Skating Center.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are unbeaten over their last 19 games (17-0-2) against the Spartans and own a 28-5-5 all-time lead versus Castleton in a series that dates back to 2004.
• The Green and White have won five straight home games by a combined eight goals and are 6-1 at the Babson Skating Center this season.
• Babson is 5-2-1 this season when scoring at least one power play goal.
• Mueller extended his winning streak to four games and has posted a 1.25 goals against average and a .954 save percentage in that span.