BABSON PARK, Mass.— Senior Ian Driscoll (Middleton, Mass.) scored with 1:36 remaining in the third period to tie the game and force overtime as No. 13 Babson College and the University of Southern Maine skated to a 3-3 tie in a Little East Conference (LEC) men's ice hockey game Saturday afternoon inside the Babson Skating Center.

The teams went to the seventh round of a shootout after the overtime session, and first-year Jordan Bezio (North Hampton, N.H.) scored to give Southern Maine a 1-0 decision and an extra point in the LEC standings. Babson moves its record to 6-0-1 overall and 4-0-1 in the Little East while the Huskies are now 4-2-1 overall and 3-1-1 in the LEC.

Junior Jimmy Fallon (Milton, Mass.) registered a goal and an assist for the Beavers and junior Sean Senier (Melrose, Mass.) scored once. Sophomore Evan Brown (Little Silver, N.J.) tallied a pair of assists and senior Danny Cavanagh (Warwick, R.I.) and senior Egan Schmitt (Schuylerville, N.Y.) each had a helper. Senior Nate Mueller (Rogers, Minn.) finished with 19 saves in goal for the Beavers, who outshot the Huskies 45-22.

Sophomore Gavin Simopoulos (Cape Elizabeth, Maine), senior Conor Donovan (Nahant, Mass.) and sophomore Owen Arend (Palmetto, Fla.) scored for the Huskies, and Cam Gwatkin (Lyndonville, Vt.) and Ethan Hoover (Hershey, Pa.) produced assists. First-year Loic Morin (Drummondville, Que.) had a busy night in goal and finished with a season-high 42 saves.

Southern Maine took a early lead just two minutes into the game when Simopoulos snuck a backhander from the right circle between Mueller's pads at the 2:02 mark.

The Beavers, which had a 15-6 advantage in shots on goal in the opening period, scored twice in a 69-second span late in the period to take the lead. Senier poked in a rebound off a shot by Cavanagh at 14:11, and Fallon buried a shot near the left post on a pass from Brown at the right circle at 15:20 for a 2-1 Babson advantage.

It stayed a one-goal lead through a scoreless second period, despite a 13-5 shot advantage for the hosts. USM pulled seven six minutes into the third period when Donovan intercepted a Babson clearing attempt at the top of the left circle and ripped a shot past Mueller for an unassisted goal to even the score at 2-2 . The Huskies added another unassisted marker four minutes later when Arend capitalized on another Babson defensive-zone turnover. He tossed the puck toward the net and it bounced off Mueller's blocker pad and into the goal for a 3-2 USM lead with 10 minutes to play in the third.

Babson pulled even after pulling the goalie for the final two minutes. Driscoll buried a loose puck in the crease at 18:24 after hard work behind the net by teammates Cavanagh, Fallon and Brown, sending the game to overtime.

Mueller made a pair of terrific saves on breakaways during the 3-on-3 overtime as the Huskies had four of the seven shots in the extra session. The shootout went without a goal until the seventh round when Bezio broke the deadlock with what turned out to be the difference.

The Green and White will be back on the ice on Tuesday with a non-conference game against Tufts at 7 p.m. at the Babson Skating Center. The Huskies will return to action with a home game next Saturday against Wentworth at 4:00 pm in the USM Ice Arena.

GAME NOTES
• Babson is 25-1-2 in the last 28 games against Southern Maine over the last decade and is 41-9-3 all-time against the Huskies in a series that dates back to 1995.
• Fallon has scored eight goals in his current six-game goal scoring streak, and Brown has at least one point in all seven Babson games this season.
• The Beavers, which are in the middle of a six-game homestand, are 3-0-1 at home this season and 11-4-2 at the Babson Skating Center since the start of last season.