Men's Ice Hockey vs. New England College
NEHC Tournament Quarterfinals
Saturday, March 1 | 4 p.m.
Babson Skating Center | Babson Park, Mass.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson is 51-24-8 all-time against New England College in a series that dates back to 1977.
• The Beavers have captured five in a row and 11 of the last 13 encounters between the two programs, dating back to January of 2020.
• The Green and White are 6-1-1 in the last eight games against NEC at the Babson Skating Center dating back to 2018.

EARLIER THIS SEASON
• The Beavers swept the season series against the Pilgrims, winning 4-1 and 4-2 back on December 6-7 at Lee Clement Arena in Henniker.
• Junior Ian Driscoll scored a pair of goals, including the go-ahead marker at 17:50 of the third period, in the 4-2 victory on December 7. Sophomore Joseph Kramer tallied a goal and an assist for the Beavers and senior Wyatt George scored for the second straight game, while junior Nate Mueller made 28 saves in goal for his second win of the weekend.
• First-year Egor Osipik scored both goals for the Pilgrims, and classmate Anthony Beaulieu made 26 saves in the loss.
• Mueller made 20 saves for his first win of the season and Babson scored twice in both the second and third periods to pull away from NEC for a 4-1 victory on December 6. George and juniors Danny Cavanagh, Tommy Rooney and Brendan Kennedy scored goals for the Beavers.
• First-year Vesse-Wincent Lampen tallied the lone goal for the Pilgrims, and Beaulieu made 42 saves in the setback.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Third-seeded Babson (13-10-2, 11-8-1 NEHC) capped off the regular season with a 2-0 loss and a 0-0 overtime tie against No. 1 Hobart last weekend at the Babson Skating Center.
• Mueller made 28 saves in Friday's 2-0 setback as Babson limited the Statesmen to what was at the time tied for their season low in offense. Mueller stopped 34 shots in Saturday's scoreless draw as Hobart was shut out for the first time since January of 2020.
• George (8-10-18) leads the team in assists and points while Kennedy (12-5-17) tops the team and ranks fifth in the NEHC in goals. Driscoll (7-7-14) and Kramer (5-9-14) are tied for third on the team in scoring and graduate student Johnny McElaney (5-7-12) and junior Ryan Murphy (4-8-12) have reached double digits in points.
• Mueller (2.05 GAA, .933 sv. pct.) is 8-4-1 in 13 starts between the pipes while sophomore Mason Rosado (3.59 GAA, .872 sv. pct.) is 4-5-1 in 10 starts.

SCOUTING THE PILGRIMS
• Sixth-seeded New England College (10-14-1, 9-10-1 NEHC) wrapped up the regular season last weekend with a pair of one-goal games at home vs. Albertus Magnus, winning 2-1 on Friday and 5-4 on Saturday.
• Osipik tallied a goal and an assist and sophomore Gunnar Sibley added a goal and two assists in Saturday's loss. Junior Graham Padgitt also scored for the Pilgrims and Beaulieu finished with 18 saves. Sibley and senior David Novotny scored shorthanded goals just 12 seconds apart in the second period in Saturday's win, while Beaulier made 38 saves to produce the win. Sibley and Osipik were named NEHC Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively.
• Senior Jesper Tarkiainen (5-15-20) leads the team in points while Novotny (11-8-19) and Osipik (10-8-18) are the top goal scorers. Sibley (9-9-18) had a team-high five power play goals and Osipik has four goals with the man advantage. Sophomore Jack Herron is second on the team with 12 assists.
• Beaulieu (2.49 GAA, .927 sv. pct) has enjoyed a solid rookie campaign, starting 23 of the team's 25 games and posting two shutouts.

BABSON IN THE POSTSEASON
• Saturday's game will be the 10th career playoff game between Babson and NEC going back to 1983 and first since 2017, with the Pilgrims winning five of the first nine meetings.
• The Beavers lost a semifinal game to NEC, 3-2 in overtime in Henniker the last time the teams met back in 2017. Babson won first-round games in 1983 (5-3) and 2015 (3-1) while NEC won in the first round in 1999 (3-2).
• The Green and White were knocked out of the NEHC Tournament in the first round last year at eighth-ranked Elmira, 3-2 in overtime.
• Since 2001, Babson has failed to advance out of the quarterfinals just five times (2002, 2008, 2012, 2020, 2024) in 24 appearances.
• Babson has captured seven conference championships - 1984, 1992, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014 and 2022.

PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE
• George (4g, 1a) has five points in nine career postseason games (7 NEHC, 2 NCAA), and senior Matt Cormier (0g, 1a) has appeared in eight postseason contests (7 NEHC, 1 NCAA).
• Ryan Murphy (0g, 5a) leads a group of eight juniors who have played four postseason games the past two years, including junior Nolan Woudenberg (1g, 1a). Kennedy (2g, 2a) has collected four points in three postseason appearances.

HOME ICE ADVANTAGE
• The Beavers are 8-3-1 at the Babson Skating Center this season after having a seven-game home winning streak snapped by Norwich on February 1.
• Six of the eight home wins this season have been by one goal.
• The Green and White are 25-8-4 on home ice over the past three seasons and 67-20-8 at home since 2017-18.

BEAVERS VS. THE PILGRIMS
• George is the current active leader in scoring against New England College with five goals and three assists in eight career games. Kennedy (4-1-5) and Driscoll (3-2-5) have five points each in six games and sophomore Jimmy Fallon (1-3-4) has four points in four contests.
• Sophomore Nolan Dion (1-2-3) and Ryan Murphy (0-3-3) have three points each and five Beavers have produced two points in their careers against the Pilgrims, including junior Will Holland (1-1-2), Schmitt (1-1-2), Kramer (1-1-2), junior Charlie Andriole (0-2-2) and sophomore CJ Beals (0-2-2).

BEAVER BITES
• Mueller has a 1.38 goals against average and a .957 save percentage in his last five starts.
• Senior Brendan Murphy had a team-high five blocked shots in the two games against Hobart while first-year Raphael Marcoux had four and Dion, Andriole, and Gierman had three each.
• Graduate student Kyle Gierman leads the team with a +12 plus/minus ranking, with Beals (+8), Kennedy (+7) and Driscoll (+7) rounding out the top four.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• Babson is 10-2-1 this season when scoring at least three goals.
• The Green and White are 7-4-2 this season in contests that were decided by one goal or ended in a tie, despite going 0-3-2 in overtime games.
• The Beavers are 7-3-1 when scoring the first goal of the game, and 6-0-1 when leading after the second period.

NEHC PLAYOFFS
• The other conference quarterfinal games include #8 Albertus Magnus at #1 Hobart, #7 Elmira at #2 Norwich, and #5 Salve Regina at #4 Skidmore.
• The conference will re-seed the surviving teams for the semifinal games, which will be at the site of the highest remaining seed in a final four format. The semifinals are on tap for Saturday, March 8 and the championship game is Sunday, March 9.