#4/5 Babson Blanks Southern Maine 3-0

            BABSON PARK, Mass. -- Sophomore goalie Jamie Murray (Scituate, Mass.) made 27 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season as the fourth/fifth-ranked Babson College Beavers defeated the visiting University of Southern Maine Huskies 3-0 in ECAC Men's East play Saturday afternoon at the Babson Skating Center.

            The Beavers, ranked fourth in this week's D3hockey.com poll and fifth in the USCHO.com poll, extended their unbeaten string to nine games (8-0-1) and improved to 19-3-1 overall.  The Beavers are 13-2-1 in league play and sit atop the standings with one week left in the regular season.  The Huskies dropped their second straight to slip to 5-13-5 overall and 4-10-2 in ECAC play.

            Murray and USM rookie goaltender Dylan Wells (Nashville, Tenn.) battled to a scoreless draw over the first 31 minutes before the Beavers broke the stalemate lighting the lamp three times in a span of 3:43 to take charge.  The Beavers took advantage of two power plays to score their first and third goals.

            Senior Nik Tasiopoulos (Norwell, Mass.) potted what proved to be the game winner at 11:23 as the Beavers' first power play was coming to an end.  Rookie Michael Phillips (Richmond Heights, Ohio) and sophomore Mike Vollmin (Wilmington, N.C.) earned the assists on Tasiopoulos' 10th goal of the season.

            Just over two minutes later, senior Tom Callahan (Lakeville, Mass.) scored his first goal of the season off assists from Vollmin and senior Matt Furey (Quincy, Mass.).  Shortly thereafter, the Beavers went back on the power play and junior Andrew Bonazza (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia) made the Huskies pay with his ninth goal of the campaign.  Phillips picked up his second assist of the game on the play.

            Southern Maine had a pair of power-play chances in the third period, but was unable to take advantage as Murray turned aside all eight USM shots in the period to preserve the shutout.

            Wells played a strong game in goal for the Huskies making 37 saves.

            Southern Maine returns home next weekend after playing it last six games on the road to host Saint Anselm College on Friday (7:00 p.m.) and New England College on Saturday (4:00 p.m.).  Babson heads north to face nationally-ranked Norwich University on Friday (7:00 p.m.) and Saint Michaels College on Saturday (4:00 p.m.). 

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