No. 7 Men’s Ice Hockey Holds Off Tufts, 3-2

MALDEN, Mass.—Junior Thomas Kramer (Bridgewater, Mass.) tallied a goal and an assist in a three-goal second period and No. 7 Babson College went on to a 3-2 victory over Tufts University Tuesday evening in non-conference men’s ice hockey action inside the Malden Valley Forum.

With the victory, Babson extended its unbeaten streak to six games (5-0-1) and improved to 6-1-1 overall while Tufts dropped to 0-3-0 on the season, including two losses to nationally-ranked teams.

Sophomore Wyatt George (Mount Lebanon, Pa.) and first-year Ryan Murphy (Grosse Point Farms, Mich.) scored for Babson, and senior James Perullo (Revere, Mass.) collected two assists. Senior Andrew Holland (Winchester, Mass.) and first-years Ian Driscoll (Middleton, Mass.) and Mike Stevens (Massapequa, N.Y.) also picked up assists for the Beavers and senior Nolan Hildebrand (Penticton, British Columbia) made 26 saves in goal to record the win.

Junior Sam Miller (Milwaukee, Wisc.) and sophomore Tyler Sedlak (Wyckoff, N.J.) scored third-period goals in a comeback attempt for the Jumbos, and sophomores Sami Hakkarainen (Los Gatos, Calif.) and Clark Bolin (Fond du Lac, Wisc.) notched assists. Junior Peyton Durand (Newport, R.I.) finished with 31 saves in the loss.

After a scoreless first period that featured one power play attempt for each team, the Beavers drew first blood with a power play goal two minutes into the second frame. Perullo sent a pass from the left point to Kramer below the left circle and Kramer redirected the puck to Murphy on the right side and he buried a shot into an open net for a 1-0 lead.

Babson increased the lead to 3-0 with a pair of goals just 22 seconds apart later in the second period. Kramer fired in a wrist shot from the right circle at 11:54, with assists from Stevens and Perullo. Driscoll then sent Perullo in on a 1-on-1 break against a Tufts defenseman, and Wyatt hustled to join the break and took a pass from Perullo and beat Durand from the right circle for a 3-0 lead at 12:16.

Tufts got on the scoreboard three minutes into the third period after causing a Babson turnover behind its own net. The puck came out in front to Bolin, who dropped a pass back to Miller, and Miller put a shot past Hildebrand to make it 3-1.

The Jumbos cut the deficit to one goal at 10:25 when Sedlak was awarded a penalty shot and he converted with a shot under Hildebrand’s pads but that turned out to be the final goal of the game. Each team had a power play opportunity in the…