Men's Ice Hockey 3/11/2021 12:00:00 AM

Weekend Preview: Men's Ice Hockey Closes 2021 Campaign Against New England College

THE SETUP
• Babson and New England College will play a home-and-home series beginning Friday night at the Babson Skating Center. The series wraps up on Saturday in Henniker, N.H.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 44-22-8 all-time against New England College in a series that dates back to 1977.
• The Beavers swept a pair of games against the Pilgrims back in mid-February and have won three straight matchups going back to last January.
• The teams split a pair of meetings last winter – the Pilgrims won 5-3 in Henniker on November 16, 2019, while the Beavers posted a 4-2 victory on January 24, 2020, in Babson Park.
• Going back to 2015, six of the last 17 games between the teams have gone to overtime.

LAST MEETING
• Junior John Corrigan scored on the power play in the first period and classmate Mike Egan scored the eventual game-winning goal at 13:32 of the second as Babson defeated New England College, 2-1, on February 13 in Henniker, N.H.
• First-year Anthony Cinato scored the Pilgrims' lone goal late in the second period.
• Senior Brad Arvanitis finished with 24 saves for the Beavers, who erased an early two-goal deficit to take the opening game of the series 4-2 on February 12.

SCOUTING THE PILGRIMS
• New England College (3-3) has won three consecutive games after defeating Castleton, 8-3, back on February 27.
• Junior Connor Inger scored three times and classmate Josh Chamberlin added two goals and two assists for the Pilgrims, who tallied four times on the power play.
• Inger (5-3-8) has five goals and six points over the last two games, Chamberlin (3-4-7) has scored three times on the power play, and sophomore Alex LaPlante (3-4-7) produced two goals and two assists in the sweep of Castleton at the end of February.
• The junior duo of Andrew Kormos and Spencer Kozlowski has combined to post a 2.82 goals against average and a .926 save percentage on the year.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (6-0) finished off a two-game sweep of Plymouth State with a 3-1 road victory last Saturday.
• Senior Christian Faggas and juniors Ryan Black and Jack Nisbet all scored a goal for the Beavers, who got 25 saves from sophomore netminder Nolan Hildebrand.
• Black (7-4-11) scored three goals last weekend in two wins over Plymouth State, senior Nick Rosa (3-5-8) is tied for the team lead in assists, and the duo Corrigan (3-3-6) and junior Matt Wiesner (2-4-6) has combined to score three times on the power play.
• Hildebrand is 2-0 with a 0.50 goals against average and a .980 save percentage in two starts, while Arvanitis has won all four of his starts and owns a 2.26 goals against average and a .924 save percentage between the pipes.

FINAL SCENE
• Although all players have been granted a free season of eligibility by the NCAA, Friday's contest will likely be the final home game for Arvanitis, Faggas, Rosa and fellow Babson seniors Brendan Casey, Patrick Flynn and Cooper Norton.
• The group owns a record of 56-22-8 and made a pair of NEHC Tournament semifinal appearances while posting three straight top-three finishes in the league standings.
• The Beavers' senior class enters also owns a 30-10-2 record inside the Babson Skating Center.

NO BETTER TIME
• Sophomore James Perullo notched the first goal of his collegiate career at 18:05 of the third period to break a 5-5 deadlock last Friday night against Plymouth State.

IN THE BLACK
• In addition to scoring the eventual game-winning goal in last Saturday's win at Plymouth State, Black finished with two goals and an assist for a season-high three points in Friday's victory over the Panthers.
• He has at least one point in every game this winter and is riding an eight-game points streak going back to the end of last season.

PRODUCING AGAINST THE PILGRIMS
• Black, Corrigan and Egan combined for four goals and five assists for nine points in February's two-game series against New England College.
• In six career games against the Pilgrims, Black (3-8-11) and Egan (6-3-9) have produced nine goals and 11 assists.
• Additionally, Rosa has a point in three of his last four games against New England College, and Wiesner has scored in four of his six career games against the Pilgrims.

BEAVERS IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
• Hildebrand ranks second nationally in both goals against average and save percentage, while Black is 15th in Division III in points per game (1.83).
• As a team, Babson is tied for sixth in team defense with a 1.67 goals against average, and also ranks seventh in scoring offense (4.50 goals) and eighth on the penalty kill at 87.5 percent.

NUMBER TO KNOW
• The Beavers have scored first in 10 of their last 14 games against New England College.

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