Men's Ice Hockey vs. Vermont State Castleton
Friday, January 10 | 7 p.m.
Saturday, January 11 | 4 p.m.
Babson Skating Center | Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 27-5-5 all-time versus Castleton in a series that dates back to 2004.
• The Beavers are unbeaten over their last 18 games (16-0-2) against the Spartans and 12-0-3 in the series in Babson Park since 2011.
• Eight of the last 11 Babson wins over Castleton have been by at least three goals.

LAST MEETING
• Juniors Ian Driscoll and Egan Schmitt tallied one goal and one assist each and Babson scored four times on the power play on the way to defeating Castleton, 6-2, on February 3, 2024 at Spartan Arena in Rutland, Vt.
• The Beavers also got goals from senior Wyatt George and juniors Danny Cavanagh, Will Holland and Nolan Woudenberg in the victory. Juniors Mike Stevens and Charlie Andriole collected two assists each, classmates Nolan Dion and Ryan Murphy and junior Matt Cormier added one helper apiece, and junior Nate Mueller made 20 saves in net to claim the win.
• Jeremy LaPlante M'24 and senior Andrew Stefura accounted for the Castleton goals, while junior Logan Dapprich and sophomore Cam Reid recorded assists for the Spartans. Senior Simon Brenter had a busy afternoon in goal and finished with 35 saves in the setback.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Babson (7-5-1, 5-3-0 NEHC) brings a three-game winning streak into the weekend after knocking off No. 8 Trinty, 2-1, last Saturday at the Babson Skating Center.
• Sophomore Sean Senior tallied a goal and an assist and Mueller made 32 saves between the pipes for the Beavers, stopping all 13 Trinity shots in the third period. Junior Brendan Kennedy also scored for the Beavers and Schmitt and graduate student Kyle Gierman produced assists in the win.
• George (6-6-12) leads the team in scoring and shares the NEHC lead with three power play goals while Kennedy (7-1-8) is tied for third in the league in goals and graduate student Johnny McElaney (0-7-7) tops the team in assist. Driscoll (4-3-7) and sophomore Joseph Kramer (3-4-7) are also top threats for the Green and White.
• Mueller (1.48 GAA, .951 sv. pct.) has allowed just six goals in his four starts since Thanksgiving, while sophomore Mason Rosado (3.97 GAA, .867 sv. pct.) has a 3-3-1 record in seven starts.

SCOUTING THE SPARTANS
• VTSU Castleton (3-9-1, 1-7-0 NEHC) will be back on the ice for the first time since a 5-3 conference victory over Salve Regina back on December 7 in Rutland, Vt.
• First-years broke out for careers games with Emmett McHardy collecting his first hat trick and Trevor Castino and Luke Chakrabarti added to the Spartans' goal tally. Junior Josh Ward played an outstanding game in goal, making 41 saves to secure his third victory of the year.
• Chakrabarti (9-6-15) is third in the NEHC in scoring and tied for the league lead in goals while Stefura (4-9-13) is seventh in scoring and tied for fifth in assists. McHardy (4-5-9) is third on the team in scoring and senior Zach Papapetros (1-6-7) is tied for second in assists.
• Ward (3.22 GAA, .897 sv. pct) has started nine games for the Spartans and senior Dominic Rodrigue (4.92 GAA, .885 sv. pct) has three starts.

HOME ICE ADVANTAGE
• The Beavers have won four straight home games, all by one goal, and are 5-1 at home on the season, with all five wins by just one goal.
• The Green and White are 22-6-3 on home ice over the past three seasons and 63-18-7 at home since 2017-18.

CHECKING THE NEHC STANDINGS
• Babson (5-3-0), Skidmore (5-3-0) and Elmira (5-2-1) begin the month tied for second in the NEHC, all with 15 points.
• Hobart (8-0-0), seeking its third consecutive league title, remains undefeated on the season at 11-0-0.
• Salve Regina (4-4-0, 12 pts) holds a narrow lead over Norwich (3-1-2, 11 pts) for fifth place, although the Cadets have two games in hand. UMass Boston (3-5-0, 9 pts) and Albertus Magnus (2-3-1, 6 pts) hold down the last two playoff spots while VTSU Castleton (1-7-0) and New England College (1-4-1) are tied for ninth.

BABSON VS. THE SPARTANS
• Senior Matt Cormier (4 gms, 3-3-6) is the active career scoring leader for Babson against Castleton while Schmitt (3 gms, 3-2-5) and Stevens (4 gms, 1-4-5) are just a point behind.
• Four Beavers have collected three career points against the Spartans, George (5 gms, 2-1-3), Ryan Murphy (4 gms, 1-2-3), Dion (4 gms, 0-3-3), and Andriole (4 gms, 0-3-3).
• Mueller is 2-0 in two games vs. the Spartans with a 1.50 goals against average and a .946 save percentage.

BEAVER BITES
• The Beavers are fourth in the NEHC with 39 goals scored and nine power play goals.
• The Green and White are ranked 17th in Division III in power play percentage (0.257).
• George is tied for 14th nationally with three power play goals.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers are 5-2-1 this season and 11-4-3 since the start of last season in games that were decided by one goal or ended in a tie.
• Babson is 5-1-1 this season and 17-2-2 going back to last season when scoring at least three goals.
• Over the past three seasons, Babson is 25-3-1 when leading after the second period, including 4-0-1 this season.
• The Green and White are 4-2-1 this season and 27-10-2 over the past three seasons when scoring at least one power play goal.

UP NEXT
• The Beavers will be on the road for the next four games, beginning with a two-game series at NEHC newcomer Albertus Magnus on January 17-18.