Babson Park, Mass. - Junior Chris Wood (Medford, Mass.) scored the game-winning goal with 40.7 seconds left in overtime to lift the Babson College Beavers to a thrilling 5-4 victory over the visiting Trinity College Bantams in an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East/New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) men's ice hockey game at the Babson Skating Center this evening.  Babson improves to 2-2-1 overall and 1-2-0 in the ECAC East, while the Bantams dipped to 2-3-0 overall and 1-2-0 in the NESCAC.

Four goals of the game's nine goals were scored during a wild first period of play. Trinity struck first when junior Naoto Hamashima (Tokyo, Japan) converted a feed from sophomore Benjamin Shellington (Hanover, Mass.) at 2:00. Babson answered with a powerplay goal at 4:08, as senior captain Brad Baldelli (Northborough, Mass.) put back a rebound of classmate Alex DiPietro's (Winthrop, Mass.) shot at the tail end of the Beavers' first man-up opportunity. The Bantams then regained the lead with a powerplay score of their own when senior Riley Hicks (Calgary, Alberta) collected a rebound of classmate Chris Diozzi's (Belmont, Mass.) deflected shot on the left side and found an open net at 12:11. However, Babson would knot the contest again when sophomore Terry Woods' (Duxbury, Mass.) bid from the left circle found its way through the legs of Trinity goalie Wesley Vesprini (Lexington, Mass.) at 15:19.

The Beavers grabbed their first lead of the game early in the second, as DiPietro took pass at the right point from first-year Mike Hoban (Medfield, Mass.) and ripped a slapper into the upper left corner at 3:53. Trinity rallied with its third goal late in the session, when senior Josh Rich (Palmyra, Pa.) tucked in a rebound after Diozzi's initial shot from the left point was saved by Babson senior goalie Skylar Nipps (Orlando, Fla.) at 18:46.

Junior Jason Schneider (Littleton, Mass.) once again put Babson in front when he scored out of a scramble in front of the net at 5:05 of the third. However, Trinity responded with a powerplay goal by Diozzi, as he placed a perfect screen shot from the right circle inside the right post at 10:42. The Bantams then nearly came away with the victory in the final minute of regulation, but junior Michael Mortimer's (Spencer, Mass.) rocket from the left point hit the upper left post and caromed away with 45 seconds remaining.

Trinity had another golden opportunity just under two minutes into the overtime session, as a Beavers turnover behind their own net gave Hamashima a wide-open look from the left circle. However, Nipps robbed the Bantams' forward with a tremendous glove save on the ensuing wrister to keep the contest even. Moments later, Trinity was whistled for a tripping penalty after senior defenseman Casey Fazekas (Montreal, Quebec) was taken down in the Babson zone, giving the hosts another powerplay with 2:07 left to play.

The Beavers finally secured the victory in the final minute, beginning when Fazekas fired a shot on Vesprini from the left point. The Trinity goalie made the initial stop, and then denied two more attempts by Wood on the left side of the crease. After taking the puck behind the net and finding teammate Woods for a one-timer that was saved by Vesprini, Wood gathered yet another rebound and slipped it past the Trinity goaltender for the game-winning powerplay goal at 4:39.3. Nipps finished with 37 saves in net for the Beavers, while Vesprini stopped 28 shots in goal for Trinity.

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