Men's Ice Hockey vs. UMass Boston
Friday, January 26 | 7 p.m.
Babson Skating Center | Babson Park, Mass.

Men's Ice Hockey at Johnson & Wales
Saturday, January 27 | 4 p.m.
Babson Skating Center | Babson Park, Mass.

WHAT TO KNOW
• Babson men's ice hockey will play on home ice this weekend for the first time since December 2 with a New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) set against UMass Boston on Friday and Johnson & Wales on Saturday inside the Babson Skating Center.
• The Beavers will play four of their six remaining games at home heading down the stretch of the regular season.

SERIES HISTORY
vs. UMass Boston
• Babson is 50-22-6 all-time against UMass Boston in a series that dates back to the 1978-79 season.
• The last four Beaver victories in the series have come by at least three goals while the last three losses have been by no more than two goals.
• Over the past decade, the Green and White are 9-2-0 against UMB at the Babson Skating Center.
vs. Johnson & Wales
• Babson is unbeaten in nine career games versus Johnson & Wales in a series that dates back to 2018, outscoring the Wildcats 54-16.
• The 5-4 overtime verdict over the Wildcats in Attleboro in November was the smallest margin of victory in the series.
• The Green and White have won all four games over JWU at the Babson Skating Center by at least three goals.

LAST MEETING
vs. UMass Boston
• Senior Thomas Kramer recorded his second career hat trick and 13 players tallied at least one point as Babson rolled to a 6-1 victory over UMB on November 18, 2023 inside the Barry Rink in Boston.
• Sophomore Cam Joslin tallied a goal and an assist for the Beavers while junior Matt Cormier and sophomore Egan Schmitt scored once each and sophomore Nolan Woudenberg collected a pair of assists in the win. sophomore Nate Mueller made 38 saves in goal to record his fourth consecutive victory.
• Sophomore Jude Kurtas scored the lone goal for the Beacons with assists from first-years Jacob Kaminski and Jack Ford. Graduate student Sam Best made 23 saves before giving way to first-year Antonio Tarantino, who finished with nine saves in the final 17 minutes.
vs. Johnson & Wales
• Kramer scored twice, senior Colby Bailey finished with a career-high four assists and sophomore Ryan Murphy scored 2:12 into overtime as visiting Babson rallied from a three-goal deficit to defeat Johnson & Wales, 5-4, on November 17, 2023 inside the New England Sports Village in Attleboro.
• Schmitt and first-year Jimmy Fallon both scored once, Murphy had two assists and sophomore Charlie Andriole chipped in with a helper in the win. Mueller made 27 saves to record the win for the Beavers.
• Senior Brendan Shandley had a goal and two assists, while Joe Freeman, Brent Rickett and Brendan Doyle all finished with a goal and an assist for the Wildcats. First-year goaltender Jake Inzirillo made 21 saves in the loss.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (9-8-2, 7-4-1 NEHC) has gone 3-3-0 since its last home game, including conference losses at No. 1 Hobart (5-0) and No. 2 Elmira (4-1) last weekend in western New York.
• Cormier scored the lone goal for the Beavers with assists from sophomores Danny Cavanagh and Nolan Dion. First-year goalie Mason Rosado made 20 saves in goal on 23 shots against Elmira but took the loss after Mueller registered 34 saves in the setback to Hobart. 
• Murphy (7-11-18) leads the team in scoring and plus/minus (+12) while George (7-6-13) is tied for second in goals and points and Kennedy (2-11-13) is tied for the team lead in assists and points. Schmitt (8-4-12) tops the team in goals and is tied with Bailey (3-9-12) in points, and Andriole (0-11-11) also shares the team lead in assists.
• Mueller (3.19 GAA, .900 Sv. Pct.) has started 12 games for the Beavers while Rosado (2.55 GAA, .895 Sv. Pct.) has gotten the nod in goal in seven games.

SCOUTING THE BEACONS
• UMass Boston (7-10-2, 5-7-0 NEHC) is coming off a strong weekend at home, posting a 5-3 victory over New England College on Friday and upsetting No. 13 Norwich on Saturday, 1-0
• Best recorded 33 saves against the Cadets, including 19 in the second period, to earn his program-record seventh career shutout while first-year Jakob Teply broke a scoreless tie at 16:01 of the third period with the game-winning goal. Graduate Conor Foley and sophomore Jazz Krivstov combined for two goals and four assists and Tarantino made 23 stops in the win over NEC.
• Foley (5-7-12) has a goal in four of his last six games and leads the team in scoring whiles Kurtas (6-5-11) has a team-high two power play goals. Senior Kevin Sadovsky (5-3-8), junior Kolye Bankauskas (4-4-8) and first-year Chris Repmann (3-5-8) are also offensive contributors for the Beacons.
• Best (2.88 GAA, .909 sv. pct) has started 13 games for UMB and ranks seventh in the league in GAA and save pct. Tarantino (4.05 GAA, .869 sv. pct) is 1-3-2 in six starts.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
• Johnson & Wales (5-12-2, 2-9-1 NEHC) begins the weekend Friday at Southern Maine after snapping a four-game losing streak last Saturday with a 4-3 home victory over New England College.
• Rickett scored the game-winning goal with 39 seconds remaining in regulation to snap the skid. Sophomore Davis Bone added two goals and an assist for the Wildcats, who surpassed their win total for all of 2022-23 by rallying for two goals in the third. Doyle added a pair of helpers, senior Carter Elrod scored his first of the season, and first-year goaltender Jake Inzirillo made 35 saves in the win.
• Doyle (14-8-22) and Rickett (11-7-18) are 1-2 in the NEHC in power play goals with 7 and 6, respectively, and senior Brendan Shandley (8-14-22) is tied for fourth in the league in assists. Bone 6-9-15) and Freeman (6-9-15) are also solid contributors to the offense.
• The Wildcats have rotated three goaltenders as senior Jaxon Friedman (4.40 GAA, .894 sv. pct) has seven starts and Inzirillo (4.06 GAA, .897 sv. pct) and junior Jacob Perrin (4.53 GAA, .899 sv. pct) have six starts each.

A CHECK ON THE NEHC STANDINGS
• Babson (7-4-1) enters the weekend in fifth place with 19 points, six points back of Elmira (8-3-1) and Norwich (7-3-3), who are tied for third in the league with 25 points apiece. Defending champion Hobart (10-1-1) holds the conference lead with 31 points, while Skidmore (9-2-1) is second with 28.
• UMass Boston (5-7-0) is in sixth place with 16 points, three back of Babson. Johnson & Wales (2-9-1) is in ninth with eight points, just one point behind Southern Maine for eighth place and the final playoff spot.

HOME ICE ADVANTAGE
• The Beavers are 4-2-2 at the Babson Skating Center this season and have a 28-7-5 home record over the past four seasons.
• Babson is 53-16-7 on home ice since 2017-18 and 97-19-12 at home since February of 2013.

BABSON VS. THE OPPONENTS
• Kramer is the current active scoring leader against UMass Boston with six goals and two assists for eight points in six career games. Bailey has one goal and three assists in five outings and George has tallied three assists in four appearances.
• Kramer has put up three goals and three assists for six points in five games against Johnson & Wales while Bailey has collected five assists in four contests.
• Mueller stopped 38 of the 39 shots he faced (.974) to defeat UMB in his only appearance against the Beacons, and he is 2-0 against Johnson & Wales with a 3.44 goals against average and a. 887 save percentage.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Green and White are 9-1-1 this season when scoring at least three goals and 26-3-2 over the past two season with at least three strikes.
• Babson is 6-2 when leading after the first period and are 16-3-1 over the past two seasons when taking a lead into the second period.
• The Beavers are 6-3 this season when scoring the first goal of the game and 21-5-1 since last season when drawing first blood.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers will make their last road trip of the regular season next weekend with visits to No. 9 Skidmore on Friday and Castleton on Saturday.