BABSON PARK, Mass. – Junior goaltender
Connor Strobel (Butler, Pa.) made 31 saves, but second-seeded and No. 13-ranked Babson College shut out third-seeded Plymouth State University, 4-0, in the semifinals of the 2026 Little East Conference (LEC) Men's Ice Hockey Tournament at Babson Skating Center on Saturday afternoon.
Plymouth State ends its season at 15-11-1, while Babson advances to the inaugural LEC Tournament Championship game to face the winner of fifth-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston and top-seeded Norwich University next Saturday (Mar. 7).
Despite scoring chances for both sides, the game remained scoreless through the first period. Babson went ahead at the 3:08 mark of the second, while junior
Will Pray (Prague, Czechia), sophomore
Matt Hale (Center Harbor, N.H.) and senior
Byron Hartley (Philadelphia, Pa.) all had close-range opportunities turned aside by the Beavers' goaltender as the hosts maintained a 1-0 lead into the third period.
Junior
Patrick O'Connell (West Chester, Pa.) nearly tied it in the opening minutes of the third with a deflection in front, but the Babson goalie was up to the test. The hosts lit the lamp on a counterattack to make it 2-0, before tacking on two insurance goals over the final 11 minutes to account for the final score.
The Basics:
- Plymouth State 0, No. 13 Babson 4
- Plymouth State (15-11-1)
- Babson (20-4-2)
How it Happened:
- Strobel came up huge on a 3-on-2 roughly nine minutes in, sliding to his right to turn away a bid to the top-left corner.
- Senior Brendan Doyle (Stratham, N.H.) had an opportunity with 8:44 left in the first when a one-timer from freshman Tucker Shedd (Hoyt, Mich.) deflected off a defender in front, but the Babson goaltender was able to get his stick on it.
- Plymouth State built zone time during the game's first power play late in the frame, but Babson killed off the penalty and the game remained scoreless into intermission.
- Strobel made several key saves during a Babson power play early in the second.
- The Beavers broke through at the 3:08 mark when a nifty between-the-legs pass found an open skater at the back door to make it 1-0.
- Pray broke free down the left side midway through the frame, held off a defender and got to the forehand, but his shot was stuffed at the doorstep.
- Strobel followed with a flurry of stops to maintain the one-goal deficit.
- Hale whipped a one-timer in the slot during a power play late in the frame, but the Babson goalie sealed the post. Doyle forced a zone turnover in the final 40 seconds, leading to a Hartley bid in the slot, but his shot was turned aside as Babson carried a 1-0 lead into the third.
- PSU nearly tied it in the opening minutes of the final stanza as O'Connell redirected a Shedd shot from the point, but the puck rang the pipe. Babson doubled the margin on the counterattack with a wrister from the right circle to make it 2-0.
- Babson extended the lead to 3-0 with 10:57 left to play when a shot from the left circle snuck through.
- Sophomore Tikhon Ashikhmin (Yekaterinburg, Russia) whipped a close-range turnaround shot from the slot following a Babson turnover just over a minute later, but a remarkable save kept PSU off the scoreboard.
- The Beavers put the game out of reach with a power-play goal with 5:35 left to play.
By the Numbers:
- Senior Will Redick (Collingwood, Ontario) fired a team-high six shots on goal, while Doyle and O'Connell added four apiece.
- Strobel finished with 31 saves.
- Redick ends his career second in program history in goals (72), assists (85), and points (157).
- Babson held a 35-30 shot advantage.
- PSU blocked 10 shots, with freshman Étienne Tremblay-Mathieu (Québec City, Québec) matching a game high with three.
- Plymouth State went 0-for-2 on the power play, while the Beavers were 1-for-2.
- Babson won both previous meetings this season and holds a 10-2-1 record in the all-time series. PSU's lone road win in the series came in Jan. 2013.
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