BOSTON, Mass.—Matt Wiesner's goal 11 minutes into the third period proved to be the difference, as #17 Babson College slipped past UMass Boston men's hockey 1-0 on Friday night at the Edward T. Barry Ice Rink.

THE BASICS

Babson College 1, UMass Boston 0

(UMass Boston 8-7-1, NEHC 4-4-1)

(Babson College 11-3-2, NEHC 6-2-1)

HOW IT HAPPENED

Friday night's contest was a classic goalie duel between Babson junior Brad Arvanitis and Beacon sophomore Sam Best. The two Division I transfers kept two of the top four offenses in the New England Hockey Conference scoreless for over 50 minutes.

Best made 20 saves on 21 shots in his second collegiate start. The former American International College netminder made six saves in the first period, nine more in the second and five in the third period.

Arvanitis posted his second-consecutive shutout and tied the nation-lead with his fourth of the year. The former UMass Amherst goalie stopped all 39 shots he faced, including 11 or more in each period.

Wiesner scored the game's lone goal at 10:59 of the third period. Ryan Campbell skated the puck into the zone and got to his backhand, before crashing the net hard along the near post. The puck deflected out to Wiesner, off of Patrick Flynn's stick, and Wiesner spun and sent a shot over Best's shoulder and just inside the far post. 

UMass Boston came out firing to begin the game and played one of their most complete contests of the season. The Beacons brought a strong forecheck to keep Babson pinned inside their zone for long stretches and also minimized the mistakes in their own zone.

After a scoreless first period, UMass Boston put together several great chances in the opening four minutes of the second. The Beacons forced Arvanitis to make nine saves in the opening 3:53 of the period, including several point-blank stops. He denied Jeffrey Skinner (Houston, Texas) on a point-blank save off a rebound in the first 45 seconds and then made a reaction save on a Billy Grant (Mansfield, Mass.) tip from just outside the crease.

Babson turned the tide midway through the period and forced Best to make some of his best saves of the night. The sophomore came out of his crease to cut down several one-on-one chances, including a stop on Connor Dahlman from the high slot and a back-hand chance from Chris Rooney.

UMass Boston answered back late in the period and earned their first power-play with 1:20 to go in the stanza. UMass Boston created several good looks, including a tip from Ethan Nitkin (Miami Beach, Fla.) that went just wide as the period expired.

Babson earned a pair of power-plays early in the third, but West stood up to the task with four saves against the nation's top power-play.

The Beavers took the lead on Wiesner's goal at 10:59 and immediately went back on the power-play 21 seconds later. UMass Boston caught a break through, as the Beavers were whistled for a penalty of their own 17 seconds later.

UMass Boston pulled Best with 1:52 to go and created numerous chances with the extra-skater. The Beacons put five shots on net in the final 112 seconds and several other chances went just wide of the cage.

BY THE NUMBERS

• UMass Boston outshot Babson College 39-21. The Beacons recorded 11 or more shots in all three periods and held Babson to single-digits in shots in all three stanzas.
• The Beacons went 0-2 on the power-play, while Babson finished 0-3. UMass Boston has now killed off 32-consecutive penalties over their past seven games.
• Friday's contest marked the first-ever 1-0 scoreline between UMass Boston and Babson in 67 all-time meetings. Babson leads the all-time series 43-18-6.
• Babson was credited with 23 blocked shots in the contest, while the Beacons had 12.
• Seniors Daniel Nachbaur (Richland, Wash.) and Nolan Redler (Winchester, Mass.) combined to go 19-27 in the face-off dot.
• Arvanitis has stopped 86 shots in his past two games and at least 104 in a row. The junior has stopped 175 of 176 shots over his last five starts (99.4 save %).
• Before Friday night, the winner of the last 15 contests between UMass Boston and Babson had scored at least three goals.

WHO'S NEXT

UMass Boston will travel to Babson on Saturday at 4 p.m., looking to earn a split of the season-series for the sixth-straight season.