Eagles Burlington Bound for Weekend Pair at Vermont

GAME DAY INFORMATION
WHEN	Friday, Feb. 19, 2016 (7 p.m.) // Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016 (7 p.m.)
WHERE	Gutterson Fieldhouse (Burlington, Vt.)
HOW TO FOLLOW	Friday: Video // Audio // Stats \| Saturday: Video // Audio // Stats
GAME NOTES	PDF // WEB
MEDIA CENTER	Radio (WEEI 850 AM) - P x P: Jon Rish // Color: Andy Powers

BOSTON COLLEGE vs. VERMONT
One cannot change the past, but certainly it can be remembered as Vermont kept Boston College out of TD Garden for the second-consecutive season after ousting the Eagles in the Hockey East quarterfinal series last year in mid-March. The Catamounts, who had played five games at Kelley Rink in just about the course of a month, were 1-14 against BC at Kelley Rink since joining Hockey East. On Feb. 13, 2015 in the first game of that five-game stretch, UVM's Anthony Petruzzelli netted the walk-off overtime winner 1:47 and set the tone for the Catamounts' stay. Boston College took out Vermont the following night, 6-5, but UVM claimed the three-game quarterfinal series over the course of March 13-15. Petruzzelli's overtime winner curbed an 11-game unbeaten streak against Vermont that spanned back to Nov. 13, 2010 and was the Catamounts' only win on The Heights since joining Hockey East since Nov. 15, 2009. The Eagles now seek advantage, skating into Burlington for the first time in over two seasons with the nation's longest unbeaten string of 12 games (8-0-4). Dating back to 2010, Boston College is 5-1-1 at Gutterson Fieldhouse, but prior to that strong run, BC experienced trouble up in Burlington. Before 2010, Boston College was 1-4-2 at The Gut in Hockey East play, stretching from Nov. 13, 2005 to Oct. 18, 2009. All-time, the Eagles are 37-15-5 against Vermont in 57 encounters.

CAT CALLS
Vermont has assembled a bit of an up and down season thus far, settling on a 12-16-3 mark and a 6-9-3 Hockey East total which is good for seventh place in the league. The Catamounts have the luxury of 20 home games this season but have faced some very stiff competition in initiate their 2015-16 campaign, including Minnesota, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota. UVM went 1-4 to start its season. Vermont's longest winning streak of the season stands at four games (Dec. 29 – Jan. 8). Last weekend, the Catamounts won three points at New Hampshire, defeating the Wildcats on Feb. 12 (3-2) and tied UNH (2-2) the next night. Junior Mario Puskarich leads Vermont's point totals with 25 (8-17-25) while second-year forward Jarrid Privitera is UVM's only goal scorer in double digits with 10. Defensively, junior Mike Santaguida and rookie Packy Munson have split time in net. Santaguida has posted a 4-9-2 record with a 2.70 goals against and a .911 save percentage. Munson, the newcomer, is 8-6-1 with a 2.20 goals against average a .921 save percentage. Both netminders backstop a defense that ranks 27th, nationally, surrendering 2.61 goals per game. On the flipside, the offense has struggled, averaging only 2.26 goals and ranks 50th in the NCAA and 11th in Hockey East. Both special teams' units have struggled as well. The power play is tied for 46th (13.2 percent – 14-of-106) while the penalty kill is in 50th, stopping opponents at a rate of 78.2 percent (104-of-133).

OFFENSIVE NUGGETS
•The Eagles possess the nation's SECOND BEST scoring margin of +2.17 -- the Eagles have scored 123 goals this season and only surrendered 58 (4.10 goals for pg / 1.93 goals against pg)

• The Boston College offense is one of three units in the country to score four or more goals per game (4.10) and is the top-scoring offense in Hockey East - BU's is second (3.47 gpg)

• Eight Eagles, including four forwards (R. Fitzgerald, Sanford, Cangelosi, Gaudreau) and four defensemen (McCoshen, Santini, Savage, Jeke) have surpassed last year's points totals

• BC's power play unit has risen to a top-10 corps nationally -- the Eagles are scoring at a rate of 22.0 percent (28-of-127) and have scored 15 PPGs in their last 11 games since turn of 2016

• Gilmour scored the equalizer in the Feb. 12 dogfight at Merrimack last Saturday, tying the game, 4-4, 1:56 into the third period - Gilmour has found his knack for scoring timely goals as the Hanover, Mass. native leads the Eagles with seven-career game-winning goals

DEFENSIVE NUGGETS
• Boston College recorded its ninth shutout of the season to win the Beanpot on Feb. 8 - that is now a new school record, surpassing the old standard of eight set in 2005-06

• As a whole, the Eagles' defensive unit ranks fifth nationally, yielding only 1.93 gpg (one of five teams under 2.00 gpg) - BC has kept opponents off the board in 48-of-80 periods of play

• Boston College's penalty-killing unit has surrendered only three power play goal in the last nine games as the Eagles rank seventh in the nation at 86.3 percent (107-of-124)

• When holding a lead heading into the third period, the Eagle defense has been on lockdown, posting a 18-0-2 record with the advantage after two frames

• Boston College's newest defenseman, Michael Kim, has secured points in his last two-consecutive outings as an Eagle -- the Toronto native has accounted for one goal and four assists in 13 games

WE'RE GOIN' STREAKING
Boston College possesses the nation's longest unbeaten streak at 12 games, not having lost since the turn of the calendar year, rattling off a 8-0-4 mark starting on Jan. 8. The longest unbeaten stretch under Coach York after the New Year was the 2013-14 team that went 13-0-2.

20 / 20
With the Beanpot victory over BU on Feb. 8, Jerry York has now lead his program to a 20-win season (or more) in 17 of his 22 years behind the bench. This is the seventh-consecutive season the Eagles will have won at least 20 games and will be the 75th season in which Boston College has guaranteed more wins than losses.

BROTHERLY LOVE
Both Ryan and Casey Fitzgerald scored power play goals in the Feb. 13 contest at Merrimack and each assisted on one another's tallies. As a whole this season, each have assisted twice on one another's goals this year and have both scored at least one point in the game on 11 different occassions.

SHORT-CHANGED
The Eagles have scored nine short-handed goals this season, which ranks second in the nation (Penn State - 10). Colin White, Ryan Fitzgerald and Zach Sanford have all scored two this year. It's the most short-handed goals in a season for BC since 2011-12 (12 SHGs). Boston College is also tied for the most successful penalty shot goals (2) with Connecticut as well as delayed penalty goals (2) with Michigan and Wisconsin.

DEFENDING THE HEIGHTS TO NEW HEIGHTS
Boston College logged its ninth shutout of the season on Feb. 8, 2016 against Boston University, breaking the school record that was set in 2005-06 (8). All nine shutouts have been pitched by Thatcher Demko, who surpassed Cory Schneider's mark from the 05-06 season. No other team has posted nine shutouts in college hockey this season..

OVERTIME EXHILIRATION
Alex Tuch's overtime winner at the 1:57 mark of overtime in the championship game against BU gave the Eagles their first OT walk-off winnger since Ryan Fitzgerald turned the trick against Harvard in the consolation game of the Beanpot on Feb. 23, 2015. The last time BC pitched a shutout in a neutral site was when Brian Billett did so at CONSOL Energy Center against Bowling Green on Dec. 27, 2013, 5-0. The last two neutral site shutouts took place at an NHL arena (Pittsburgh & Boston).

...AND NEW
Thatcher Demko surpassed Cory Schneider for the all-time single-season shutouts record holder, notching his ninth of the season against BU in the Beanpot on Feb. 8. Boston College, as a whole, has never shut out nine teams in a season.

STANDING TALL AMONGST THE BEST
Demko is currently sixth in the nation in goals against average (1.80) and seventh in save percentage (.935) on the year and ranked first in overall shutouts with nine. For a career, the 6-foot-4 backstopper is 55-22-10 (.690) with a 2.08 goals against average and a .926 save percentage (2,294 saves on 2,476 shots).

WATCH OUT FOR WHITE
Colin White, who has registered 11 multi-point performances this season, is currently the 13th most prolific scorer in college hockey and the second-highest scoring freshman with an average of 1.29 point per game. The Hanover, Mass. native leads the Eagles with 36 points, notching 17 goals and 19 assists along the way. White tallied his second game-winning goal in power play fashion against Harvard in the Beanpot on Feb. 1.

FITZ IN A FLASH
Ryan Fitzgerald is fifth in the nation in shot attempts per game, triggering at a rate of 4.48 shots on net. The North Andover, Mass. native was the first Eagle to 10 goals and second on the team with 35 points (16-19-35) this seaosn. Fitzgerald is 18th overall in scoring with 1.21 points per game. He recorded his second four-point performance of the season on Jan. 8.

SPECIAL TEAMS' TALES
The Eagles' power play continues to pick up speed as the Eagles have scored 15 power play goals in theit last 12 outings. The extra man unit has risen from 38th to 10th in the country (85-for-127 - 22.0 %) while the penalty kill continues to assert its dominance over the country. BC is seventh in the nation, killing off 86.3 percent (107-for-124), including shutting out the third-ranked unit (Harvard) on Feb. 1 on the power play.

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUUUUL TIME, OF THE YEAR
As of Saturday, Boston College is ranked fourth in the Pairwise ranking with an RPI rating of .5875 , claiming the top spot in the poll with respect to Hockey East.

BEANPOT TROT
Boston College won its sixth Beanpot trophy in seven years, and 20th overall as the Eagles defeated archrival Boston University in historic fashion on Feb. 8, 2016 at TD Garden. Alex Tuch delivered his fourth-career game-winning goal in overtime to break up the defensive standoff 1:57 into the extra session.

UNBEANLIEVABLE
Monday's title game marked the 256th installment of the Beanpot tournament. In the 255 games prior, there had NEVER been a 1-0 final score. It was also only the second-ever 1-0 game between the Eagles and Terriers since the start of Hockey East (Dec. 2, 2006). It marked only the fourth shutout in Beanpot championship game history and first since 1981 (also in 1962 and 1967). Boston College had never shutout BU in the Beanpot championship. Monday's win marked the seventh shutout in Beanpot history for BC and also pushed the Eagles over the mark in a season for most shutouts in a year (9).

CLOSING IN ON BEANPOT LORE
Boston College won its sixth Beanpot trophy in seven years (2010-16), closing in on Boston University's mark of eight pots in nine tournaments from 1995 to 2003.

ANOTHER ONE FOR THE BIOGRAPHY
Head coach Jerry York earned another record on Feb. 8, 2016, when he surpassed his former coach at Boston College, Snooks Kelley, for most Beanpots won the Heights. York won his ninth trophy, which stands as the most in school history of any other coach.

Eagles Burlington Bound for Weekend Pair at Vermont

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Players Mentioned

Brian Billett

Thatcher Demko

Casey Fitzgerald

Ryan Fitzgerald

Michael Kim

Zach Sanford

Alex Tuch

Colin White