NEHC Tournament Quarterfinal
No. 8 Men's Ice Hockey vs. No. 14 Norwich
Saturday, February 19 | 4 p.m.
Babson Skating Center | Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• The Beavers are 26-46-7 all-time against Norwich in a series that dates back to the 1975-76 campaign.
• The teams split this year's regular season games, with the road team winning both contests. Babson pulled out a 6-4 victory at Kreitzberg Arena in December, and the Cadets repaid the favor with a 3-2 overtime victory at the Babson Skating Center just two weeks ago.
• The Green and White have won four of the last seven over Norwich in the Babson Skating Center.

EARLIER THIS SEASON
• Sophomore Thomas Kramer recorded a natural hat trick in the third period, including the game-winning goal with 49.9 seconds remaining and an empty-netter with 26 seconds to play, as No. 9 Babson came from behind to defeat No. 6 Norwich, 6-4, at Kreitzberg Arena on December 4.
• Babson finished with a 30-21 advantage in shots, including 23-14 after the first period, and both teams scored twice on the power play.
• Senior Brett Ouderkirk scored a power play goal a minute and 29 seconds into overtime to give Norwich a 3-2 victory over No. 7 Babson inside the Babson Skating Center on February 4.
• The Beavers evened things up at 2-2 at 6:47 of the third period, capitalizing on a five-minute major power play on a goal by graduate student Paul Boutoussov. A major penalty then went in favor of Norwich that decided the game as a Babson player was whistled off with 27 seconds remaining in the regulation.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 8 and fourth-seeded Babson (16-5-2, 11-5-2 NEHC) opens the playoffs with a three-game winning streak and victories in seven of its last eight games after sweeping Southern Maine in an NEHC home-and-home series last weekend.
• Senior Ryan Black scored once and matched his season high with four points and classmate Mike Egan had a three-point night with two goals and one assist to help No. 8 Babson defeat USM, 4-1, in the Friday evening contest inside the Babson Skating Center.
• Boutoussov and senior Matt Wiesner each matched their season highs with three points on two goals and one assist as Babson downed USM 6-2 Saturday inside the USM Ice Arena.
• Black (16-17-33) ranks second in the NEHC in points and third in goals, while Egan (12-16-28) is sixth in assists and fifth in points. Kramer (11-11-22) also averages a point per game and Wiesner (10-11-21) posted his third 20-point season.
• Boutoussov shared the NEHC lead with six power play goals, and Black led all players in NCAA Divisions I, II and III with seven game-winning goals.
• The Beavers have scored six power play goals in their last four games are ranked fifth in Division III in power-play percentage (29.3) and 11th in scoring offense (4.13 goals per game).

SCOUTING THE CADETS
• No. 14 and fifth-seeded Norwich (12-5-5, 9-5-4 NEHC) earned a single point against the top two teams in the NEHC last weekend at Kreitzburg Arena after having won three in a row and six of its previous seven.
• Senior defenseman Logan vande Meerakker scored a power-play goal and senior Drennen Atherton made 31 saves last Friday to help the Cadets earn a 1-1 tie against No. 7 Elmira. 
• Norwich got blanked 2-0 last Saturday by No. 6 and NEHC regular season winner Hobart in the regular season finale.
• First-year Clark Kerner (13-13-26) tops the Cadets in goals and points and senior Devon Becker (2-21-23) is second in the NEHC in assists. Ouderkirk (12-9-21) is also a serious offensive threat for the Cadets with 73 points in 78 career games.
• The Cadets lead Division III in power play percentage (33.7) and rank 14th in scoring defense with 2.14 goals per game.

BABSON IN THE POSTSEASON
• The Beavers, who are hosting a conference quarterfinal for the 10th year in a row, were upset by seventh-seed Southern Maine in the first round in 2020, snapping a streak of seven straight semifinal appearances going back to 2013.
• Since 2001, Babson has failed to advance out of the quarterfinals just four times (2002, 2008, 2012, 2020).
• After reaching the conference title game eight times in 10 seasons from 2007-16, the Beavers haven't been back to the title game since 2016.
• Babson has captured six conference championships - 1984, 1992, 2007, 2009, 2013 and 2014.

NORWICH IN THE POSTSEASON
• The Cadets have won 14 overall NEHC titles since 1999, the most in conference history. Norwich has made 18 NCAA Tournament appearances.
• Norwich, which has won the NEHC regular season title 20 times in the past 23 years, will be looking to make its 12th straight league tournament semifinal appearance.
• The Cadets won back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020, and have won five others in the past 11 years (2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017).

NEHC PLAYOFFS
• The other conference quarterfinal games include #8 Southern Maine at #1 Hobart, #7 New England College at #2 Elmira, and #6 Skidmore at #3 UMass Boston.
• The conference will re-seed the surviving teams for the semifinal round games, which are slated for Saturday, February 26. The championship game is on tap of Saturday, March 5, at the site of the highest remaining seed.

POSTSEASON HONORS HAVE BEGUN
• Postseason honors have begun to roll in for Black, who was named NEHC Player of the Year and first team all-conference earlier this week.
• Black was joined on the All-NEHC team by Egan and senior John Corrigan, who were second team selections. Kramer earned NEHC All-Rookie team accolades.
• The trip of Black, Egan and Corrigan were all among 30 players selected as semifinalists for the 21st Joe Concannon Award as announced by the Greater Gridiron Club of Boston 

POLL POSITION
• Five of the 10 schools in the NEHC are ranked (4) or receiving votes (1) in this week's USCHO.com Division III poll – No. 5 Hobart, No. 6 Elmira, No. 8 Babson, and No. 14 Norwich are in the top 15, and UMass Boston is among others receiving votes.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 12-3-1 this season when scoring the first goal of the game and 32-4-1 with the first goal over the past three seasons.
• Babson is 9-0-1 this season when leading after the second period, and 42-0-2 when leading after two periods the past four seasons.
• The Green and White are 15-3-1 this season when scoring three goals or more, and 38-4-1 with at least three goals since the start of the 2019-20 season.
• Babson is 11-2-1 this season when scoring on the power play, and 30-5-2 with a PPG over the past three seasons.