BABSON PARK, Mass.— First-year Reid Pehrkon (Vienna, Va.) and junior Jimmy Fallon (Milton, Mass.) scored goals 13 seconds apart with less than four minutes remaining and No. 15 Babson College overcame a 3-1 third-period deficit to defeat Vermont State University Castleton, 4-3, in a Little East Conference (LEC) men's ice hockey game Saturday evening inside the Babson Skating Center.

With the victory, the Beavers improved to 6-0-0 overall and 4-0-0 in the Little East while the Spartans fell to 1-4-1 overall and 1-3-0 in the LEC.

First-year Brian Grant (Mansfield, Mass.) and senior Charlie Andriole (Branford, Conn.) also scored for the Beavers, and Pehrkon, seniors Ryan Murphy (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.) and Nolan Dion (Marshfield, Mass.), junior Joseph Kramer (Bridgewater, Mass.) and sophomore Evan Brown (Little Silver, N.J.) tallied assists in the win. Junior Mason Rosado (Weddington, N.C.) made 24 saves in goal in the victory.

Sophomore Trevor Castino (Woodland Hills, Calif.) led the Spartans with a goal and an assist, and juniors Josef Vivial (Kolin, Czech Rep.) and Cam Reid (Kimberley, B.C.) notched one goal each in the loss. Seniors Jackson Edwards (Toronto, Ont.) and Logan Dapprich (Amherst, Mass.) and sophomore Emmett McHardy (Vancouver, B.C.) registered assists, and first-year Lukas Bukatovs (Jelgava, Latvia) finished with 23 saves in the Castleton net.

The Spartans came out flying and potted two goals in the first three minutes of the game. Rosado made a stop of Edwards from the right side just 20 seconds in but Vyvial buried the rebound at the 24-second mark for an earlier 1-0 lead. Three minutes later, Castino intercepted a Babson clearing attempt in the neutral zone, skated across the blue line and split a pair of defenders before beating Rosado inside the far post to make it 2-0 at 3:13.

Babson got on the board with a power play goal at 4:37 of the second period. Murphy won an offensive zone face-off back to Dion at the left point, who passed along the blue line to Grant on the right side, and he snapped a shot past Bukatovs to cut the Beaver deficit to one goal.
The teams appeared headed to the third period with a one-goal margin but Castleton had other ideas, potting a power play goal with 32 seconds to go in the second. McHardy found Reid at the top of the right circle and he snapped a shot past Rosado for a 3-1 lead going into the third frame.

The Beavers started their comeback 2:28 into the third period when Pehrkon passed to an open Andriole in the high slot and his slapper went inside the right post to cut the margin to 3-2.

With time winding down, Pehrkon set up the tying goal with a pass to Brown along the left boards and then headed to the net, where he redirected the shot by Brown past Bukatovs for his first collegiate goal, tying the game at 16:31. The Beavers used the momentum to score the go-ahead goal just 13 seconds later when Fallon won a battle for the puck along the left boards, skated to the middle and slid a backhander past Bukatovs stick-side for what turned out to be the game-winner at 16:44.

Shots on goal in the game were tied all 27-all. Babson was 1-of-2 on the power play and Castleton was 1-of-3.

The Green and White return to action next Saturday with an LEC game against Southern Maine at 4 p.m. in the Babson Skating Center. Castleton travels to UMass Boston on Friday for an LEC affair at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• The Beavers are unbeaten over their last 21 games (19-0-2) against the Spartans and are 30-5-5 all-time versus Castleton in a series that dates back to 2004.
• Fallon has scored seven goals in his current five-game goal scoring streak, and Brown has at least one point in all six Babson games this season.
• The Green and White have scored at least four goals in five of their six games this season and are 44-3-1 over the past five seasons when scoring at least four times.
• Babson is 6-0-0 to start the season for the first time since winning all eight games in the covid-shortened 2020-21 campaign.