Men's Ice Hockey 11/4/2021 12:00:00 AM

Weekend Preview: No. 11 Men's Ice Hockey Opens NEHC Play at Home Against No. 13 Elmira and No. 5 Hobart

THE SETUP
• The Beavers open New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) play by hosting a pair of nationally-ranked foes inside the Babson Skating Center.
• Babson will take on league newcomer Elmira on Friday night before hosting Hobart on Saturday.

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Elmira
• Babson is 4-5-0 all-time against the Soaring Eagles in a series that dates back to 1977-78.
• The Beavers have faced Elmira just twice since 2003, winning 2-1 on home ice in 2015 and suffering a 5-3 loss on the road in 2016.
• Babson and Elmira matched up against each other in the NCAA Tournament in both 1988 and 1991.

vs. Hobart
• Babson is 10-6-4 all-time against the Statemen in a series that dates back to the 1987-88 season.
• The Beavers battled to a 0-0 OT tie at Hobart on January 10, 2020, and suffered a 4-1 loss on home ice on February 15, 2020.
• Babson's last win against the Statesmen came on January 12, 2018, in Geneva, N.Y., as Bobby Hall '18 and Ryan Gouveia '18 scored in the third period to rally for a 4-3 victory.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 11 Babson (1-0) opened the season with a 2-1 win at Plymouth State on Saturday.
• First-year Wyatt George tied the game 5:13 into the third period and sophomore Thomas Kramer scored at the 18:50 mark for the Beavers, who got 33 saves from graduate student Brad Arvanitis.
• The Green and White returns six of its top nine scorers from 2021, which includes the senior trio of Ryan Black (8-8-16), Mike Egan (3-6-9) and Matt Wiesner (3-5-8).
• Arvanitis, who earned All-America honors in 2020, is 13-2-1 with a 1.57 goals against average, a .947 save percentage and four shutouts in 18 career starts at Babson.

SCOUTING THE SOARING EAGLES
• No. 13 Elmira (2-0) followed up a season-opening win over Nazareth with a 5-4 victory against Oswego State last Saturday.
• Junior Jake Russo and sophomore Jordan Gonzalez each recorded a goal and an assist for the Soaring Eagles, who got the game-winning tally from Nicholas Domitrovic at 17:00 of the third period.
• Gonzalez (2-2-4) produced back-to-back multi-point games to open the season, sophomore Shawn Kennedy (1-3-4) had three assists in the win over Oswego, and junior Janis Vizbelis (1-2-3) has a point in each of the first two contests.
• Graduate student Chris Janzen, who went 11-5-0 with a 2.32 goals against average in 2019-20, has stopped 47 of 53 shots for a .887 save percentage in two starts between the pipes this season.

SCOUTING THE STATESMEN
• No. 5 Hobart (2-0) followed up a win at Oswego State by defeating Manhattanville, 9-2, in its home opener last Saturday.
• Wil Crane had three goals and Luke Aquaro scored twice for the Statesmen, which erupted for eight second-period goals, including four on the power play.
• Crane (3-0-3), Aquaro (2-1-3) and Jonah Alexander (1-2-3) have combined for six goals, while Ethan Mulhearn and Cooper Swift lead the team with three assists apiece.
• Liam Lascelle and Joe Halstrom, who combined to go 20-5-3 with a 2.23 goals against average and a .910 save percentage in 2019-20, stopped 28 of 30 shots to begin the season last weekend.

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 11 games with an assist at Plymouth State in the season opener.
• He has 10 goals and nine assists for 19 points during his 11-game streak, which dates back to the Beavers' 2020 regular season finale against Hobart.

ARVANITIS NAMED TO HONOR ROLL
• After opening the season with 33 saves on 34 shots, Arvanitis was named ot the NEHC Honor Roll on Monday.
• In his only career start against Hobart on January 10, 2020, Arvanitis made a career-high 47 saves to help the Green and White earn a 0-0 tie.

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 (60) was picked fourth.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• 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.
• Babson is 5-12-4 against nationally-ranked foes going back to the start of the 2017-18 campaign.
• The Beavers have won 16 straight games and are unbeaten over their last 25 contests when allowing two or fewer goals, a streak that extends back to November 23, 2019.

UP NEXT
• Babson travels Johnson & Wales and UMass Boston for NEHC road tests on November 12-13.

Print Friendly Version