Shapiro Stops 37 Shots for the Huskies

            GORHAM, Maine -- The #8/#11 Babson College men's ice hockey team used two second-period goals and solid goaltending by junior Jamie Murray (Scituate, Mass.) to defeat the University of Southern Maine, 2-0, Saturday in an ECAC Men's East game at the USM Ice Arena on Senior Day.

            Unbeaten in their last three games, the Beavers improved to 16-4-3 overall and 11-3-2 in league play.  The Huskies dropped their third straight to slide to 5-17-0 overall and 2-13-0 in conference play.

            The Beavers carried the game to the Huskies who relied upon rookie goalie Kyle Shapiro (Ocean, N.J.) to keep it close.  Shapiro stopped 10 shots in each of the first two periods before making 17 saves in the final period for a game total of 37 saves.

            After a scoreless first period, the Beavers finally broke through against Shapiro at 11:17 as sophomore Bill Seligman (Toronto, Ont.) converted a set-up from rookie Charlie Ackerman (Bradenton, Fla.) and junior Jimmy Magrath (Medfield, Mass.) into his 12th goal of the season.  Seligman found himself 20 feet out in front and fired a wrist shot through a partial screen into the top right corner.

            Sophomore Tim Searles (Chesapeake, Va.) made it 2-0 six minutes later when he fired home a rebound for a short-handed goal.  Facing a 2-on-1, Shapiro made a right-pad stop of junior Mike Vollmin's (Wilmington, N.C.) hard drive, but the rebound went right out in the slot to Searles who found the open side of the net for his fifth marker.

            Southern Maine had a golden opportunity to climb back into the game in the third period when it wound up on a 5-on-3 power play for 1:23, but the Babson defense protected Murray and the lead killing off both penalties.

            Murray earned his sixth shutout of the season, and the 12th of his career, stopping 15 shots.  Southern Maine's best scoring chance came on a tip attempt by freshman Alex Pantalone (Hudson, Mass.) that Murray stuffed in the third period.

            Prior to the start of the game, the Huskies took a moment to recognized their four seniors playing their final home game - forward Brad McGovern (Haverhill, Mass.), defenseman Lorne Miller (Montreal, Que.), co-captain forward Stephen Gallo (Barnstead, N.H.) and co-captain forward Sam Guimond (Portland, Maine).

            Southern Maine is on the road next weekend for games at Saint Anselm College on Friday (7:00 p.m.) and New England College on Saturday (4:30 p.m.).  Babson will be at home against league-leader Norwich University on Friday (7:00 p.m.) and Saint Michael's College on Saturday (4:00 p.m.). 

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