Men's Ice Hockey 2/10/2022 12:00:00 AM

Series Preview: No. 8 Men's Ice Hockey vs. Southern Maine

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 32-9-1 all-time against Southern Maine in a series that dates back to 1995.
• This will be the first meeting between the two schools since the seventh-seeded Huskies stunned the second-seeded Beavers, 3-2, in the 2020 NEHC Tournament quarterfinals, snapping an 18-game Beaver winning streak over USM.
• The Green and White swept the regular season series in 2019-20 against Southern Maine, winning 5-2 on the road in November and posting a 5-1 victory on home ice in late January.

LAST MEETING
• Southern Maine scored once in each period and got 37 saves from goaltender Paul Léger '20 in the playoff stunner on February 20, 2022, in Babson Park.
• Seniors Ryan Black and Mike Egan both scored in the final four minutes of the third period as the Beavers attempted to come back from a 3-0 deficit, while graduate student Brad Arvanitis stopped 16 shots in defeat.
• The Beavers outshot Southern Maine 34-14 over the final two periods and 39-19 for the game. Léger made six of his 13 third-period stops in the final four minutes.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 8 Babson (14-5-2, 9-5-2 NEHC) had Tuesday's non-conference game against Williams canceled and is coming off a 5-4 OT win over New England College last Saturday.
• Black scored 3:28 into the extra session and graduate student Paul Boutoussov recorded a pair of first-period goals for the Beavers, who built a 4-2 lead midway through third.
• Black (15-14-29) is tied for the Division III lead with six game-winning goals, Egan (10-15-25) is first on the team in assists and sophomore Thomas Kramer (10-11-21) has notched eight of his 10 tallies in the third period this winter.
• Arvanitis has started each of the last five games and is 9-3-2 with a 2.71 goals against average and a .914 save percentage between the pipes on the year.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
• Southern Maine (7-11-1, 5-8-1 NEHC) has dropped four straight games after suffering a 5-4 OT loss to New England College on Tuesday night.
• Austin Marini had two goals and Christopher Morrison and Curtis Judd both scored once to help the Huskies build a 4-3 lead after two periods.
• Marini (7-6-13) has scored three times on the power play, Judd (4-7-11) has produced three goals and three assists over the last six games and Adam Withers (4-6-10) has three goals over his last five outings.
• Southern Maine's trio of Anthony D'Aloisio, Mason Palmer and Kyle Penton have combined to post a 3.97 goals against average and a .894 save percentage between the pipes.

AN ASSIST FROM THE BLUE LINE
• Senior John Corrigan ranks third among NEHC defensemen with a career-high 14 assists on the year.
• His 14 helpers are tied with Conor Dahlman '20 (2019-20) and rank only behind Mike Vollmin '16, who record 19 assists in 2014-15 and Ben Kravitz '14, who collected 17 in 2012-13, for the most by a Babson defenseman dating back to 2011.
• Corrigan's 38 career assists are the fifth most by a Beavers' blue-liner going back to 2007.

PLAYOFF PICTURE
• Entering the final weekend of the regular season the Beavers are tied with Norwich for fourth place in the NEHC standings with 29 points.
• Babson and the Cadets are just a point behind Elmira and UMass Boston, who both have 30, while Hobart remains first with 34 points.
• The top four seeds will host NEHC quarterfinal contests on February 19.

LEAD DOGS
• Egan (5-7-12) has contributed points in all five games against Southern Maine in his career, while Black (2-5-7) is riding a four-game scoring streak against the Huskies.
• Senior Matt Wiesner has produced four goals and three assists for seven points in five career games versus Southern Maine.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers rank eighth in Division III on the power play converting 27.6 percent of their chances on the year.
• Boutoussov scored three goals in games against Norwich and New England College last weekend and is tied for the team lead with four power play tallies.
• Babson's top line of Black, Kramer and Egan has accounted for 13 goals and 14 assists over the last seven games.
• The Beavers are 8-1-2 this winter when allowing three goals or less.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers are set for a NEHC quarterfinal contest on Saturday, February 19. The tournament pairings will be announced on Saturday night.

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