No. 15 Men's Ice Hockey at Milwaukee School of Engineering
Friday, October 27 | 8 p.m. (ET)
Kern Center | Milwaukee, Wis.

No. 15 Men's Ice Hockey at Lake Forest
Saturday, October 28 | 6 p.m. (ET)
Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse | Lake Forest, Ill.

WHAT TO KNOW
• The puck drops on the 2023-24 Babson College men's ice hockey season this weekend when the Beavers travel to the Midwest to take on a pair Northern Collegiate Hockey Association opponents.
• The Green and White will face-off Friday night at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) and Saturday afternoon at Lake Forest College in Illinois.

SERIES HISTORY
vs. MSOE
• The teams have split the two games in the all-time series that dates back to the 2005-06 season.
• MSOE prevailed in overtime in the first game of the series, 3-2, at the Babson Invitational on November 26, 2005, and the Beavers won the most recent contest, 4-3, in December of 2018 in Milwaukee.
vs. LAKE FOREST
• Babson has a 4-0 lead over the Foresters in the all-time series that dates back to the 1989-90 season.
• The Beavers won a pair of 3-2 games over Lake Forest at home in the 1989-90 and 1995-96 seasons, then swept a home-and-home series in the last decade, winning 4-1 in Babson Park in 2017 and 3-2 in Lake Forest in 2018.

LAST MEETING
vs. MSOE
• Patrick Flynn '21 scored twice and Bryan Botcher '19 stopped a season-high 38 shots to lift visiting Babson to a 4-3 win over MSOE on December 29, 2018, inside the Kern Center.
• Tommy Munichiello '19 had a goal and two assists for three points, while Matt Brazel '19 also scored for the Beavers. Cooper Norton '21 and John Corrigan '22, Cam Schmitt '22 and Matt Wiesner '22 each recorded an assist in the victory.
• Evan Kearns '20 scored twice, Jack Nickels '22 added a goal, and Garrett Gintoli '21 chipped in with three assists for the Engineers. Rock Boynton '21 made 23 saves in defeat.
vs. LAKE FOREST
• Sophomore Nick Rosa '21 scored the go-ahead goal with 1:27 to go in regulation as visiting Babson rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat Lake Forest, 3-2, on December 30, 2018 in Lake Forest.
• Ryan Black '22 finished with a goal and an assist, Cooper Norton '20 scored once, and Mike Egan '22 contributed two assists for the Beavers. Senior Ryan Campbell '22 registered his first career point with an assist and goaltender Matt Pompa '19 made 31 saves in the win.
• Aaron O'Neill '21 and Mark DerManulian 21 both scored on the power play for the Foresters. Joe Sardina '21, Cody Guidorzi '19 and Bron Loiselle '19 all chipped in with an assist, while George Argiropoulos '19 turned away 26 shots in defeat.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson is coming off a successful season that ended with a 17-9-2 overall record and a 10-6-2 mark in the NEHC. The Beavers finished third in the conference in the regular season before advancing to their second straight conference tournament final.
• The Green and White return a group of 21 experienced veterans from last year's squad and welcome a contingent of six talented newcomers to the team under head coach Jamie Rice '90.
• Senior Thomas Kramer (10-15-25) led the team in scoring and earned All-New England and All-NEHC Second Team honors last season. Kramer and senior blue-liner Colby Bailey (3-4-7) hold leadership roles as team captains. Sophomore Ryan Murphy (8-14-22) led all conference rookies in scoring and classmate defenseman Nolan Dion collected NEHC All-Rookie team accolades.
• Sophomore Nate Mueller is the only experienced goalie after making five starts last season, posting a 3-2 record with a 2.75 GAA and a .917 save percentage.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
• MSOE finished up the 2022-23 season with a 15-12-0 record, including 9-9-0 in the NCHA. The Raiders faced Trine in the NCHA Harris Cup quarterfinals and fell in a 20-minute mini-game, 1-0, after splitting for the first two games of the series.
• The Raiders return the NCHA freshman of the year in Gramm McCormack (12-18-30), who was third on the team in points and second in assists. Senior Kevin Paganini (8-9-17) is back after a solid performance a season ago along with sophomore Carson Jones (3-10-13).
• Sophomore Austin Schwab returns in between the pipes for the Raiders after starting 20 games with a 2.87 goals against average and a .907 save percentage last season.

SCOUTING THE FORESTERS
• Lake Forest is looking to improve on last year's 11-12-4 campaign after finishing seventh in the NCHA with a 7-8-3 mark. The Forester faced No. 10 Aurora in the NCHA Harris Cup quarterfinals and fell in a 20-minute mini-game, 4-0, after splitting for the first two games of the series.
• Seven of the nine Foresters who reached double figures in points in 2022-23 are back, including NCHA All-Freshman Team forward Colin Bella, who scored a team-high 11 goals and added 11 assists. Other top returnees include sophomore Justin Ross (9-8-17), juniors Matteas Derraugh (4-13-17) and Jared Gerger (8-7-15) and senior Tyler Nielsen (8-7-15).
• Sophomore Dylann Kruss (1-3-2, 2.84 GAA, .918) is the top returning goalie after making six starts for the Foresters last season.

BEHIND THE BENCH
• Now in his 20th season behind the Beaver bench, head coach Jamie Rice '90, has guided the program to an overall record of 307-154-45 (.652), four ECAC East Tournament championships and the 2022 NEHC Tournament title.
• A three-time conference coach of the year and Edward Jeremiah Award finalist, and 2007 New England Coach of the Year, Rice has led the program to six NCAA Tournament berths, including national quarterfinal appearances in 2013, 2014 and 2022.
• New to the Beaver staff this season is full-time assistant Chris Hall, who spent the last five seasons as an assistant women's coach at Merrimack after serving as an assistant men's coach at Colby from 2012-18. He also spent one year each at Amherst College and UMass Amherst.

SEASON OPENERS
• The Green and White have won three straight and four of their last five season openers, including a 3-2 overtime victory over Plymouth State last year at the Babson Skating Center.
• The Beavers are 7-3 in season debuts since 2013 and have won three of their last four when the season opener is on the road.

PRESEASON POLLS
• The Beavers were picked to finish third when the NEHC preseason coaches' poll was released last week.
• Babson is ranked 15th in the USCHO.com preseason Division III poll.
• Three NEHC teams are ranked in the top 15 of the Division III poll (No. 1 Hobart, No. 8 Norwich, No. 15 Babson) and one other is receiving votes (New England College).

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers went 15-2-1 last season when scoring the first goal of the game and finished 17-2-1 when scoring at least three goals.
• The Green and White were 10-1-1 when leading after the first period and 13-1-0 when ahead after two frames.
• Babson finished 16-3-1 when allowing two goals or less last year and is 76-3-7 since 2017-18 when allowing no more than two goals.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers will return to Massachusetts for the home opener and the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) debut on Friday, November 3, against Southern Maine at the Babson Skating Center.