The 268th Battle of Comm Ave Wages on at Kelley Rink

GAME DAY INFORMATION
WHEN	Friday, Jan. 15 at 6 p.m. // Saturday, Jan. 16 at 7 p.m.
WHERE	Kelley Rink at Conte Forum (Friday) // Agganis Arena (Saturday)
HOW TO FOLLOW	FRIDAY: Live Stats // Audio \| SATURDAY: Live Stats // Video // Audio
TICKETS	FRIDAY: Buy Tickets \| SATURDAY: Buy Tickets
GAME NOTES	PDF // WEB
MEDIA CENTER	TV (American Sports Network) - P x P: Tom Caron // Color: Dave Starman // CHANNEL LISTINGS FOR GAME
	Radio (WEEI 850 AM) - P x P: Jon Rish // Color: Andy Powers // Engineer: Mark Feldman

THE BATTLE OF COMM AVE.
The 268th installment of the Battle of Comm Ave. commences on Friday evening at Kelley Rink as the Boston College and Boston University continue to write its storied history. Last season, the Eagles and Terriers split their meetings as each club claimed victory on one another's home turf. BC and BU met only twice last season, marking the first time the two Boston institutions faced off only twice in a season since 1982-83. In recent history dating back to the 2010 Beanpot, the Eagles have enjoyed success against the Terriers, sporting a 13-5 mark over that span. Three of Boston University's wins over that stretch, however, have taken place in Chestnut Hill. Head coach Jerry York is 4-1 against his new adversary, David Quinn. Prior to Quinn's arrival, the Eagles faced off against legendary coach Jack Parker 155 times dating back to 1973, including 82 meetings against York. In all, York is 41-39-7 against Boston University as head coach of the Eagles. Friday also marks the 123rd encounter in Hockey East play. After the Eagles defeated BU at Agganis Arena on Jan. 16, 2015, Boston College took the slightest of advantages in league play, upping its mark to 56-55-11 against BU. In all, the Terriers hold a 10-game advantage over Boston College in the overall series, with a 130-120-17 mark.

RHETT REPORT
No. 10 Boston University streaks into Friday's fracas with confidence. Before taking out UMass in convincing 7-2 fashion, the Terriers resurfaced with two huge roads wins against Quinnipiac and Harvard, ranked first and fourth in the Pairwise, respectively. BU started off a little slower than expected, skating to a 6-4-2 record through late November, but has gone 5-2-1 since then to come into the Battle of Comm Ave. with an 11-6-3 mark. Senior Danny O'Regan leads the Terriers offense with seven goals and 16 assists, ranked 25th nationally in scoring (1.15 ppg). O'Regan guides an offense that is tied for ninth in the country right now, scoring at a rate of 3.55 goals per game. The Terriers are also receiving a boost from defenseman turned forward Ahti Oksanen, who is having a strong senior campaign with 10 goals and nine assists. The Finnish product leads all of college hockey in shot attempts per game (109), attacking the net at a rate of 5.45 shots per outing. Brandon Fortunato, the nation's third-highest scoring defenseman, leads the charge with 17 points (4-13-17) from the blue line and is part of a defense that is surrendering 2.85 goals per game, tied for 32nd in the country and seventh in Hockey East. Sophomore Connor LaCouvee has seen more work than veteran Sean Maguire between the pipes. LaCouvee is 6-3-3 with a .911 save percentage (41st) and a 2.71 goals against average (43rd) while Maguire is 5-3-0 with a .899 save percentage (61st) and a 2.80 goals against (49th). An interesting note about this contests features a couple of the best faceoff specialists in the nation. Boston University's Bobo Carpenter (64.1 percent) and BC's Austin Cangelosi (63.5 percent), are ranked fifth and seventh, in all of college hockey and will be two key contributors on the dot.

OFFENSIVE NUGGETS
• Colin White returned from World Juniors in grand fashion, scoring BC's first hat trick of the season (along with an assist) to pick up his third Hockey East Rookie of the Week award

• The Eagles possess the nation's second-best margin of +2.25 -- Boston College trails only Quinnipiac by one-hundredth (+2.26) of a point -- BC has scored 83 goals and given up only 38

• Colin White (1.50) & Miles Wood (1.11) are ranked second and fourth, respectively, amongst all rookies. White and Wood posted 10 and seven-game pointstreaks, respectively, this year

• Both Ryan Fitzgerald and Zach Sanford have scored a pair of short-handed goals this year -- BC is one of two schools in the nation with two SHG scorers (Sacred Heart also has two)

• In the last two games, the Eagles' power play has come alive by scoring five power play markers in the last two games -- Alex Tuch has been a big part of that, scoring a power play goal in each contest -- Tuch has scored five-career power play goals

DEFENSIVE NUGGETS
• The BC defense has recorded 34 scoreless periods out of 60 possible frames. The Eagles defense is sixth best in the country, surrendering a scant 1.90 goals per game

• Boston College's penalty kill is pegged as the fourth-best unit in all of college hockey (87.2%) - the Eagles have given up two PPGs only twice this year (Denver and Northeastern)

• Steve Santini logged a pair of assist in the against Providence on Jan. 9, marking his third multi-point performance of the year.

• When holding a lead heading into the third period, the Eagle defense has been on lockdown, postinh an 12-0-1 record with the advantage after two frames

HATS OFF
Freshman Colin White, fresh off his trip to Finland as a member of Team USA's bronze-medal winning team at the World Junior Championship, responded with Boston College's first hat trick of the season on Jan. 8 vs. PC and added an assist for his second-career four-point performance. For his performance, White was awarded his third Hockey East Rookie of the Week honor. White's hat trick marks BC's first since Ryan Fitzgerald scored all three goals in a 3-2 win at home over Connecticut on Jan. 24, 2015.

AVOIDING HISTORY
Boston College's convincing 7-3 victory over Providence on Jan. 8 helped the Eagles avoid their first four-game losing streak since the 2003-04 season when BC lost four in a row from Feb. 28 to March 11, 2004..

SPECIAL TEAMS TALES
The Eagles' power play awoke in the Providence series, scoring five power play tallies over the course of two games. The BC power play unit rose from 38th in the nation to 16th in two games (18-for-89 - 20.2%). Boston College's penalty kill remains the top corps in Hockey East and ranked ninth overall, killing off penalties at a rate of 87.2 percent.

SPECIAL DELIVERY
Freshman goaltender Ian Milosz, who joined the team as recently as last week, made his first-career start on Jan. 8 and picked up his first college victory via 24 saves on 27 PC attempts. The North Grafton, Mass., native followed that performance up on Saturday with a BC season-high 38 saves at Providence. First-year defenseman Michael Kim, whose first game with the Eagles was down in Florida, has recorded six shots in three games played.

TUCH TIME
Alex Tuch notched his second-career two-goal performance against Providence on Jan. 8 and his first since netting a pair at BU on Jan. 16, 2015. The Baldwinsville, N.Y., native tallied his first two power play goals of the season in respective Providence outings while Friday's second tally stood as his third-career game-winning goal.

POWER PLAY SCHMOWER PLAY
When the opponent goes on the power play, Boston College has had no problem taking matters into its own hands to score. The Eagles have six short-handed goals on the season while Ryan Fitzgerald and Zach Sanford both have scored a pair. They are the only two skaters in Hockey East to have accomplished that feat thus far.

STANDING TALL AMONGST THE BEST
Demko is currently sixth in the nation in goals against average (1.72) and eighth in save percentage (.936) on the year and second in overall shut outs with six. For a career, the 6-foot-4 backstopper is 48-22-7 (.669) with a 2.10 goals against average and a .926 save percentage (2,016 saves on 2,178 shots). If Demko's 2.10 GAA held, it would rank as the third-best career mark all time. His six shutouts this season is two shy of matching the single-season mark set by Cory Schneider during the 2005-06 season. Demko possesses nine career shutouts, good for fourth-best all-time. He is three blankings shy of matching John Muse's third-place mark of 12 career shutouts (2007-11). Schneider holds the record with 15 (2004-07) while Scott Clemmensen is second with 13 (1997-2001).

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUUUUL TIME, OF THE YEAR
As of Wednesday, Boston University and Boston College are neck and neck in the Pairwise rankings. The Terriers hold a slight advantage in ninth with an RPI of .5712 while the Eagles are immediately behind in 10th with a .5615 RPI.

WHITE TURNED TO BRONZE
Freshman Colin White returns to the United States as a bronze-medal winner from the 2016 World Junior Championship from Helsinki, Finland. The Hanover, Mass., native finished second on Team USA in goals (3), assists (4), points (7) and plus/minus rating (+5). White scored a short-handed goal and led Team USA in shooting percentage (30% - 3-for-10).

CHART TOPPERS
The Eagles' offensive and defensive units still rank amongst the best. Boston College's defense is ranked the sixth-best unit in the country (1.90 gpg) while the offense is one of five teams in college hockey that is averaging four goals or more. BC is tiedfor fourth with 4.15 goals per game. The Eagles' scoring margin of +2.25 is the second-highest total in the NCAA.

FITZ IN A FLASH
Ryan Fitzgerald is one of 33 skaters in college hockey to have score three game-winning goals this season. He is the first Eagle to 10 goals (now has 12) this season and is 13th in all of college hockey with 1.37 points per game. The North Reading, Mass. native recorded his second four-point performance of the season on Jan. 8.

LIVING HISTORY
The Schiller Family Head Hockey Coach of Boston College, Jerry York, enters his 44th season of coaching college hockey. Not only is York the winningest coach in the game's history, having amassed 998 victories and a win-loss total of 998-594-106 (.618), York is approaching another historic benchmark. After locking up the most wins all-time at his alma mater (502) and heads into his 22nd season behind the Eagles' bench, he now has the 1,000-win plateau in his sites. York is just TWO wins away from hitting that number as he is already the winningest coach in the game's history.

The 268th Battle of Comm Ave Wages on at Kelley Rink

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Players Mentioned

Austin Cangelosi

Ryan Fitzgerald

Michael Kim

Ian Milosz

Zach Sanford

Steve Santini

Alex Tuch

Colin White

Miles Wood