BABSON PARK, Mass. – Two first period goals staked host and nationally-No. 9 ranked Babson College to a two-goal lead and that proved to be enough as the Beavers downed the Keene State College men's ice hockey team 3-1 in Little East Conference action at the Babson Skating Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Beavers (14-2-2, 9-1-1 LEC) scored 1:51 in Cam Joslin redirected home Nolan Dion's pass to the far post for a 1-0 lead and extended it with 6:42 left in the first period when Dion himself scored on a power play on a blast from just inside the blue line after he had time to set up thanks to Brendan Kennedy's pass back to the point.

Babson carried a 2-0 lead into the first intermission, but KSC (5-12-0, 1-10-0 LEC) capitalized on over a minute of carryover power play time as Danny Cavanagh was called for a trip in the final minute of the first.  On the Owls' first rush of the second, Marcus Chrisafideis barreled into the zone up the left side and weaved around one defender before setting up Peter Unger for a beautiful goal just 20 seconds in to make it 2-1.  Goalie Ben Skelton was strong in the middle period, making 14 of his 25 saves to keep the Owls in it.  The only one he could not stop came off the stick of Jimmy Fallon at 10:53 as the home team restored a two-goal edge.

Down two after two, Keene State pushed six minutes into the third, but Babson goalie Nate Mueller made seven saves in a two-minute span to keep it 3-1.  The Owls had a 19-14 edge in total shots attempted in the final 20 minutes but could not break through in a game that was nearly all 5-on-5.  KSC was 1-for-2 in the power play, with the bulk of the time coming in the first period before they scored very early in the second, and Babson scored on their lone chance, though it was an important goal that put them up two.

Skelton and Mueller both finished with 25 saves.

"The boys played a really solid game today against one of the stronger teams in the country," said KSC head coach Bobby Rodrigue.  "We only made a few mistakes that proved costly.  Of course it is discouraging for the losing streak to continue, but there is a lot for us to build off of from this one."

Unger's goal was his first since January 5, and he continues to lead the Owls in plus/minus with a plus-6 rating.  Chase Carney and Shane Mazur are each plus-4.

Stat-wise, it was a completely different story compared to the first meeting between the two teams at Keene Ice in November, when Babson led 2-1 after two in an eventual 4-1 win.  The Owls opened the scoring on a goal by Zackary Chouinard just 1:30 in, but Fallon answered on the power play at 3:41 and Egan Schmitt at 10:19 to put the Beavers ahead.  KSC was outshot 61-17 on goal in that game, allowing 47 shots on Skelton in the final two periods.  Today, the Owls allowed just seven shots on goal in the first period and six in the third, where they outshot Babson by a combined 21-13 margin.  A second period lull did again plague KSC, as after they got within one, they were outshot 15-4 for the remainder of the period.

The Owls return home to take on New England College (5-13-0, 4-7-0 LEC) next Friday (January 30) at 7:45 p.m. before hosting Plymouth State University on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.  KSC fell to the Pilgrims 5-3 in the first meeting in Henniker.  NEC was swept at home by Norwich 6-4 and Vermont State University Castleton 3-0 this weekend.