No. 11 Men's Ice Hockey vs. Salem State
Tuesday, January 3 | 6 p.m.
Babson Skating Center | Babson Park, Mass.
SERIES HISTORY
• Babson owns a 23-18-6 advantage in the all-time series against the Vikings which dates back to the 1961-62 season.
• Tuesday's game is just the second meeting between the two schools since 2014, following a 3-2 Viking victory in the 2017-18 season opener in a game played in Falmouth, Mass.
• The Green and White have seven wins and two ties in the last 15 encounters (7-6-2) since 2000, including a 3-2-1 mark against the Vikings at the Babson Skating Center.
LAST MEETING
• Salem State scored a pair of goals just 32 seconds apart early in the third period on its way to defeating Babson, 3-2, on October 28, 2017 at the Falmouth Ice Arena.
• Charlie Ackerman '18 finished with a goal and an assist for the Beavers, while Tommy Munichiello '19 scored once. Ryan Gouveia '18 and Joe DePietto '18 both chipped in with an assist, and goaltender Matt Pompa '19 recorded 16 saves in the loss.
• Michael Casale '18, Derek Makimaa '18 and Parker Wood '19 all scored for the Vikings, who got 49 saves from netminder Jason Pucciarelli '19.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 12 Babson (8-4-2, 4-2-2 NEHC) is coming off a 9-1 victory over Saint Michael's last Friday in the unofficial start to the second half of the season.
• Junior Thomas Kramer tallied two goals and two assists for a career-high four points and 13 players recorded at least one point in the win. First-year Ryan Murphy produced two goals and an assist, graduate student Max Torrez, senior Andrew Holland and sophomore Wyatt George contributed a goal and an assist each, and senior Chris Rooney and first-year Mike Stevens added one goal apiece. Senior Nolan Hildebrand (Penticton, B.C.) made 17 saves in goal to record the win.
• Kramer (5-9-14) is third in the NEHC in scoring and tied for sixth in assists. Holland (5-5-10) is tied for 13th in points and George (5-4-9) and Murphy (4-5-9) are tied for 19th. Senior James Perullo (3-5-8) is tied for fifth in scoring among defensemen and first-year Will Holland (1-6-7) is tied for seventh.
• Hildebrand (6-1-2, 1.85 GAA, .939 sv. pct), who is fourth in the NEHC in both save percentage and goals against average, has shared time between the pipes with first-year Nate Mueller (2-3-0, 2.75 GAA, .917 sv. pct).
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS
• Salem State (2-8-0, 0-6-0 MASCAC) will be back in action for the first time since a 4-1 non-conference loss to New England College on December 8.
• Senior Connor Woolley scored an unassisted goal early in the third for the Vikings' lone goal. First-year Hunter Thomas started in net for Salem State and made 17 saves, and junior Aaron Mercer came on in the third period and saved all 10 shots he faced. The Vikings finished with a 36-31 margin in shots on goal.
• First-year Zach Dill (4-6-10) is the team scoring leader with strong support from junior Erik Larsson (4-5-9) and senior Matt Yianacopolus (3-6-9). Thomas (1-5-0, 4.34 GAA, .890 sv. pct) has started six games in goal for the Vikings and Mercer (0-3-0, 6.00 GAA, .857 sv. pct) has gotten the starting nod three times.
• Salem State has a proud hockey tradition, including 31 MASCAC championships, 10 NCAA Tournament berths and three NCAA Final Fours. The Vikings fell to Plymouth State, 8-4, in last year's MASCAC title game.
KRAMER COLLECTS NEHC HONOR
• After recording four points on two goals and two assists in the win over Saint Michael's last Friday, Kramer was selected as the NEHC Player of the Week on Monday.
• Kramer and first-year linemates Murphy (2g, 1a) and Brendan Kennedy (3a) combined for 10 points in the victory over the Purple Knights.
SHARING THE PUCK
• All four Babson lines got into the scoring action in the victory over Salem State and all 12 forwards recorded at least one point.
• The Beavers got four goals from the first line, two goals from the second and third lines, and one from the fourth.
• The Green and White has produced balanced scoring all season, with 13 players scoring between two and five goals and 11 players scoring their first career goals.
PLUS-MINUS
• Will Holland (+14) is second and Perullo (+12) is tied for fourth in the NEHC in plus/minus ratings.
• The Babson defensive pair is also ranked second and fourth in the league among defensemen.
APPROACHING 300 VICTORIES
• Friday's victory for the Green and White was career win number 298 for head coach Jamie Rice (298-149-45), who is in his 19th season behind the Beaver bench.
• With two more wins, Rice can become the 13th active Division III men's ice hockey coach to reach 300 victories and the sixth in New England.
• Bill O'Neill, in his 41st season at Salem State, is second on the active Division III list and fifth on the all-time list for victories with a career record of 620-425-76 (.587) and can move up one spot with five more victories.
POLL POSITION
• The NEHC has three teams ranked in the latest USCHO.com Division III poll – No. 1 and undefeated Hobart (13-0-0), No. 10 Norwich (9-3-1) and No. 11 Babson.
• The SUNYAC (No. 6 Geneseo, No. 8 Oswego, No. 15 Plattsburgh) and the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (No. 3 Adrian, No. 5 St. Norbert, No.12 Aurora) also have three ranked teams each and the Commonwealth Coast Conference (No. 7 Endicott, No. 14 Univ. of New England) has two.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 4-1-1 at home this season and are 19-3-3 at the Babson Skating Center since the start of the 2020-21 season.
• Babson is 7-1 this season when leading after two periods and is 62-1-2 when taking a lead into the third period since 2017-18.
• The Green and White are 8-2-1 this season when scoring at least three goals and are 71-11-5 since the 2017-18 season when scoring at least three times.
UP NEXT
• The Beavers return to New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action on Saturday with a visit to Southern Maine for a 4 p.m. faceoff.
