Rutland, Vt. - The Spartans outshot the Beavers, outhit the Beavers, and to the casual hockey fan, outplayed the Beavers. None of that mattered though, as the Babson Beavers outscored Castleton 2-1 on Saturday night at Spartan Arena to remain undefeated on the season.

Jamie Murray made 29 saves, stumping the Spartan offense for the majority of the game to earn the win in net for Babson. His Spartan counterpart, Erick Cinotti stopped 18 Babson shots in the loss. 

Babson notched an early goal in the first period, taking a 1-0 lead on a power play score by Mike Driscoll. Matt O'Neill ripped a shot on net that Cinotti batted away, but Driscoll was waiting on the doorstep to bury the rebound. The tally put the Beavers up 1-0 just 3:26 into the contest. Castleton had several opportunities to tie the game before the intermission, but went into the break still trailing 1-0.

In the second period, the Spartans dominated play. The puck was kept in the Babson defensive zone for the majority of the period, and the Spartans outshot the visiting Beavers 14-5. Murray turned away all the Spartans' chances and the home team went into the second intermission still down a goal.

The Spartans had one of their best scoring opportunities early in the third period. Ryan Frost streaked down the ice off of a line change and received an outlet pass from the Spartans' defensive zone. The forward beat a Babson defender for a breakaway. The senior deked to his backhand and lifted a shot that rung just off the crossbar and over the net.

Later in the period, Babson netted an important insurance goal to go up 2-0 with just under 15 minutes remaining in the game. Matt Furey scored his first goal of the season with assists going to Dan Casey and Max Franklin.

In the waning moments, Castleton pulled Cinotti to get an extra skater on the ice. The tactic worked as the Spartans scored off of a faceoff set play. Will Laking won the offensive zone faceoff back to Colin Murray who circled around the left flank and played a puck into the crease, where Bart Moran got a piece of it to redirect it into the net. The tally put Castleton within one with just 1:08 remaining.

For the final minute of play, Castleton fought tirelessly for an equalizing goal, but to no avail. The eighth-ranked Beavers narrowly escaped with a one-goal win, beating the Spartans 2-1.

Castleton moves to 3-2-1 on the season with the loss and will host the Rutland Herald Invitational beginning Saturday, Nov. 30. The Spartans will take on Tufts University in the first round of the tournament and will play either Manhattanville College or SUNY Brockport, who square off in the other first round game, on Sunday, Dec. 1.