Weekend Preview: Well. 15 men’s hockey travels to New England College on Friday and No. 8 Norwich on Saturday

Well. 15 men’s hockey at New England College
on Friday, February 3 | at 7 in the afternoon
Lee Clement Arena| Henniker, NH

Men’s Hockey No. 15, Norwich 8
on Saturday, February 4 | 4 in the afternoon
Kreitzberg Arena | Northfield, Vt.

SERIES HISTORY
vs. New England College
• Babson is 46-24-8 all-time against New England College in a streak dating back to 1977.
• The Pilgrims won for just the second time in their last eight games with a 4-3 win over the Beavers in December at Babson Park.
• The Green and White are 5-4-4 against NEC in their last 13 games in Henniker, with 11 of those games decided by two goals or less.
vs. Norwich
• The Beavers are 27-46-8 all-time against Norwich in the series dating back to the 1975-76 campaign.
• The teams have played three straight overtime games, including Norwich’s 3-2 regular-season win last February, Babson’s 2-1 win in the 2022 NEHC Tournament quarterfinals two weeks later and a 1-1 tie in December, all three inside. Babson Skating Center.
• The Green and White won the last meeting in Northfield, Vt., 6-4 in Dec. 2021, snapping a seven-game losing streak at Kreitzberg Arena.

THE LAST MEETING
vs. New England College
• Sophomore David Novotny scored a power-play goal with 5:58 left in the third period to cap a three-goal game and New England College earned a 4-3 victory over No. 6 Babson in December. 3, 2022 inside the Babson Skating Center.
• First year Brendan Kennedyjunior Colby Bailey and a sophomore Wyatt George scored for the Beavers and first years Nolan Dion and To Charlie Andriolejunior Thomas Kramer and seniors Andrew Holland and Chris Rooney points collected. Senior goalkeeper Nolan Hildebrand had 16 rebounds as Babson had a 61-20 advantage in shots.
• Sophomore Andrew Kormos had a career-high 58 saves in the NEC win. Seniors Jhuwon Davis and Alex LaPlante and first-year Manny Cabral scored for the Pilgrims and Novotny, while Cabral, junior Anthony Cinato and first-years Kam Hellman and Michael Heller recorded assists.
vs. Norwich
• Kramer scored for the Beavers and Hildebrand made 28 saves as No. 6 Babson skated to a 1-1 tie against No. 10 Norwich in a battle of top-10 teams Dec. 2 at the Babson Skating Center.
• First year Ryan Murphy assisted on a goal for the Beavers, who broke a scoring tie with 4:31 left in the first period.
• Sophomore Bryan O’Mara tied the game for Norwich six minutes into the second period on assists from classmates Alex Lewis and Paul Schmid. Senior goalkeeper Andrew Albano had 28 saves for the Cadets in his first appearance of the season.

IN NEED of beavers
• Well. 15 Babson (13-7-2, 8-5-2 NEHC), which has alternated wins and losses over its past six games, is coming off a 2-1 loss to Skidmore last Saturday at the Babson Skating Center.
• First year Ian Driscoll scored the only goal for the Beavers and his classmates Will Holland took help. Hildebrand made 15 rebound saves as Babson ended up scoring with a 35-17 advantage.
• Kramer (8-14-22) has at least one point in five of his last six games and is fourth in the NEHC in scoring, while Murphy (8-8-16) is second in the conference in scoring. skaters of the year. Senior James Perullo (4-9-13) is tied for third in the league in scoring by a defender and fifth in overall plus/minus (+16).
• Hildebrand (11-4-2, 1.69 GAA, .938 sv. pct.), who has started nine straight games and 12 of the last 13 for the Beavers, is second in the NEHC in wins and fourth in both goals against average. and save a percent.

Patrolling the Pilgrims
• New England College (9-11-1, 6-7-1 NEHC) has dropped its last three games, including a 6-0 drubbing of No. 8 Norwich last Saturday.
• Kormos blocked 40 shots on the day, but the Pilgrims couldn’t get any of their 33 shots past the Norwich netminder.
• Cinato (11-11-22) had his six-game point streak snapped and is fourth in the NEHC in scoring, while LaPlante (11-6-17) is tied with Cinato and two others for fourth in the league in goals. . Cabral (5-8-13) is among the top rookie scorers in the league.
• Kormos (6-5-0, 2.47 GAA, .938 sv. pct. in 11 starts), who ranks fourth in the NEHC in save percentage, has shared goaltending duties with fellow freshman Spencer Kozlowski (3-6-). 1, 3.78 GAA, .905 svg. pct. 10 at startup).

CADET SCOUTING
• No. 8 Norwich (15-4-2, 11-1-2 NEHC), coming off a 6-0 win last Saturday at the NEC, is 9-0-2 in its last 11 league games in November.
• Junior Patrick O’Neal had two goals in the win, sophomore Patrick Delvecchio had a goal and an assist and senior Braedyn Aubin, Lewis and freshman Johnny Johnson each had one goal. Albano had his second save with 33 saves.
• Sophomore Clark Kerner (8-9-17) leads a balanced Cadet offense with five players posting 17-14 points between them. Johnson (7-8-15) shares league lead with six power play goals, junior Joe Nagle (2-12-14) leads NEHC in plus/minus (+26), senior Philip Elgstam (8-6-14) shares team lead in goals , and O’Neal (4-10-14) is second on the team in assists.
• Senior Drennen Atherton (12-3-0, 1.34 GAA, .946 sv. pct.) has three shutouts, leads the league in wins and is second in save percentage and third in goals against average.

PUNCH DEFENSE
• The Beavers rank 13th in Division III in scoring defense, allowing just 2.09 goals per game.
• Babson has limited opponents to 20 or fewer shots in each of its last four games and seven of its past 11.

BABSON VS. Opposition
• Perullo has six points (2-4-6) in eight games against NEC, while Andrew Holland (1-3-4) and George (2-2-4) each have four points, Holland in nine games and George . in three. Kramer (2-1-3 in 5g), Rooney (1-2-8 in 8g) and Bailey (0-2-2 in 7g) have also produced multiple runs against NEC.
• Kramer is the leading active scorer against Norwich with four goals in four career games, including a hat trick, while Andrew Holland has a goal and two assists in six career contests against the Cadets. Perullo and George each have two career assists against Norwich.

RESERVED FLAVORS
• Kramer has at least a point in five of his last six games (3g, 4a) and seven of his last nine (5g, 7a) through Dec. 2.
• Babson is 8-0-2 when Ryan Murphy scores at least one point. He has six goals and four assists in the Beavers’ last six wins.
• First year Mike Stevens has at least one point in five of his last eight games, totaling four goals and two assists in that span.

OVERVIEW of the NEHC
• Babson (8-5-2, 26 pts) enters the weekend in third place in the league, one point ahead of Elmira (8-5-1, 25 pts) and Skidmore (7-5-2, 24). pts), who both have a game in hand against the Beavers.
• NEC (6-7-1, 19 pts) is tied for sixth with UMass Boston (6-8, 19 pts), while Norwich (11-1-2, 34) is in a battle with Hobart (12-2, 36 pts ) to the NEHC regular season crown.

VOTING LOCATION
• Babson, ranked No. 15 in this week’s USCHO.com Division III men’s poll, has been ranked in 40 straight polls through Jan. 20, 2020 (No voting was held in the 2020-21 season).
• The NEHC (No. 2 Hobart, No. 8 Norwich, No. 15 Babson) resp Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (No. 3 Adrian, No. 7 Aurora, No. 14 St. Norbert), SUNYAC (No. 6 Plattsburgh, No. 9 Geneseo, No. 12 Oswego) and Commonwealth Coastal Conference (No. 4 Endicott, No. 5 Curry, No. 13 U. of New England) with three teams in the national poll.

THE NUMBERS ARE KNOWN
• The Beavers are 6-4-1 on the road this season and are 19-8-1 since the start of the 2020-21 campaign at the Babson Skating Center.
• The green and white are 12-2-1 this season and 30-5-2 since the start of last season when they have scored at least three goals.
• Babson is 9-1 this season when leading in the third period and is 64-1-2 when leading after two periods since 2017-18.
• The Beavers are 10-3-1 this season when scoring on the power play and are 31-6-2 over the last three seasons when scoring on the man advantage.

LOOK AHEAD
• The Beavers close out the regular season next Saturday, Feb. 11, with an NEHC contest against Southern Maine at 4 p.m. at the Babson Skating Center.