Men's Ice Hockey at No. 8 Elmira
NEHC Tournament Quarterfinals
Saturday, February 17 | 7 p.m.
Murray Athletic Center | Pine Valley, N.Y.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 9-7-0 all-time against Elmira in a series that dates back to 1977-78.
• The Beavers and Soaring Eagles split the two games this season, the Green and White upsetting then-No. 10 Elmira on November 10 in Babson Park, 5-3, and falling to then-No. 2 Elmira on January 20 in Pine Valley, 4-1.
• The outcome in January snapped a four-game Babson winning streak in the series and five of six Beaver wins over the last three seasons.
• The Green and White are 2-3 at Elmira in the last 20 years, with the verdict last month stopping a two-game Babson winning streak.

LAST MEETING
• Senior Jared Smith tallied a power play goal and an assist and sophomore Kyle Curtin made 30 saves as No. 2 Elmira skated past Babson, 4-1, on January 20 inside the Murray Athletic Center.
• Junior Matt Cormier scored the lone goal for the Beavers, who led 1-0 after one period, with assists from sophomores Danny Cavanagh and Nolan Dion. First-year goalie Mason Rosado made 20 saves in goal on 23 shots but took the loss.
• Seniors Ryan Reifler, Jordan Gonzalez, and Amadeo Mastrangeli (empty-netter) also scored goals for the Soaring Eagles, and classmates Nicholas Domitrovic, Janis Vizbelis, as well as juniors Joel Pavey Sarnia and Cole Tucker registered assists.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Fifth-seeded Babson (14-9-2, 12-5-1 NEHC) has won three in a row and five of its last six games following a pair of one-goal victories last weekend over No. 9 Norwich (2-1) on Friday and New England College (4-3) on Saturday at the Babson Skating Center.
• First-year Sean Senier and Dion each notched their first goal of the season in the third period for the game-winners, Senier scoring at 4:15 of the third to break a 1-1 tie and propel the Beavers past Norwich, and Dion scoring at 19:21 of the third to secure the win over NEC. Cavanagh also scored against the Cadets, sophomores Egan Schmitt and Will Holland and first-year Jimmy Fallon produced goals against NEC, and Rosado made 59 saves in goal on the weekend to record the wins.
• Sophomore Ryan Murphy (8-15-23) is in the top 13 in the NEHC in assists and points. Junior Wyatt George (9-8-17) is second in the team in points and Schmitt (10-5-14) leads the squad lead in goals. Senior Colby Bailey (4-11-15) is tied for eighth in the league in scoring by a defenseman and Andriole (0-13-13) is tied for fifth in the NEHC in assists by a blueliner.
• Rosado (2.40 GAA, .912 Sv. Pct.) is 7-3-2 in 12 starts, including six of the last seven encounters, while Mueller (3.10 GAA, .900 Sv. Pct.) is 7-6 in 13 starts for the Beavers.

SCOUTING THE SOARING EAGLES
• Fourth-seeded and No. 8 Elmira (18-6-1, 11-6-1 NEHC) has won three of its last four games following a 4-3 victory over Castleton in the season finale last Saturday inside the Murray Athletic Center.
• Senior Chance Gorman broke a 3-3 tie at 14:46 of the third period with the eventual game-winner, clinching the victory and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Smith, Tucker and senior Shawn Kennedy also scored for the Soaring Eagles, who got 36 saves from graduate student Jeffrey Zero.
• Kennedy (13-23-36), Nicholas Domitrovic (15-18-33) and fellow senior Janis Vizbelis (16-14-30) are three of the top five scorers in the NEHC and top 20 in Division III. The trio has combined for 14 power play goals for a team that leads Division III in power play percentage (33.7). Seniors Jordan Gonzalez (5-12-17) and Mastrangeli (2-15-17) are two of the top five scorers among conference defensemen.
• Curtin (2.43 GAA, .930 sv. pct) has started 20 of Elmira's 25 games and leads the NEHC in saves (588) and ranks second in wins (13).

BABSON IN THE POSTSEASON
• Saturday's game will be the second NEHC playoff game against Elmira, with the Beavers upsetting the Soaring Eagles 3-2 in overtime in the semifinals in 2022.
• The Beavers have advanced to the past two NEHC championship games, winning once, and are playing a quarterfinal game on the road for the first time since defeating Skidmore 5-0 in 2011 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
• The Green and White advanced to last year's title game with a 5-1 home win over UMass Boston in the quarterfinals and a 4-0 victory at Norwich in the semifinals.
• Since 2001, Babson has failed to advance out of the quarterfinals just four times (2002, 2008, 2012, 2020) in 23 appearances.
• Babson has captured seven conference championships - 1984, 1992, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014 and 2022.

ELMIRA IN THE POSTSEASON
• The Soaring Eagles are playing their third straight NEHC Tournament since competing in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) the previous four years and the ECAC West for several decades before that.
• After capturing the UCHC championship in 2021, Elmira was eliminated by Babson in overtime (3-2) in the semifinals in 2022 and knocked out by Skidmore in overtime (4-3) in the quarterfinals last year.
• The Purple and Gold won the ECAC West Tournament Championship 11 times from 1978-2014, and have made 18 NCAA Tournament appearances, most recently as an at-large selection in 2022.

BABSON VS. THE SOARING EAGLES
• Murphy has collected five assists and five points in four career games against Elmira, while senior Thomas Kramer has put up a goal and three assists for four points in six outings.
• Sophomore Charlie Andriole and Holland have produced three assists each in four games, and Cormier and sophomores Ian Driscoll, Mike Stevens and Brendan Kennedy all have one goal and one assist in three contests.

PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE
• Kramer (2g, 3a), George (1g, 3a) and Bailey (0g, 1a) all have eight games of post-season experience, including six NEHC games and two NCAA games. Cormier (0g, 1a) has played in seven postseason contests.
• Murphy (0g, 4a) leads a group of nine sophomores who played all three postseason games last year, and Kennedy (2g, 1a) skated in two playoff games. Holland, Cavanagh, and Schmitt each have one playoff goal and Andriole, Driscoll, Stevens and Nolan Woudenberg have one assist apiece.

TOP RANKED OPPONENTS
• The Beavers are 3-6-0 this season against teams in the US College Hockey Online (USCHO) top 15 Division III rankings.
• Babson produced victories over No. 1 Hobart, No. 10 Elmira and No. 9 Norwich while taking losses to No. 8 Plymouth State (OT), No. 13 Skidmore, No. 11 Norwich, No. 1 Hobart, No. 2 Elmira and No. 11 Skidmore.

BEAVERS BITES
• The Green and White have scored at least one power play goal in five of their last six games, converting 9-of-24 (.375) in that span.
• Goals by Senier and Dion last weekend gave the Beavers 20 different goal scorers on the season.
• The Babson sophomores continue to impress, accounting for 44 of the team's 77 goals (57.1 percent). The juniors have scored 15 goals, the seniors have 10 and first-years have tallied eight.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Green and White are 12-1-1 this season when scoring at least three goals and 29-3-2 over the past two seasons with at least three strikes.
• Babson is 8-2 when leading after the first period and are 18-3-1 over the past two seasons when taking a lead into the second period.
• The Beavers are 10-3 this season when scoring the first goal of the game and 25-5-1 since last season when drawing first blood.

NEHC PLAYOFFS
• The other conference quarterfinal games include #8 Castleton at #1 Hobart, #7 Southern Maine at #2 Norwich, and #6 UMass Boston at #3 Skidmore.
• The conference will re-seed the surviving teams for the semifinal round games, which are slated for Saturday, February 24. The championship game is on tap for Saturday, March 2, at the site of the highest remaining seed.