BABSON PARK, Mass.— Babson College defeated visiting Skidmore College, 4-1, in New England Hockey conference (NEHC) men's ice hockey action on Friday night at the Babson Skating Center.

Skidmore is 0-5-1 overall and 0-4-1 in the NEHC, while Babson wins its third straight to improve to 4-2 and 4-1.

Owen Campbell scored the Thoroughbreds' lone goal, while Tim Allen and Paul Vella each recorded an assist.

For Babson, Rob Devaney had two goals and an assist. Ryan Gouveia added a goal and an assist, while classmate Matt McMorrow also scored for the Beavers. 

Both teams had quality scoring chances in the opening 20 minutes and Babson took advantage of its second power play of the stanza when McMorrow beat Skidmore sophomore goaltender Brandon Kasel  up high off a feed from Gouveia for a 1-0 lead at the 12:36 mark. Beavers'  netminder Matt Pompa made five saves to help kill off back-to-back Thoroughbreds power plays early in the second, and the hosts doubled their advantage when Gouveia stuffed home the rebound of an Ackerman shot on the power play for his second goal of the year midway through the period.

Skidmore cut its deficit in half just 2:44 into the third when Campbell recorded his first tally of the year from the slot off a pass from behind the net. Devaney, who was denied by Kasel just in front of the crease less than eight minutes into the period, gave Babson some breathing room when he took a break-out pass from Ackerman and chipped the puck past a defender at the blue line before scoring with a wrist shot to make it 3-1 with 6:45 to go in the contest.

The Thoroughbreds pulled Kasel for an extra attacker with 4:14 remaining only to see Devaney notch an empty net goal less than a minute later for the final margin.

Pompa made 26 of his 36 saves over the first two periods for the Beavers, while Kasel turned away 28 shots for Skidmore, which held a 37-31 edge in shots.  

Both teams return to action on Saturday at 4 p.m. as Babson hosts nationally-ranked Hobart, while Skidmore visits UMass Boston.