No. 13 Men's Ice Hockey vs. Plymouth State
Little East Conference Tournament Semifinal
Saturday, February 28 | 4 p.m.
Babson Skating Center | Babson Park, Mass.

WHAT TO KNOW
• After finishing runner-up in the regular season race, No. 13 Babson is set to host a quarterfinal game in the inaugural Little East Conference men's ice hockey tournament.
• The second-seeded Beavers will meet third-seeded Plymouth State on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Babson Skating Center.

SERIES HISTORY
• Babson leads Plymouth State 9-2-1 in the all-time series that dates back to the 2002-03 season.
• The Beavers are 8-1-1 against the Panthers since 2015, although seven of the 10 games were decided by one goal or ended in a tie, including three overtime affairs.
• The Beavers have won the last five meetings inside the Babson Skating Center and are 6-1 all-time against PSU in Babson Park.

EARLIER THIS SEASON
• The Beavers swept the season series against the Panthers, winning 4-1 on January 9 in Babson Park and 3-1 last Saturday in Plymouth.
• Senior Nate Mueller made 32 saves in goal and then-No. 7 Babson scored twice in each of the second and third frames in the first win. Seniors Ryan Murphy, Charlie Andriole and Brendan Kennedy and first-year Reid Pehrkon accounted for the Babson scoring in the victory while senior Payton Schaly scored the lone goal for the Panthers.
• Senior Ian Driscoll tallied a goal and an assist and junior Mason Rosado made 31 saves in last Saturday's victory. Junior Jimmy Fallon and Kennedy also scored for the Beavers, and first-year Kim Hilmersson scored for the Panthers.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• Third-seeded Babson (19-4-2, 14-3-1 LEC) has won nine of its last 11 games after finishing off the regular season with the 3-1 road win at Plymouth State last Saturday.
• The Beavers used power play goals by Kennedy and Driscoll during a second-period PSU major penalty to break a 1-1 tie and Rosado made 17 of his 31 saves in the third period to secure the win. Seniors Egan Schmitt and Murphy, junior CJ Beals, and Brown and Marcoux tallied assists in the triumph.
• Fallon (18-14-32) is tied for second in the Little East in goals and tied for third in points while Brown (8-21-29) is second in the league in assists and tied for seventh in points. Schmitt (6-14-20) is third on the team scoring and Driscoll (9-9-18), Kennedy (8-10-18), and Murphy (5-13-18) have 18 points each.
• Mueller (1.92 GAA, .923 sv. pct.) is 14-3-2 in 19 starts in goal and tops the LEC in goals against average and ranks fourth in save percentage. Rosado (2.17 GAA, .914 sv. pct.) is 5-1 in six starts with one shutout.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
• Third-seeded Plymouth State (15-10-1, 11-6-1 LEC) advanced to the semifinals with a 5-2 victory over sixth-seeded VTSU Castleton Wednesday evening at Hanaway Rink.
• Junior goaltender Connor Strobel made 32 saves in his first postseason start for the Panthers. Senior Will Redick and junior Patrick O'Connell gave the Panthers a first-period lead, sophomore Luca Rea added a second-period marker, and classmate Matt Hale and Hilmersson put the game out of reach with third-period goals.
• Redick (17-17-34) is third in the LEC in scoring, first-year Étienne Tremblay-Mathieu (9-19-28) is fourth in the league in assists, and Schaly (12-11-23) and Hilmerson (8-15-23) are tied for third on the team in points. Hale (7-13-20), first-year Tucker Shedd (7-13-20) and senior Brendan Doyle (8-10-18) are also offensive threats for the Panthers.
• Strobel (3.19 GAA, .900 sv. pct) and senior Brandon Shantz (3.57, .885 sv. pct) have each started 13 games in goal for the Panthers, with Strobel posting an 8-5-0 record and Shantz going 7-5-1.

BABSON IN THE POSTSEASON
• The Beavers advanced to the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) finals in 2022 and 2023, winning the championship over Skidmore in 2022, but were knocked out of the tournament in the first round the past two seasons, at Elmira in 2024 (3-2, OT) and at home to New England College last year (2-0).
• Since 2001, Babson has failed to advance out of the quarterfinals just six times (2002, 2008, 2012, 2020, 2024, 2025) in 25 appearances.
• Babson has captured seven conference championships - 1984, 1992, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014 and 2022.

LEC PLAYOFFS
• The inaugural LEC men's ice hockey tournament started Wednesday with first-round games as #3 seed Plymouth State downed #6 VTSU Castleton, 5-2, and #5 UMass Boston rallied to upset #4 Southern Maine, 3-2.
• Second-seeded Babson hosts third-seeded Plymouth State and top-seeded Norwich welcomes fifth-seeded UMass Boston in semifinal games on Saturday, with the championship game set for Saturday, March 7, at the site of the highest remaining seed.

PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE
• Ryan Murphy (0g, 5a) leads a group of eight seniors who have played five postseason games the past three years, including Nolan Woudenberg (1g, 1a), while Kennedy (2g, 2a) has collected four points in four postseason appearances.

BEAVERS VS. THE PANTHERS
• Schmitt (2-4-6) and Woudenberg (0-6-6) are Babson's leading active scorers against Plymouth State with six points in five games, while Murphy (3-2-5) and Kennedy (3-2-5) have five points apiece and Driscoll (1-2-3) and Cavanagh (0-3-3) have three points each.
• Mueller (1 GA, 32 svs), Rosado (1 GA, 31 svs), and senior Brett Cleaves (4 GA, 38 svs) are all 1-0-0 in one start in their careers against the Panthers.

COMFORTS OF HOME
• The Beavers are 9-2-2 at the Babson Skating Center this season, including 7-1-1 in conference games.
• After opening the home game slate with three one-goal victories, the last six home wins have been by a combined 17 goals.
• The Green and White are 17-6-3 at home since the start of last season and 34-11-6 on home ice over the past four years.

ON THE PLUS SIDE
• Babson has the top two and four of the top seven skaters in the LEC in the plus/minus category, led by defensemen Andriole (+31) and Holland (+29).
• Brown (+21) and Fallon (+20) lead all forwards in the conference and rank fourth and fifth overall, and Schmitt (+16) is tied for seventh.

DEFENSE ON THE OFFENSE
• The Beavers have received 16 of their 95 goals this season from defensemen.
• Among all Babson blue-liners going back to the 2001-02 season, three of this year's defensemen rank among the top 15 in career points – Andriole (12-31-43), Holland (9-33-42) and senior Nolan Dion (3-31-34).

CHECKING THE DIVISION III POLLS
• Babson has been in the USCHO.com Division III poll most of the season, reaching as high as No. 7, and is 13th this week.
• Babson is ranked 12th in the NCAA Percentage Index (NPI), a system used to select and seed teams for the NCAA Tournament. Norwich is 16th, followed by UMass Boston (31st), Plymouth State (37th), VTSU Castleton (49th) and Southern Maine (56th).

NCAA RANKINGS
• Babson is ranked ninth in Division III in scoring defense (2.08 goals allowed per game) and 17th in scoring offense (3.80 goals per game).
• The Beavers are ninth in Division III with a 26.7 power play percentage and 59th in penalty kill percentage at 78.8.
• Mueller is ranked 13th in Division III with a 1.92 goals against average, ninth in goalie winning percentage (.789) and 36th in save percentage (.923).
• Fallon ranks 10th in Division III in goals per game (0.74) while Brown ranks 19th in assists per game (0.87).

BEAVER BITES
• Fallon's 18 goals this season is the most for a Babson player since Ryan Black '22 notched 19 goals in 2021-22.
• Brown is the first Babson player to record 20 assists in a season since PT Donato '13 tallied 23 helpers in 2012-13.
• Mueller is the first Beaver goalie to registers 14 victories since Babson Hall of Fame goalie Jamie Murray '16 had 14 wins in 2015-16.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers have outshot their opponents in 19 straight games and 23 of 25 outings this season.
• Babson is 11-0-1 this season when leading after the first period and 14-1-1 when taking a lead into the third period.
• The Green and White are 18-0-1 this season when scoring at least three goals.
• Babson is 12-0 this season when scoring the first goal of the game.
• The Beavers are 13-1 when scoring at least once on the power play and 9-1-2 when not allowing a PPG.