BABSON PARK, Mass.—Senior Mike Vollmin (Wilmington, N.C.) scored the go-ahead goal at 15:27 of the second period as No. 10 D3hockey.com/No. 11 USCHO.com Babson College defeated visiting Curry College, 3-1, in non-conference men's ice hockey action on Saturday afternoon at the Babson Skating Center.
With the victory, Babson is now 2-0-0 on the year, while Curry drops to 0-2-0 overall.
Junior Tim Searles (Chesapeake, Va.) and first-year Tommy Munichiello (Weymouth, Mass.) also scored for the Beavers, while Vollmin, junior Michael Phillips (Richmond Heights, Ohio) and sophomore Charlie Ackerman (Bradenton, Fla.) all contributed one assist apiece. Senior goaltender Jamie Murray (Scituate, Mass.) finished with 14 saves to earn the 50th victory of his career.
Murray and his counterpart, Colonels' junior netminder Brett Sinclair (St. Catherines, Ontario), dominated a scoreless first period with nine and 12 saves, respectively. Babson was unable to take advantage of a five minute power play opportunity that started late in the first, but jumped on top 6:27 into the second period as Searles converted a feed from Vollmin for his first tally of the year.
Curry pulled even at 1-1 just over six minutes later when junior Sean Nelson (Brighton, Mich.) scored his second goal in as many games at the 12:46 mark. Classmates Justin Nice (Aurora, Ontario) and Dan McGuinness (Hanover, Mass.) were credited with assists on the goal.
The Beavers wasted little time regaining the lead though, as Vollmin notched his first goal of the season with 4:33 left in the second to make it 4-2. The Green and White killed off a pair of minor penalties in the third and had maybe its best chance to extend the lead when sophomore Ryan Gouveia's (Dartmouth, Mass.) shot rang off the post early in the stanza.
Murray, who was forced to make just five saves over the final 40 minutes, preserved the lead with a sprawling stop on Colonels' sophomore Robert Cammalleri (Richmond Hill, Ontario) one timer from just in front of the crease with 4:25 to play in game. Munichiello then notched a late empty net tally, the first of his career, with 12 seconds remaining for the final margin.
Sinclair, who made 45 saves on Friday night, turned away 36 shots on Saturday for Curry, which was outshot 39-15.
Babson returns to action on Friday, November 13 when it travels to Skidmore for its conference opener, while Curry hosts Wentworth in its home opener on Thursday at 6:45 p.m.
GAME NOTES
•The Beavers are now 9-3-0 all-time against Curry and have won four straight in the series.
•The Green and White had seven different players all score once in two games over the weekend, and had eight players record at least one point in its first two games.
•Murray is 3-0 with a 1.00 goals against average and a .956 save percentage in three career starts against the Colonels.
•The Beavers have won nine consecutive regular-season home games against non-conference opponents and are 13-3-1 against its non-conference slate since the start of the 2013-14 season. (Game recap courtesy of Babson Sports Information)
