Men's Ice Hockey at Plymouth State
Saturday, October 30 | 6 p.m.
Hanaway Rink | Plymouth, N.H.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 4-1-1 all-time against Plymouth State in a series that dates back to 2003.
• The Beavers are unbeaten in four straight meetings against the Panthers and swept a home-and-home series between the teams last March.
LAST MEETING
• Seniors Ryan Black, classmate Jack Nisbet and Christian Faggas '21 all scored and Nick Rosa '21 picked up an assist as Babson defeated the Panthers, 3-1, on March 6, 2021, in Plymouth, N.H.
• Junior goaltender Nolan Hildebrand stopped 25 of 26 shots for the Beavers, who scored in all three periods.
• Senior Mike McPherson tallied Plymouth State's lone goal late in the second period and sophomore Kalle Anderson finished with 32 saves in the loss.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (0-0) returns 22 players from a team that went 8-0 and outscored its opponents 40-12 last winter.
• The Beavers bring back six of their top seven scorers, highlighted by Black, who produced eight goals and eight assists for 16 points.
• Senior Mike Egan finished with three goals and six assists for nine points, classmate Matt Wiesner (3-5-8) scored three times on the power play, and fellow senior Cam Schmitt (1-7-8) recorded new career highs in assists and points.
• Graduate student Brad Arvanitis (5-0, 2.20 GAA, .927 save pct.) earned All-America honors in 2020 and leads a trio of goaltenders that has helped the Green and White post a 1.66 goals against average over the last two seasons.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
• Plymouth State (1-0) opened the season with a 3-2 come-from-behind win at Plattsburgh State on Friday night.
• Myles Abbate tied the game with a shorthanded tally 5:21 into the third and Marcus Seidl scored the go-ahead goal at the 14:30 mark as the Panthers rallied from a 2-0 second-period deficit.
• Plymouth State returns 24 players from a team that went 4-4 last winter, highlighted by McPherson (2-8-10), who led the team in assists, and leading goal scorer Abbate (6-2-8).
• Graduate students JR Barrone (2-5-7) and Peter Laviolette (1-5-6) combined for 10 assists, while Anderson, who stopped 37 shots in Friday's season opener, had a 1.81 goals against average and a .942 save percentage in five starts last winter.
POLL POSITION
• Babson collected four first-place votes and was picked to finish second in the NEHC preseason coaches' poll last week.
• The Beavers totaled 87 points and finished behind defending league champions Norwich (95), which garnered five first-place votes. Hobart (85 points) was third while league newcomer Elmira was picked fourth.
DEFENSE AND SPECIAL TEAMS
• The Beavers, who earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament before it was canceled, were the only Division III team to rank in the top 10 in scoring defense, power play percentage and penalty killing in 2020.
• Babson ranked third in scoring defense allowing just 1.73 goals per game and were second on the power play at 33.3 percent (32-for-86) and eighth on the penalty kill at 87.8 percent (9-for-74).
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 10-2-2 away from home going back to the start of the 2019-20 campaign.
• Babson is 23-0-0 when leading after two periods over the last two seasons.
• The Beavers have won 20 of 21 games over the last two years when scoring first.
UP NEXT
• Babson opens NEHC play when it welcomes Elmira and Hobart to the Babson Skating Center on November 5-6.
