HENNIKER, N.H.— First-year Emil Elias (Ekerö, Sweden) scored his first two goals of the season and sophomore Anthony Beaulieu (Lawrence, Mass.) made 33 saves as New England College upset No. 11 Babson College for the second time this season, 2-1, in a Little East Conference (LEC) men's ice hockey game Friday evening inside Lee Clement Arena.

With the loss, Babson had a two-game winning streak and lost for just the second time in its last 10 games to fall to 18-4-2 overall and 13-3-1 in the Litte East. NEC, which had previously been eliminated from playoff contention, broke a two-game skid and moved to 8-16-0 overall and 7-10-0 in conference play.

Seniors Egan Schmitt (Schuylerville, N.Y.) and Nolan Woudenberg (Collegeville, Pa.) potted goals for the Beavers, and classmates Will Holland (Charlotte, N.C.), Nolan Dion (Marshfield, Mass.) and Danny Cavanagh (Warwick, R.I.) registered assists. Senior Nate Mueller (Rogers, Minn.) finished with 17 saves in the goal for the Green and White, who outshot the hosts, 35-20.

Junior Martins Leps (Riga, Latvia) scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal for NEC at 11:03 of the third period. Juniors Christophe Petit (Chelsea, Quebec), Gunnar Sibley (Monticello, Minn.), and Jack Herron (Lake in the Hills, Ill.), first-year Jack Brennan (Hingham, Mass.), and senior Graham Hassan (Howell, Mich.) all collected assists in the victory.

NEC took the lead just two minutes into the game when Elias snapped wrist shot from the top of the right circle past Mueller inside left post for first goal of the season. The Pilgrims led most of the first period until Schmitt tied the score with 1:12 to go in the frame, collecting his own rebound after his first shot from the right face-off dot was blocked and beating Beaulieu inside the left post.

Babson scored the only goal of the second stanza during an NEC power play with five minutes remaining. Cavanagh caused a turnover deep in the NEC zone then punched a pass to Woudenberg at right point, who ripped a shot between the pads of Beaulieu to secure the lead for the Beavers heading into the third period.

The Pilgrims came back to tie the game at 5:29 of the third when Sibley sent a pass from the right side to Elias at the top of the crease, and he buried the puck into the back of the net to deadlock the score at 2-2. Leps notched the go-ahead goal when he collected the puck along the left boards at the hash mark and fired the puck toward the net, and it snuck between Mueller's pad and the left post to put the hosts on top.

Babson had a power play opportunity after NEC was whistled for a penalty with 5:06 remaining, and played 6-on-5 after pulling Mueller with 1:27 remaining, but the Pilgrims blocked four shots to combine with four Beaulieu saves over the final nine minutes as the hosts secured the win.

NEC finished 1-for-3 on the power play while the Beavers were blanked in three opportunities with the man advantage.

Both teams wrap up the regular season on Saturday as Babson travels to Plymouth State for a 2 p.m. contest and NEC hosts Southern Maine at 4 p.m.

GAME NOTES
• New England College has won three in a row over Babson since the beginning of last March but the Beavers are 51-27-8 all-time against the Pilgrims in a series that dates back to 1977.
• Beaulieu has stopped 104 Babson shots while allowing just three goals (.972 sv. pct) in the three NEC victories since last March, including a 2-0 shutout in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) playoff upset last March and a 2-1 victory in January.
• Babson suffered its first loss over the past two seasons (13-1-1) and its fourth setback (94-4-4) since 2017-18 when leading after the second period.