No. 12 Men's Ice Hockey at No. 15 Norwich
Little East Conference Tournament Final
Saturday, March 7 | 7 p.m.
Kreitzberg Arena | Northfield, Vt.

SETTING THE STAGE
• No. 12 and second-seeded Babson will battle for the inaugural Little East Conference men's ice hockey championship against 15th-ranked and top-seeded Norwich on Saturday in Northfield, Vt.
• The Beavers have won seven conference titles, the last of which came in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) in 2022, while the Cadets, the first LEC regular season champs, have won 13 conference championships, most recently in the NEHC in 2020.
• Babson is playing in its 20th conference championship game going back to 1983, while Norwich is playing in the final for the 13th time since 2007.

SERIES HISTORY
• After the teams split this season's two-game series, the Beavers are 31-50-8 all-time against Norwich in a series that dates back to the 1975-76 campaign.
• Babson owns a 6-5-1 lead over Norwich over the past five seasons after Norwich had captured six out of seven meetings over the previous three campaigns.
• The Green and White are 2-11-0 against the Cadets at Kreitzberg Arena since 2015, including a 6-4 regular season win in December 2021 and a 4-0 NEHC tournament semifinal triumph in February 2023.

EARLIER THIS SEASON
• The home team won each game this season as the Beavers edged the Cadets 4-3 on November 14 at the Babson Skating Center and Norwich took the February 7 encounter at Kreitzberg Arena, 3-1.
• Junior Jimmy Fallon registered his second career hat trick, junior Joseph Kramer scored once and sophomore Evan Brown collected three assists in the Babson win while senior Nate Mueller made 17 of his 35 saves in the third period. Junior Zach Ophoven, sophomore Kyle Kudrna and senior Matt Harvey scored for the Cadets, and junior Sami Molu made 25 saves in goal in the setback.
• Molu made 37 saves and Norwich used an opening goal by senior Nick Cordeiro and power play markers from junior Boyd Stahlbaum and senior Devon Thibodeau to secure the February win at Kreitzberg Arena. Senior Ryan Murphy scored the lone goal for the Beavers and Mueller finished with 13 saves in the setback after Babson finished with a 39-16 advantage in shots.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
• No. 12 ranked and second-seeded Babson (20-4-2, 14-3-1 LEC) has won 10 of its last 12 games after blanking third-seeded Plymouth State, 4-0, in last Saturday's tournament semifinal in Babson Park.
• Mueller made 30 saves in goal for his first shutout of the season and the line of senior Egan Schmitt (2g, 2a), Fallon (1g, 1a), and Brown (1g, 2a) combined for all four goals and nine points in all for the Beavers.
• Fallon (19-15-34) is second in the Little East in goals and tied for third in points while Brown (9-23-32) is second in the league in assists and tied for fifth in points. Schmitt (8-16-24) is third on the team scoring and fellow seniors Ian Driscoll (9-9-18), Charlie Andriole (8-10-18), Brendan Kennedy (8-10-18), and Murphy (5-13-18) have 18 points each.
• Mueller (1.82 GAA, .928 sv. pct.) is 15-3-2 in 20 starts in goal and tops the LEC in goals against average and shares the league lead in save percentage. Rosado (2.17 GAA, .914 sv. pct.) is 5-1 in six starts with one shutout.

SCOUTING THE CADETS
• No. 15 ranked and top-seeded Norwich (17-5-4, 13-2-3 LEC) advanced to the title game with a 6-0 whitewash over fifth-seeded UMass Boston on Saturday at Kreitzberg Arena.
• The line of Ophoven (2g, 1a), junior Ben van Waterschoot (1g, 2a), and Cordeiro (2a) combined for three goals and five assists to lead the Cadets. Harvey and juniors Cooper Bertrand and Jed Brazo also scored for Norwich, who outshot the Beacons 34-30, and Molu finished with 30 saves for his second shutout of the season.
• van Waterschoot (8-20-28) leads the team in assists and points while Stahlbaum (10-14-24, 7 PPG) and first-year Frank D'Ancona (7-17-24) are tied for second in points. Cordeiro (7-16-23) and Bertrand (6-17-23) give the Cadets a balanced offense and Ophoven (13-8-21) and junior Colin Elliott (10-10-20, 5 PPG) are top goal scorers.
• Molu (2.11 GAA, .928 sv. pct) is 11-5-4 in 20 starts and ranks second in the LEC in goals against average and tied for the league lead in save percentage. Junior Bryce Walcarius (1.73, .909 sv. pct) is 6-0-0 in six starts in reserve.

BABSON IN THE TITLE GAME
• Babson has captured seven conference championships - 1984, 1992, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014 and 2022.
• The Green and White, who have played in 19 conference championship games, reached the final eight times in 10 seasons from 2007-16 and then in back-to-back seasons in 2022 and 2023.
• The Beavers won four ECAC East championships in eight seasons between 2007 and 2014, defeating New England College in 2007, UMass Boston in 2009, and Norwich in 2013 and 2014, before claiming its first NEHC title over Skidmore in 2022.
• Babson also won two ECAC titles in 1984 and 1992 with victories over Bowdoin in 1984 and Connecticut in 1992.

BABSON IN CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES
 

1983	UMass Lowell	L, 3-2 (3OT)	Billerica, Mass.	ECAC
1984	Bowdoin	W, 4-1	Brunswick, Maine	ECAC
1985	Salem State	L, 7-1	Salem, Mass.	ECAC
1986	Bowdoin	L, 6-3	Brunswick, Maine	ECAC East
1987	Merrimack	L, 3-0	North Andover, Mass.	ECAC East
1991	Middlebury	L, 1-0	Middlebury, Vt.	ECAC East
1992	Univ. Connecticut	W, 4-1	Middlebury, Vt.	ECAC East
2004	Norwich	L, 2-1	Northfield, Vt.	ECAC East
2005	New England College	L, 6-4	Northfield, Vt.	ECAC East
2007	New England College	W, 5-3	Northfield, Vt.	ECAC East
2009	UMass Boston	W, 4-3	Henniker, N.H.	ECAC East
2010	Norwich	L, 4-1	Northfield, Vt.	ECAC East
2011	Norwich	L, 3-2	Northfield, Vt.	ECAC East
2013	Norwich	W, 2-1	Northfield, Vt.	ECAC East
2014	Norwich	W, 2-1	Northfield, Vt.	ECAC East
2015	Norwich	L, 3-2 (OT)	Northfield, Vt.	ECAC East
2016	UMass Boston	L, 3-2	Boston, Mass.	NEHC
2022	Skidmore	W, 5-3	Babson Park, Mass.	NEHC
2023	Hobart	L, 5-1	Geneva, N.Y.	NEHC

BEAVERS VS. THE CADETS
• Murphy (1-4-5, 9 gms), Fallon (4-0-4, 5 gms), Driscoll (1-2-3, 9 gms) and Brown (0-3-3, 2 gms) are Babson's leading active scorers against Norwich.
• Cavanagh (2-0-2, 5 gms), Schmitt (1-1-2, 9 gms), Kennedy (1-1-2, 9 gms), Senier (1-1-2, 6 gm), junior Joseph Kramer (1-1-2, 3 gms), Dion (0-2-2, 9 gms), and Beals (0-2-2, 2 gms) have two points each.
• Mueller is 2-2 in four career starts vs. the Cadets with a 2.80 GAA and a .906 save percentage while Rosado is 1-1 in two starts with a 2.05 GAA and a .925 save percentage.

PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE
• Schmitt (3-2-5), Murphy (0-5-5) and Kennedy (2-2-4) lead a group of 10 seniors who have played six postseason games the past four years, followed by Holland (1-1-2), Woudenberg (1-1-2) and Andriole (0-2-2).
• Cavanagh (1-0-1), Driscoll (0-1-1) and Stevens (0-1-1) each have a point in six outings, while Dion (0-0-0) has six playoff appearances and Joslin (0-0-0) has three.
• Mueller is 1-1 in a pair of post-season games with a 0.50 GAA and a 0.982 save percentage, while Rosado has a 2.62 GAA and a .917 save percentage with an overtime loss in his only start.

NCAA RANKINGS
• Babson is ranked seventh in Division III in scoring defense (2.00 goals allowed per game) and 17th in scoring offense (3.81 goals per game).
• The Beavers are fifth in Division III with a 27.3 power play percentage and 54th in penalty kill percentage at 79.4.
• Mueller is ranked ninth in Division III with a 1.82 goals against average, eighth in goalie winning percentage (.800) and 22nd in save percentage (.928).
• Fallon ranks ninth in Division III in goals per game (0.73) while Brown ranks 14th in assists per game (0.88).

SWEET SIXTEEN
• Babson is led by a group of 16 seniors, who have combined for 55 of Babson's 99 goals and have totaled 55 goals, 111 assists for 166 points.
• Eleven of the seniors have played in all 26 games, one has played in 21 games, one has seen action in 20, and one appeared in one game while two have not suited up this season due to injury.

CAREER SEASON BETWEEN THE PIPES
• After starting 30 games over his first three seasons, Mueller has 20 starts this winter and is enjoying one of the top seasons for a goaltender in Babson history.
• After posting his 15th victory last Saturday over Plymouth State, he became just the 10th Babson goalie with at least 15 wins and the first since Hall of Fame goalie Jamie Murray '16 earned 19 wins in 2014-15.
• Mueller is on pace to have the 10th season in program history with a sub-2.00 goals against average and joins Murray as the only two to accomplish the feat twice (Murray did it three times, in 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16).
• Mueller enters the weekend with a 15-3-2 record, which is tied for third in program history for single-season winning percentage (.800).

DEFENSE ON THE OFFENSE
• The Beavers have received 16 of their 99 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 Dion (3-31-34).

ON THE PLUS SIDE
• Babson has the top two and five of the top six skaters in the LEC in the plus/minus category, led by defensemen Andriole (+32) and Holland (+29).
• Brown (+23) and Fallon (+22) lead all forwards in the conference and rank fourth and fifth overall, and Schmitt (+19) is sixth.

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 12th this week. Norwich moved into the poll this week at No. 15.
• Babson is ranked 12th and Norwich is 15th in the NCAA Percentage Index (NPI), a system used to select and seed teams for the NCAA Tournament.

BEAVER BITES
• Fallon's 19 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.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The Beavers have outshot their opponents in 20 straight games and 24 of 26 outings this season.
• Babson is 12-0-1 this season when leading after the first period, 5-2-1 when tied after one, and 3-2 when trailing after one period.
• The Green and White are 15-1-1 when up after two periods, 1-3-1 when trailing after two, and 4-0 when tied going into the third period.
• The Beavers are 19-0-1 this season when scoring at least three goals.
• Babson is 13-0 this season when scoring the first goal of the game.
• The Beavers are 14-1 when scoring at least once on the power play and 10-1-2 when not allowing a PPG.

UP NEXT
• The Little East champion will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament and will learn its first-round opponent on the 2026 Division III Men's Ice Hockey Selection Show which will air Sunday, March 8th at 9:30 PM ET on NCAA.com