Men's Ice Hockey 11/24/2022 12:00:00 AM

Weekend Preview: No. 7 Men's Ice Hockey Visits Old NESCAC Rivals Williams and Amherst

No. 7 Men's Ice Hockey at Williams
Saturday, November 26 | 3 p.m.
Lansing Chapman Rink | Williamstown, Mass.

No. 7 Men's Ice Hockey at Amherst
Sunday, November 27 | 3 p.m.
Orr Rink | Amherst, Mass.

WHAT TO KNOW
• The Babson men's ice hockey team will conclude its five-game road trip games at longtime NESCAC rivals Williams and Amherst on Saturday and Sunday.

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Williams
• Babson is 20-24-3 all-time against the Ephs in a series that dates back to the 1979-80 campaign.
• Four of the last six games between the teams have been decided by a single goal or finished in a tie.
• The Beavers defeated Williams, 5-0, on 2019 to record their first victory in Williamstown since 2007.

vs. Amherst
• Babson is 25-16-4 all-time against the Mammoths in a series that dates back to the 1972-73 season.
• The Beavers snapped a four-game winless slide against Amherst with a 3-2 win last January in Babson Park.
• The Green and White played to a 1-1 OT tie in its last visit to Orr Rink back in 2019.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 7 Babson (6-1-1) extended its unbeaten streak to six games with a 3-2 win at Tufts on Tuesday night.
• First-year Ryan Murphy, junior Thomas Kramer and sophomore Wyatt George all scored over the first 13 minutes of the second period for the Beavers, who got two assists from senior James Perullo and 26 saves from fellow senior Nolan Hildebrand.
• Kramer (2-6-8) has three multi-point games in his last five outings, senior Andrew Holland (4-3-7) recorded his first career hat trick against Johnson & Wales on November 19, and first-year Ian Driscoll (2-5-7) has recorded a point in five consecutive games.
• Hildebrand (4-0-1) boasts a 1.94 goals against average and a .941 save percentage in five starts, while first-year Nate Mueller has gone 2-1 with a 2.67 GAA and a .923 save percentage in three starts in between the pipes for the Green and White.

SCOUTING THE EPHS
• Williams (0-2-0) opened the season with a 5-3 loss at Bowdoin on November 18 and a 5-2 setback at Colby on November 19.
• Junior Sean Clarke and senior Mac Carso scored five minutes apart in the first period and sophomore Cal Sundquist made 21 saves for the Ephs, who saw the Mules strike for four unanswered goals over the final two periods.
• Clarke (1-2-3), Carso (2-0-2) and junior Jamie Cates (1-1-2) have opened the season with points in back-to-back games, while first-year Trevor O'Brien scored his first collegiate goal in the loss to Bowdoin.
• Senior Evan Ruschil, who made 33 saves against Bowdoin, went 7-6-0 with a 1.79 goals against average and a .938 save percentage last winter, while Sandquist was 2-4-1 with a 2.41 GAA and a .911 save percentage a season ago.

SCOUTING THE MAMMOTHS
• Amherst (2-0-0) defeated Hamilton 3-1 in its season opener last Saturday and followed it up with a 6-3 road win over Saint Michael's on Tuesday.
• Sophomore Ben Kuzma had two goals and two assists and classmate Matt Toporowski added a goal and an assist for the Mammoths, who scored twice on the power play and closed the game with three unanswered tallies to break a 3-3 deadlock.
• Kuzma (2-2-4) leads the team in scoring, Quinton Fox (1-2-3) and Tyler Borque (1-1-2) both have points in two straight games, and Josh Burke recorded two assists in the victory over Saint Michael's.
• Junior Alex Wisco stopped 20 of 21 shots in the win over Hamilton after going 2-1-0 with a 2.00 goals against average and a .921 save percentage last year, while sophomore Connor Leslie made 13 saves against the Purple Knights and was 4-2-1 with a 2.89 GAA and a .888 save percentage in 2021-22.

BALANCED BEAVERS
• Through the first eight games of the season, Babson has eight players with at least two goals and nine players contributing at least five points.
• George, Perullo and first-year Egan Schmitt are all tied for second on the team with three goals, while graduate student Max Torrez and first-year Will Holland are tied with Driscoll for second on the squad with five assists.

VETERAN PRODUCTION
• During the Beavers' current six-game unbeaten streak, Perullo (2-4-6) and Torrez (1-5-6) have combined for three goals and nine assists for 12 points and have recorded at least one point in five contests.
• Additionally, Andrew Holland has contributed four goals and two assists for six points and has at least one point in four of six outings.

SPECIAL TEAMS SUCCESS
• Since giving up three power play goals in their only loss of the season at top-ranked Hobart on November 4, the Beavers have killed off 87.5 percent of their penalties (28-of-32), which includes successfully killing off 15 of 16 penalties over the last three games.
• The Green and White has scored a power play goal in six of its first eight games this season and has struck for four shorthanded goals, which is already its most since the 2014-15 campaign.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson is 13-5-1 on the road going back to the start of last season.
• The Beavers are 5-0 this season and are unbeaten over their last 62 games (60-0-2) when taking a lead to the third period.
• Babson is 6-0-1 on the year when scoring three or more goals.
• Going back the start of the 2017-18 campaign, the Beavers are 52-1-5 when allowing two goals or fewer, which includes a 5-0 mark this season.

UP NEXT
• Babson returns home to host Norwich on Friday, December 2, and New England College on Saturday, December 3.

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