Babson College’s Bill Seligman scored the go-ahead goal at 16:03 of the third period, as the No. 11 Beavers defeated the No. 12 Hobart College hockey team 4-2, in the season opener for both teams on Friday night at the Babson Skating Center.
Babson started fast as Rob Devaney put away the rebound of a shot by Charlie Ackerman to take a 1-0 lead just 53 seconds into the contest. The Statesmen responded with a pair of goals just 49 seconds apart, though as sophomore Colin Clapton (Canton, Mass.) tucked a shot inside the near post from the near slot and senior Mac Olson (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) converted a feed from classmate Brad Robbins (Murrieta, Calif.) on a two-on-one break to grab a 2-1 lead at 12:22 of the opening period. It was Clapton’s first career goal.
The Beavers tied the game just 15 seconds into the second period as Dan Casey notched his first goal of the season, cleaning up the rebound of a shot by Bill Seligman to make it 2-2. Babson (1-0) then held Hobart (0-1) to just three shots on a five-minute power play following a boarding call to keep the game tied heading to the third period.
Babson had the only power play of the final period, including a two-man advantage for 65 seconds early in the period, but came up empty thanks to three saves from Statesmen sophomore goaltender Frank Oplinger (Sewickly, Pa.). Babson goaltender Jamie Murray then kept the game deadlocked with back-to-back saves on Hobart senior Ben Gamache (Longlac, Ontario) from point-blank range with just over five minutes to go.
Seligman gave the Beavers the lead for good with a wraparound goal with 3:57 to go, and Ackerman followed with an empty net tally in the closing seconds for the final margin.
Oplinger finished with 31 saves for the Statesmen, and Murray logged 32 saves for the Beavers. Babson held a slim 35-34 edge in shots, while the teams combined to go 0-for-7 on the power play.
Hobart will be back in action tomorrow, Oct. 31, when it visits the University of New England. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
Goals by Period 1 2 3 Total
Hobart 2 0 0 2
Babson College 1 1 2 4
1st period – 1, BAB, Rob Devaney/1 (Charlie Ackerman/1) :53. 2,
HOB, Colin Clapton/1 11:33. 3, HOB, Mac Olson/1 (Brad Robbins/1)
12:22. Penalties – Andrew Silard, HOB (boarding) 6:39; Matt
Holtshouser, BAB (boarding) 9:06; Bill Seligman, BAB (tripping) 16:55.
2nd period – 4, BAB, Dan Casey/1 (Bill Seligman/1, Tim Searles/1)
:15. Penalties – Sean Rudy, HOB (cross-checking) 7:57; Carl Belizario,
HOB (roughing) 12:26; Jake Donahue, BAB (boarding) 14:49; Jake
Donahue, BAB (boarding) 14:49.
3rd period – 5, BAB, Bill Seligman/1 (Dan Casey/1) 16:03. 6, BAB,
Charlie Ackerman/1 19:59 (empty net). Penalties – Jonas Toupal, HOB
(interference) 3:44; Ben Gamache, HOB (cross-checking) 4:39.
Shots on goal – HOB 10-14-10 34; BAB 11-4-20 35.
Power plays – HOB 0 of 3; BAB 0 of 4.
Penalties – HOB 5 (10 min); BAB 4 (19 min).
Goalies – HOB, Frank Oplinger 0-1-0 (59:29 minutes, 34 shots-31
saves) , EMPTY NET (00:31, 0-0); BAB, Jamie Murray 1-0-0 (60:00,
34-32).
Penalty shots – None.
A-750 T-2:13
Three stars: 1. None 2. None 3. None
Referee:;
Win-Jamie Murray (1-0-0). Loss-Frank Oplinger (0-1-0).
