BABSON PARK, Mass.- Junior
Mike Whitehair (Victor, N.Y.) scored the go-ahead goal at 4:51 of the third period as visiting New England College defeated Babson College, 5-3, in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action on Friday night at the Babson Skating Center.
With the win, New England College improves to 10-6-1 overall and evens its record at 5-5-1 in league play. Babson, which entered the night riding a seven-game unbeaten streak at home, drops to 9-6-2 overall and 7-3-1 in the NEHC. The win evens the season series to 1-1-the two teams met in Henniker in November and will meet one more time in February.
SCORING
1
st 02:16 | BAB Bobby Hall (Patrick Flynn)
1
st 06:38 | NEC
Connor Fries (
Kyle Arenson,
Channing Gorscak)
1
st 07:21 | BAB Tommy Munichiello (Matt Brazel)
2
nd 01:35 | NEC
William Riise (unassisted)
2
nd 18:02 | NEC
Keenan Haase (
William Riise,
Daniel Bergqvist)
3
rd 01:42 | BAB Charlie Ackerman (Ryan Gouveia, Matt McMorrow)
3
rd 04:51 | NEC
Mike Whitehair (
Connor Fries)
3
rd 18:22 | NEC
Joe Osaka (
Patrick DeBlois)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Junior
Connor Fries (Barnstable, Mass.) and sophomore
William Riise (Charlottenlund, Denmark) both had a goal and an assist for the Pilgrims, who got 39 saves from senior netminder
Kyle Shapiro (Ocean Township, N.J.).
New England College was whistled for a slashing penalty just seven seconds into the contest and Babson took advantage when Bobby Hall converted a feed from Patrick Flynn less than three minutes into the stanza for a 1-0 lead. The Pilgrims answered with Fries' fourth goal of the season from the slot at 6:38, but the Beavers regained the lead just 43 seconds later when Tommy Munichiello beat Shapiro with a one-time from between the circles for his second tally of the year.
Babson successfully killed off the final 70 seconds of a holding penalty to begin the second period, but Riise carried the puck the length of the ice before rifling a wrist shot past goaltender Matt Pompa to make it 2-2 just 1:35 into the stanza. Despite being outshot 19-7 in the period, the Pilgrims took their first lead of the game when sophomore
Keenan Haase (Mission Viejo, Calif.) tipped home a feed from Riise just 1:58 before the second intermission.
Babson pulled even when Ackerman poked a rebound past Shapiro 1:42 into the third, but New England College answered again with what proved to be the game-winning goal on Whitehair's one-timer off a feed from behind the net to go back in front 4-3 at the 4:51 mark. Shapiro made six of his 13 third-period stops over the finals six minutes and senior
Joe Osaka (Tokyo, Japan) tacked on an empty netter for the Pilgrims with 1:38 to go in the game.
The Beavers finished with a 42-24 edge in shots and both teams went 0-for-4 on the power play.
GOALTENDERS
Junior goaltender Matt Pompa (Palm City, Fla.) finished with 19 saves in the loss. Shapiro tallied 39 saves for the second time this season-he also had 39 saves in the team's 4-3 win over Norwich on November 17
th. Shapiro's season-best 40 saves was recorded in the team's first meeting with Babson on November 10
th.
WHAT'S NEXT
Both teams return to action on Saturday at 4 p.m. as Babson hosts Southern Maine, while New England College travels to UMass Boston.
