SALEM, Mass. -- Seniors Shayne Anderson and Troy Starrett combined for two goals and three assists in their return to the lineup, helping to help lift seventh-ranked Babson to a 4-1 victory against Salem State in the second game of the Salem State/Babson Tournament on Thursday night at Rockett Arena.
Babson (10-2-0) will take on Colby (5-3-2) in the championship game at 6 p.m. Friday night at 6 p.m., while Salem State (6-4-0) will face Wentworth (4-8-1) in the consolation game at 3 p.m. Both contests will be played at the Babson Skating Center in Babson Park.
Starrett had the game-winning goal in the second period to go along with a pair of assists, and Anderson had a second-period assist to go along with his first goal of the year later in the game. Junior Mike Driscoll also had a goal and an assist for the Beavers, while senior Connor Berto scored once, and sophomore Max Franklin chipped in with his seventh assist of the season.
First-year John Needham recorded the Vikings lone goal. Senior Kyle Phelan and first-year Alex Minter both notched an assist.
In an evenly contested first period, the Beavers struck first when Driscoll deposited a pass from Starrett past Salem State senior goalie Ryan Sutliffe in the final minute of the first period to go ahead 1-0.
Starrett put Babson up 2-0 early in the second when ripped a shot underneath the glove of Sutliffe off a feed from Anderson. The Vikings got back into the game when Needham converted a power-play opportunity at the eight-minute mark. The power-play score was just the third allowed by the Beavers this season.
Salem State had a chance for more, but Babson was able to kill-off a two-man advantage midway through the period. Sophomore goalie Jamie Murray preserved the one-goal advantage with two outstanding saves in the final two and a half minutes of the second. Minter had a breakaway opportunity snuffed out by Murray, and then senior Eric Defelice had a slight opening, but Murray made an outstanding stick save on the slap shot to keep the game at 2-1 heading into the third.
Anderson and Franklin teamed up to put the Green and White up 3-1 with a power-play goal early in the final period. Starrett notched his second assist of the game when he helped set up Berto with the Beavers' fourth goal of the game late in the third to cap the scoring.
Murray was solid in goal, recording 20 saves to improve to 9-2 on the year. Sutliffe stopped 18 shots on the night to slip to 6-2.
Babson held a slight 22-21 advantage in shots and was whistled for a season-high 20 penalty minutes.
