Men's Ice Hockey at No. 11 Skidmore
Friday, February 2 | 7 p.m.
Saratoga City Rink | Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Men's Ice Hockey at Castleton
Saturday, February 3 | 4 p.m.
Spartan Arena | Rutland, Vt.

SERIES HISTORY
vs. Skidmore
• Babson is 38-8-3 all-time against the Thoroughbreds in a series that dates back to 1999.
• The Thoroughbreds have captured the last two meeting between the two programs after suffering a 23-game winless streak (0-21-2) against Babson that dated back to 2013 
• The Beavers are 15-3-2 all-time in Saratoga Springs, including 8-0-1 in the last nine outings.
vs. Castleton
• Babson is 26-5-5 all-time versus Castleton in a series that dates back to 2004.
• The Beavers are unbeaten over their last 17 games (15-0-2) against Castleton, including 5-0-1 in Vermont.
• The Green and White are 10-4-1 all-time at Spartan Arena.

LAST MEETING
vs. Skidmore
• No. 13 Skidmore erupted for five third-period goals to rally for a 5-2 win over Babson back on December 2 in a battle of NEHC unbeatens inside the Babson Skating Center. 
• Junior Kaeden Patrick finished with two goals and an assist, senior Everett Wardle added a goal and an assist and junior Danny Magnuson and sophomore Connor Wood each scored once for the Thoroughbreds. Senior goaltender Tate Brandon stopped 26 shots to improve to 9-0-1 on the season.
• Junior Wyatt George and sophomore Egan Schmitt each had a goal, while sophomores Will Holland and Nolan Dion and first-year Jimmy Fallon each produced an assist for the Beavers. Sophomore Nate Mueller made 26 saves in the setback.
vs. Castleton
• First-year goalie Mason Rosado turned away 23 shots to earn his first collegiate victory and junior Matt Cormier scored 1:51 into overtime to lift Babson to a 4-3 come-from-behind win over visiting Castleton back on December 1 inside the Babson Skating Center.
• Schmitt finished with two goals and one assist and Fallon had a goal and an assist to lead the Beavers. Senior Colby Bailey, Holland, Dion, and fellow sophomores Charlie Andriole, Mike Stevens and Brendan Kennedy each contributed a helper in the win.
• Junior Bryce Irwin and first-years Josef Vyvial and Cam Reid each had a goal for the Spartans, who got 40 saves from sophomore goaltender Josh Ward. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (11-8-2, 9-4-1 NEHC) is looking to extend a two-game winning streak after posting a 2-1 victory over UMass Boston last Friday and a 3-1 triumph over Johnson & Wales on Saturday in a pair of NEHC home encounters.
• Rosado made 30 saves against UMB and 24 stops vs. JWU for a .964 save percentage on the weekend. Seniors Thomas Kramer (1g, 1a) and Bailey (1g) provided the offense against the Beacons and sophomores Ian Driscoll (1g, 1a) and Cam Joslin (1g, 1a) and George (1g) led the way against JWU.
• Murphy (7-13-20) leads the team in scoring and plus/minus (+14) while George (8-7-15) shares the team lead in goals. Kennedy (2-12-14) is second on the team in assists, Bailey (4-9-13) has scored three of his four goals on the power play, and Schmitt (8-4-12) is tied for the team lead in goals.
• Sophomore Nate Mueller (3.19 GAA, .900 Sv. Pct., 6-6-0) has started 12 games for the Beavers while Rosado (2.20 GAA, .912 Sv. Pct., 5-2-2) has gotten the nod in goal in nine games, including the last three in a row.

SCOUTING THE THOROUGHBREDS
• No. 11 Skidmore (15-4-2, 10-3-1 NEHC) had a six-game winning streak snapped in a 1-0 loss at No. 14 Norwich last Saturday. All four Thoroughbred losses have come to ranked teams (No. 7 Geneseo, No. 1 Hobart, No. 3 Elmira, No. 14 Norwich).
• Brandon turned aside 20 shots in net for the Thoroughbreds. Norwich's goal early in the second period was the only goal in either game this year between the Cadets and Thoroughbreds as the teams tied 0-0 in November in Saratoga Springs.
• Patrick (10-11-21) has three multi-goal games and leads the team in scoring, while Magnuson (8-11-19) had a five-game point streak snapped at Norwich and Wardle (6-12-18) tops the team in assists. Sophomore Ryan Waltman (7-7-14) is third on the team in goals and juniors Will Dow-Kenny (3-10-13), Kevin Urquhart (3-10-13) and Stephen Perez (1-12-13) have also been offensive contributors.
• Brandon (1.50 GAA, .944 sv. pct, 15-2-2, 4 SO) has started 19 of the team's 21 games and ranks in the top 10 in Division III in goals against average (7th), save percentage (10th), and winning percentage (9th, .842).

SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
• Castleton (7-14-0, 4-10-0 NEHC) heads into Friday's game at Southern Maine looking to stop a four-game skid, although three of the losses were to nationally-ranked Skidmore and Norwich prior to last Saturday's 5-2 defeat at New England College.
• Vyvial notched two points on a goal and the primary assist on senior Stone Stelzl's third tally of the season against NEC. Sophomore Dylan Roebuck and first-year Chance Heaphy also collected assists and Ward saved 29 shots in the setback.
• Junior Andrew Stefura (13-9-22) ranks seventh in the NEHC in scoring and tied for third with five power play goals. Irwin (6-13-19) leads the team in assists, Vyvial (6-11-17) is tied for second on the team in both goals and assists, and junior Zach Papapetros (4-11-15) is fourth in the league in scoring by a defenseman.
• Junior Dominic Rodrigue (4.01 GAA, .892 sv. pct) has made 12 starts for the Spartans while Ward (4.86 GAA, .847 sv. pct) has started six games and junior Simon Brenter (5.24 GAA, .896 sv. pct) has gotten the nod three times.

BABSON VS. THE OPPONENTS
• Kramer is the current active scoring leader for Babson against Skidmore with two goals and three assists for five points in six career games. George has two goals and one assist in five outings and Holland has tallied three assists in two appearances against the Thoroughbreds.
• Kramer has put up two goals and four assists for six points in seven games against Castleton while Cormier has totaled three goals and two assists in three contests. Schmitt has two goals and one assist in two games and Stevens has produced a goal and two assists in three outings against the Spartans.
• Mueller made 26 saves in a 5-2 loss in his only appearance against Skidmore and stopped 33 of 34 shots to earn a victory over Castleton last season in his only game vs. Castleton.

NATIONALLY RANKED FOES
• Friday's game against Skidmore will be Babson's eighth contest this season against a team in the US College Hockey Online (USCHO) Division III Poll.
• The Beavers head into Friday with a 2-5-0 mark against the national contenders, with wins over No. 10 Elmira and No. 1 Hobart and losses to No. 8 Plymouth State, No. 13 Skidmore, No. 11 Norwich, No. 1 Hobart and No. 3 Elmira.
• There's one more still to come as the Green and White host No. 12 Norwich on February 9.

A CHECK ON THE NEHC STANDINGS
• With two weeks remaining in the regular season, Babson (9-4-1) is tied with Elmira (8-5-1) for fourth place in the NEHC with 25 points apiece. Defending champion Hobart (12-1-1) holds the conference lead with 37 points, while Skidmore (10-3-1) and Norwich (9-3-3) are tied for second with 31 points.
• Castleton (4-10-0) is tied with Southern Maine (3-8-3) seventh place with 12 points each, in line for the final two playoff spots. Johnson & Wales (2-11-1) and New England College (2-12-1) round out the field with 8 and 7 points, respectively.

BEAVERS BITES
• Dion has earned an assist in three straight games while Murphy and George have two-game point streaks.
• The Babson sophomores have accounted for 34 of the team's 64 goals while the juniors have tallied 14 goals, the seniors have 10 and first-years have tallied six.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Green and White are 10-1-1 this season when scoring at least three goals and 27-3-2 over the past two season with at least three strikes.
• Babson is 7-2 when leading after the first period and are 17-3-1 over the past two seasons when taking a lead into the second period.
• The Beavers are 8-3 this season when scoring the first goal of the game and 23-5-1 since last season when drawing first blood.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers wrap up the regular season at home next weekend, hosting No. 12 Norwich on Friday and New England College on Saturday.