No. 6 Men's Ice Hockey at Johnson & Wales | Friday, November 12 | 7 p.m.
New England Sports Village | Attleboro, Mass.
No. 6 Men's Ice Hockey at UMass Boston | Saturday, November 13 | 4 p.m.
Edward T. Barry Ice Rink | Boston, Mass.
THE SETUP
• The Beavers continue New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) play this weekend by visiting a pair of conference foes.
• Babson will travel to Attleboro, Mass. on Friday night to take on Johnson & Wales University and meet UMass Boston on Saturday afternoon in Boston.
SERIES HISTORY
vs. Johnson & Wales
• Babson is 4-0-0 all-time versus Johnson & Wales in a series that dates back to 2018, outscoring the Wildcats 27-4.
• The two teams did not face each other in a pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, but Babson took both games in 2019-20, winning 6-0 and 11-2.
• Babson captured the first two games against the Wildcats in 2018-19, both by 5-1 verdicts.
vs. UMass Boston
• Babson is 48-19-6 all-time against UMass Boston in a series that dates back to the 1978-79 season.
• The Beavers swept the Beacons in a regular-season home-and-home series on January 17-18, 2020, winning 1-0 inside Edward T. Barry Rink on Friday night and 6-3 in the Babson Skating Center on Saturday afternoon.
• The teams split the regular season series in each of the previous five seasons going back to 2015.
• Over the last 15 games between the programs, five have been decided by a single goal while seven have finished with at least a three-goal margin.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 6 Babson (2-0-1, 1-0-1 NEHC) gained three out of four points last weekend in a pair of home games against nationally-ranked teams, defeating No. 13 Elmira Friday night, 6-3, and skating to a 2-2 deadlock against No. 5 Hobart on Saturday afternoon.
• Senior Ryan Black had a four-point night in the win over Elmira with two goals and two assists, while Mike Egan scored twice and graduate student Brad Arvanitis stopped 37 shots to pick up his second victory of the year. Black scored a third-period power play goal to help the Beavers come back to tie Hobart, and Arvanitis posted 26 saves.
• The Beavers are unbeaten in their last 26 contests when allowing two or fewer goals, a streak that extends back to November 23, 2019.
• Black extended his points streak to 13 games going back to the end of the 2020 campaign and has produced 13 goals and 11 assists for 24 points during this stretch.
• The Beavers have scored on the power play in 10 of their last 11 games going back to the start of the abbreviated 2021 campaign.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
• Johnson & Wales is off to a 1-2 start to its season after playing just one game last season due to the pandemic, a 0-0 tie at Stonehill College on April 12.
• The Wildcats defeated Post University, 3-2, in their season opener on October 31, before dropping a pair in the NEHC opener last weekend, falling to New England College, 4-1, on Friday night, and then-No. 1 Norwich University last Saturday, 8-1.
• Junior Aaron Garrison scored the lone goal in the loss to NEC, and first-year Jacob Perrin made 33 saves in his collegiate debut.
• Sophomore Declan Dennehy scored a late goal against Norwich to break up the shutout, and Perrin made 17 saves on 20 shots in relief of sophomore starter Jaxon Friedman, who made 13 saves on 18 shots against the top-ranked Cadets.
• JWU joined the NEHC for the 2018-19 season, posting a combined 8-38-4 overall record and 3-29-3 conference mark in its first two campaigns.
SCOUTING THE BEACONS
• UMass Boston (2-1-1, 1-0-1 NEHC) started receiving votes in the USCHO.com Division III poll after capturing three out of four points in a pair of NEHC games last weekend.
• The Beacons pulled out a 3-3 overtime tie with No. 1 Norwich last Friday night in Northfield, Vermont, and came back with a 5-2 victory over New England College Saturday in Henniker, N.H. UMB split its first two conference games of the season at the Curry College Halloween Tournament, downing UMass Dartmouth 4-3 in the opener before fall to host Curry in the second game, 5-3.
• Junior Dakota Concannon scored a goal and added an assist to pace the Beacons against Norwich. Senior Jeffrey Skinner and junior Joe Petruzzella also scored in the team's first-ever tie against the Cadets. Junior Sam Best made 26 saves as UMass Boston outshot Norwich, 42-29.
• Freshman Ty Matthews potted his first two collegiate goals and added an assist in the win over NEC. Sophomores Owen Bourdow and Corey Clifton each added their first collegiate goals and Best moved to 2-0-1 on the season with 29 saves on 31 shots.
• The Beacons finished 14-11-1 overall and 10-7-1 in the NEHC in the last full season in 2019-20.
PILING UP THE POINTS
• Black, who became just the third Babson player since 2010 to produce 30 or more points in 2019-20, extended his points streak to 13 games with an assist at Plymouth State in the season opener and five points last weekend.
• He has 13 goals and 11 assists for 24 points during his 13-game streak, which dates back to the Beavers' 2020 regular season finale against Hobart.
NEHC WEEKLY HONORS FOR ARVANITIS, BLACK
• Arvanitis was named NEHC goaltender of the week and Black was selected NEHC player of the week after the successful weekend against Elmira and Hobart.
• Arvanitis earned the honor after going 1-0-1 with a 2.41 goals against average and a .926 save percentage in two starts. He was on the NEHC Honor Roll the previous week.
•Black garnered the honor after a five-point weekend (2 goals, 3 assists), including a career-high four-point game in Friday's win over the Soaring Eagles. He followed it up by scoring the game-tying goal midway through the third period in Saturday's tie with the Statesmen
POLL POSITION
• Babson collected four first-place votes and was picked to finish second in the NEHC preseason coaches' poll.
• 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 (60) was picked fourth.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson is 24-0-0 when leading after two periods over the last two seasons.
• The Beavers have won 21 of 22 games over the last two years when scoring first.
• The Beavers are unbeaten over their last 26 contests when allowing two or fewer goals, a streak that extends back to November 23, 2019.
UP NEXT
• Babson returns home for its next three games, hosting Castleton and Skidmore for NEHC contests on November 19-20 and Tufts for a non-conference matchup on Nov. 23.
