No. 6 Men's Ice Hockey at No. 10 Elmira | Saturday, January 15 | 4 p.m.
Murray Athletic Center | Elmira, N.Y.
No. 6 Men's Ice Hockey at No. 5 Hobart | Sunday, January 16 | 4 p.m.
The Cooler | Geneva, N.Y.
WHAT TO KNOW
• The Beavers face a pair of nationally-ranked teams this weekend when they travel to New York to take on No. 10 Elmira and No. 5 Hobart in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) matchups. Babson will be playing its first games since defeating then-No. 6 Norwich, 6-4, back on December 4.
SERIES HISTORY
vs. Elmira
• Babson is 5-5-0 all-time against the Soaring Eagles in a series that dates back to 1977-78.
• The Beavers have faced Elmira just three times since 2003, winning 2-1 on home ice in 2015, suffering a 5-3 loss on the road in 2016, and defeating the Soaring Eagles 6-3 earlier this season on November 5 at the Babson Skating Center.
• Babson and Elmira matched up against each other in the NCAA Tournament in both 1988 and 1991.
vs. Hobart
• Babson is 10-6-5 all-time against the Statesmen in a series that dates back to the 1987-88 season, but Hobart has a 3-2-3 edge at The Cooler.
• The Beavers and Statesmen have tied their last two meetings, a 0-0 overtime deadlock at Hobart on January 10, 2020, and a 2-2 OT draw earlier this season at the Babson Skating Center.
• 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.
LAST MEETING
vs. Elmira
• Senior Ryan Black had a four-point night with two goals and two assists and classmate Mike Egan scored twice to help No. 11 Babson defeat 13th-ranked Elmira, 6-3, on November 5, 2021 in the Babson Skating Center.
• Senior Matt Wiesner and first-year Wyatt George each scored once and graduate Student Brad Arvanitis stopped 37 shots to pick up his second victory of the year.
• Sophomore Chance Gorman recorded a goal and an assist and classmates Shawn Kennedy and Janis Vizbelis each scored once for the Soaring Eagles. Grad student Chris Janzen made 24 saves in just over two periods of action in the loss.
• Babson led 4-0 late in the second period before Elmira got on the board, and each team scored twice in the third period.
vs. Hobart
• Black tied the score with a game-tying power play goal midway through the third period and No. 11 Babson went on to a 2-2 overtime deadlock against No. 5 Hobart on November 6, 2021 at Babson.
• Junior Chris Rooney also scored for the Beavers, and Arvanitis made 26 saves in goal in the draw.
• Senior PA Martineau and junior Brenden Howell tallied goals for the Statesmen, and senior Joe Halstrom made 32 saves in goal.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 6 Babson (8-1-2, 4-1-2 NEHC) brings a five-game winning streak into the weekend, including the come-from-behind win over Norwich in the final game of the first semester on December 4.
• Sophomore Thomas Kramer recorded a natural hat trick in the third period, including the tying goal at 9:43, the game-winner with 49.9 seconds remaining, and an empty-netter with six seconds left.
• The Green and White have four players who have reached double figures in scoring through 11 games -- Black (8-7-15), Egan (6-7-13), Kramer (6-7-13) and Wiesner (5-5-10).
• Three Beaver goalies have started at least two games so far this season, led by Arvanitis, who has a 3-1-2 record with a 2.52 goals against average and a .922 saves percentage.
• Babson is fourth in the NEHC with 4.27 goals per game while allowing just 2.60 goals per outing.
SCOUTING THE SOARING EAGLES
• No. 10 Elmira (11-3-1, 5-2-1 NEHC) extended its winning streak to five games last weekend with an NEHC sweep of New England College and No. 8 Norwich.
• Sophomore Ryan Reifler extended his point streak to six games, collecting two assists in Friday's 5-2 win over NEC and tallying two goals and an assist in Saturday's 5-4 verdict over Norwich.
• Sophomore Shawn Kennedy leads the team in scoring with 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists), while classmate Chance Gorman is second with 21 points (9 goals, 12 assists) and is riding an 11-game point streak.
• The Soaring Eagles enter the weekend second in the nation in power play percentage (.327) and ranked in the top 10 in scoring offense (5.14), scoring margin (+1.80), assists (120) and points (187).
SCOUTING THE STATESMEN
• No. 5 Hobart (11-2-1, 7-0-1 NEHC) sits atop the NEHC after sweeping #8 Norwich and New England College last week at the Cooler, edging the Cadets Friday evening in overtime, 4-3, and nipping the Pilgrims Saturday afternoon, 2-1.
• The Statesmen are led by first-year Luke Aquaro, who has 17 points on 10 goals and seven assists. Senior Aaron Maguyon, who scored the overtime game-winner against Norwich, has a team-best 11 goals and first-year Cooper Swift leads the team with 13 assists.
• Senior Liam Lascelle and Halstrom have split time in goal this season. Lascelle is 5-1-0 with a 2.18 goals against average and a .905 save percentage. Halstrom is 5-1-1 with a 1.92 GAA and a .912 save percentage.
• The Statesmen enter the weekend ranked second in the nation in scoring offense (5.14), scoring margin (+3.14), assists (129) and points (201).
POLL POSITION
• The NEHC has four teams ranked 11th or higher in this week's USCHO.com Division III poll – No. 5 Hobart, No. 6 Babson, No. 10 Elmira and No. 11 Norwich. NEHC schools New England College and UMass Boston are also among others receiving votes.
• The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (No. 1 Adrian, No. 8 St. Norbert, No.13 Aurora) and the Commonwealth Coast Conference (No. 9 Univ. of New England, No. 12 Endicott, No. 15 Curry) have three in the top 15, and the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (No. 3 Utica, No. 7 Wilkes) has two.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 24-1-1 over the last three seasons when scoring first.
• Babson is 28-0-1 when leading after two periods over the last three seasons.
• The Beavers are unbeaten over their last 29 contests when allowing two or fewer goals, a streak that extends back to November 23, 2019.
A LOOK AHEAD
• Babson is scheduled to play a make-up game next Tuesday at 7 p.m. at New England College.
• The Beavers, which haven't played a home game since November 23, play seven of their following nine games at the Babson Skating Center, beginning next weekend, January 21-22, with NEHC matchups against UMass Boston and Johnson & Wales.
