No. 11 Men's Ice Hockey vs. Elmira
Friday, January 13 | 7 p.m.
Babson Skating Center | Babson Park, Mass.
No. 11 Men's Ice Hockey vs. No. 1 Hobart
Saturday, January 14 | 4 p.m.
Babson Skating Center | Babson Park, Mass.
SERIES HISTORY
vs. Elmira
• Babson is 7-6-0 all-time against the Soaring Eagles in a series that dates back to 1977-78.
• The Beavers have won three of the last four meetings, including a 3-2 overtime win in the NEHC Tournament semifinals last March in western New York.
• Eight of the last nine encounters dating back to the 1990-91 season have been decided by either one or two goals.
vs. Hobart
• Babson is 11-7-5 all-time against the Statesmen in a series that dates back to the 1987-88 season.
• The Green and White captured three out of four points in the two meetings last season, including a 2-2 tie in Babson Park and a 5-3 win in Geneva, N.Y.
• The Beavers are 0-2-2 against Hobart in the last four games at the Babson Skating Center dating back to 2017.
LAST MEETING
vs. Elmira
• Senior Andrew Holland and graduate student Max Torrez scored goals 62 seconds apart in the second period and No. 7 Babson went on to a 3-1 road victory over No. 11 Elmira on November 5, 2022 in Pine Valley, N.Y.
• Sophomore Wyatt George also scored a third-period power play goal for the Beavers, while first-year defenseman Will Holland collected three assists and classmates Ryan Murphy helped set up two. Senior Nolan Hildebrand made 36 saves in goal to post his second win of the season.
• Elmira scored first on a second-period power play goal from junior Bailey Krawczyk with an assists from senior Graham Denomme and junior Daniel Dimon. Senior Jeffrey Zero made 26 saves in goal for the Soaring Eagles in the setback.
vs. Hobart
• Third-ranked Hobart scored a pair of power play goals and added a short-handed marker in a three-goal second period and the Statesmen went on to a 4-1 victory over No. 7 Babson in the conference opener for both schools on November 4, 2022 in Geneva, N.Y.
• First-year Egan Schmitt scored his second goal of the season for Babson and juniors Thomas Kramer and Colby Bailey recorded assists. First-year Nate Mueller made his collegiate debut in goal for the Beavers and finished with 35 saves in the setback.
• First-year Tristan Fasig led the Statesmen with a goal and an assist, and graduate student Zach Tyson, sophomore Luke Aquaro, and first-year Tanner Hartman scored once each in the win. Juniors Gagik Malakyan and Jonah Alexander and sophomore Cooper Swift collected assists and first-year Damon Beaver made 28 saves in goal to improve to 2-0 in his two starts this season.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 11 Babson (10-4-2, 5-2-2 NEHC) has won three straight games in the unofficial start of the second half of the season, including a 3-2 conference victory at Southern Maine last Saturday.
• Andrew Holland scored the go-ahead goal at 13:31 of the third period and junior Chris Rooney and first-year Mike Stevens each scored once in the win. First-year Charlie Andriole picked up a pair of assists for the Beavers and Hildebrand stopped 30 of 32 shots in goal for the Beavers.
• Kramer (5-10-15) is tied for third in the NEHC in scoring and tied for fifth in assists, while Andrew Holland (6-6-12) is tied for fourth in the conference with three power play goals. Murphy (4-6-10) is third on the team and tops among the 13 first-year skaters on the roster. Senior James Perullo (4-5-9) and Will Holland (1-7-8) are tied for fifth and seventh in the conference in scoring by defensemen.
• Hildebrand (8-1-2, 1.79 GAA, .939 sv. pct.), who has started six of the last seven Babson games, is second in the NEHC in victories and fourth in goals against average.
SCOUTING THE SOARING EAGLES
• Elmira (8-6-1, 5-2-1 NEHC) is coming off a 3-3 overtime tie at New England College last Saturday in Henniker, N.H. after a 2-1 loss at No. 10 Norwich on Friday.
• Krawczyk and junior Amedeo Mastrangeli scored for the Soaring Eagles in the last seven minutes of regulation to force overtime at NEC. Classmate Chance Gorman also scored for Elmira and Zero made 37 saves in goal in the deadlock.
• Mastrangeli (1-13-14), a defenseman, leads the NEHC in assists. First-year Kerfalla Toure (6-6-12) and Krawczyk (3-7-10) are also top scorers while Gorman (7-2-9) is the team's top goal scorer. Junior Janis Vizbelis (6-1-7) is tied for fourth in the conference with three power play goals.
• First-year Kyle Curtin (5-3-0, 1.89 GAA, .941 sv. pct.), who has eight starts for the Soaring Eagles, is fifth in the NEHC in goals against average and tied for fourth in save percentage while Zero (2-2-1, 2.97 GAA, .903 sv. pct.) has started five games between the pipes.
SCOUTING THE STATESMEN
• No. 1 Hobart (14-1-0, 7-1-0 NEHC), which will play at Southern Maine on Friday, won its first 14 games of the season before suffering a 2-1 loss at No. 10 Norwich last Saturday.
• Junior Wil Crane gave the Statesmen a 1-0 lead with a first period goal with an assist from first-year Tanner Daniels but Norwich rallied with a pair of second-period strikes. Beaver made 16 saves in goal in the setback as Hobart outshot the Cadets, 37-18.
• Junior Jonah Alexander (8-11-19) and sophomore Luke Aquaro (10-8-18) are 1-2 in the NEHC in scoring and have combined for five power play goals, while sophomore Shane Shell (3-10-13) is tied for fifth in assists.
• Beaver (7-1-0, 0.87 GAA, .961 sv. pct.) and Mavrick (7-0-0, 1.14 GAA, .941 sv. pct.) have shared time in the Statesmen goal, and rank 1-2 in the NEHC and 1-3 in Division III in goals against average. Beaver is also tops in Division III in save percentage.
A LOOK AT THE NEHC
• Norwich (7-1-1, 22 pts) has taken over the top spot in the NEHC standings, one point ahead of Hobart (7-1-0, 21 pts).
• Babson (5-2-2, 17 pts) has a narrow margin over Elmira (5-2-1, 16 pts) for third place, and Skidmore (4-3-1, 13 pts) and New England College (4-4-1, 13 pts) are tied for fifth.
NCAA STATISTICS
• Babson is ranked 14th in Division III in scoring defense, allowing just 2.12 goals per game, and 16th in power play percentage, converting at a 23.1 percent clip.
• Elmira is right behind in 17th in scoring defense, giving up 2.20 goals per game, while ranking 25th in scoring margin (+1.07 goals per game).
• Hobart is No. 1 in Division III in both scoring defense (1.00 gpg) and penalty killing percentage (93.5 percent) and No. 2 in scoring margin (+2.53). The Statesmen are 19th in scoring offense (3.53 gpg).
PLUS-MINUS
• Will Holland shares the top spot in the NEHC in plus/minus rating at +18, while Perullo is third at +14.
• Aquaro (+13) and sophomore Cooper Swift (+13) are tied for fourth in the conference for Hobart and Alexander (+11) is tied for sixth. Elmira's Mastrangeli (+10) is tied for eighth.
300 AND COUNTING
• Babson head coach Jamie Rice '90, in his 19th year behind the Beaver bench, recorded the 300th win of his career with the victory over Southern Maine.
• Rice, who became Babson's all-time wins leader back in 2019, is one of 13th active Division III coaches with 300 wins.
POLL POSITION
• The NEHC has three teams in this week's USCHO Division III men's poll – No. 1 Hobart, No. 5 Norwich and No. 11 Babson.
• The Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (No. 3 Adrian, No. 7 Aurora, No. 9 St. Norbert) and Commonwealth Coast Conference (No. 4 Endicott, No. 13 Curry, No. 14 Univ. of New England) also have three ranked teams and the SUNYAC (No. 6 Oswego, No. 8 Geneseo) has two.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 5-1-1 at home this season and are 20-3-3 since the start of 2020-21 at the Babson Skating Center.
• The Green and White are 10-2-1 this season and 28-5-2 since the start of last season when scoring at least three goals.
• Babson is 7-1 this season when taking a lead into the third period and is 62-1-2 when leading after two periods since 2017-18.
• The Beavers are 8-2-1 this season when scoring a power play goal and are 22-5-2 when scoring with the man advantage going back to last season.
UP NEXT
• The Beavers will be on the road for a pair of NEHC games January 20-21, traveling to Johnson & Wales (in Attleboro, Mass.) on January 20 and visiting UMass Boston on January 21.
