Storied Rivals to Close Out Hockey East Series at Sold Out Conte

WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017 (7 p.m.)

WHERE: Kelley Rink at Conte Forum / Chestnut Hill

GAME NOTES: PDF / WEB

HOW TO FOLLOW:
- WATCH LIVE ( BCEagles.TV )
- RADIO: WEEI 850 AM -- Jon Rish (Play-by-Play) // Andy Powers (Color Commentary)
- LIVE STATS
- BUY TICKETS (SOLD OUT)

THE FINAL FROZEN HOLY WAR (...in Hockey East, at least)
Saturday's sold out showdown between old-time rivals No. 13 Boston College and No. 15 Notre Dame marks the final game between the two institutions in a regular season contest with Hockey East play. The Fighting Irish will depart the league for the Big Ten Conference next season and the Eagles are looking to get one last crack at ND as it has dominated Boston College as of late. Notre Dame has won six of the last nine meetings, including the first meeting this year in South Bend, 3-2, on Dec. 10. BC has not defeated Notre Dame at home since game two of the Hockey East quarterfinals on March 15, 2014 (ND ended up winning game three), but the last two triumphs the Eagles have prevailed in both occurred at Notre Dame's home in shutout fashion. All-time, the Eagles hold a slight 21-19-2 advantage as Saturday marks the 43rd meeting between these two storied programs. All-time at Conte Forum, the teams are an even 7-7-1. Notre Dame has the slight edge at Compton Family Ice Arena with a 3-2 win-loss total. BC was 6-3-1 at the Joyce Center, the Irish's former home. In seven regular season contests, Notre Dame holds the 4-3 advantage as the Eagles look to tie it out to close out the series tied. Despite Notre Dame's recent success against Boston College, the Eagles defeated Notre Dame for the 2008 National Championship on April 12, 2008, at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

EYES ON THE IRISH
Notre Dame has been on a pretty good run since the Eagles last met up with the Irish on Dec. 10. Since that game, ND has gone 5-2-1 and owns an overall mark of 14-8-3 with a 7-4-2 mark in league play, good for fourth place currently. Anders Bjork, who scored a pair against BC in the last meeting, is ninth in the country in overall scoring, averaging a clip of 1.44 points per game (15-21-36). Bjork is one of four skaters in all of college hockey with five game-winning goals. The Irish defense ranks seventh in the nation (2.08 gpg), much thanks to goaltender Cal Petersen, who owns the most shutouts (5) and is ninth overall in goals against average (1.97).

SAVED BY THE WOLL
Boston College was outshot, 43-26, against UConn on Jan. 24. The Eagles pulled out the 2-1 win thanks in large part to first-year goaltender Joseph Woll's career performance, turning away 42 of UConn's 43 attempts to preserve his 12th (12-8-1) victory of the season.

SOMETIMES, STATS DON'T MAKE SENSE
When analyzing shot totals, a trend is starting to form for the Eagles. When BC limits its opponents to between 13 - 29 shots per game, Boston College is 12-1. When the Eagles surrender between 30 and 39 shots, they have gone 2-8-2. Oddly enough, the two times BC has yielded 40 shots or more (Denver - Oct. 8 - 41 shots & UConn - Jan. 24 - 43 shots), BC has won both of those contests.

RUBY TUESDAY
The Eagles had a rare slate of SIX Tuesday night games this season, but the short turnaround time did not disrupt the squad as it went 5-0-1 over those six games, outscoring its opponent, 21-12.

GET THERE EARLY
Boston College has displayed a knack for scoring goals early this season, particularly in the Eagles' 2-1 win on Jan. 24. Michael Kim (00:54) and JD Dudek (1:28) put BC up, 2-0, in a matter of a minute and 28 seconds. It was Boston College's fastest first goal of the season since David Cotton scored 10 seconds in at Wisconsin on Oct. 16.

POINT PRODUCERS
Only three other teams in college hockey have scored as many points as BC has this season. The Eagles are tied for fourth in the NCAA in total points (245), second in assists (158) and tied for first with three (3) hat tricks. Boston College is also third in the nation in most road points scored with 136. Boston College is fifth in goals scored with 87 and back up to being tied for first place in all of college plus/minus differential (+34).

OFFENSIVE JUGGERNAUTS
Boston College has produced some even scoring as 13 Eagles are in double figures in points while eight skaters have at least five goals through this point. BC is now averaging over three goals per game (3.22 gpg) on the season which ranks 15th amongst all teams in college hockey. For almost the entire first half of the season, that figure led Hockey East but has since slid to fifth after a tough scoring drought to start the second half.

EDGY EAGLES
Boston College's top five point getters through 26 games are Matthew Gaudreau (6-17-23), Christopher Brown (6-15-21), Austin Cangelosi (10-10-20), Colin White (11-8-19) and Ryan Fitzgerald (5-13-18). White's 0.50 goals per game ranks tied for 43rd in all of college hockey while Gaudreau and R. Fitzgerald are averaging 0.63 assists per game, tied for 63rd in college hockey.

HERE'S MY PLUS-ONE
The Eagles are outscoring their opponent at just under a goal per game and possess the ninth-highest mark in the NCAA. BC's + 0.96 goal differential is fourth in the league as the Eagles have netted 87 goals and given up only 61. The +34 plus / minus mark, as a club, is tied for the best in all of college hockey with Penn State.

KEEPIN' UP WITH KIM
Sophomore defenseman Michael Kim scored 54 seconds into Tuesday's game against UConn, marking the fastest goal to start a game this season since David Cotton turned the trick 10 seconds in at Wisconsin on Oct. 16, 2016. JD Dudek followed 34 seconds later to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead 1:28 into the game. Kim has now scored in back-to-back games on two occasions this. The Toronto native also did so on Dec. 30 and Jan. 8 this year.

DEFENDING THE HEIGHTS
The freshmen goaltending tandem of Joseph Woll and Ryan Edquist have performed at a high level this season as both are keeping the Eagles' defensive corps in the top half of the rankings. Against UConn on Jan. 24, Woll turned in a career performance, turning away 42 shots. In all, Woll has amassed a 12-8-1 (.595 - 27th in the NCAA) record, with a 2.32 goals against average (19th in the NCAA) and a .925 save percentage (13th overall). Edquist has been the primary back up with nice numbers, recently picking up his fourth-career win (4-1-1 in all) after defeating UMass on Jan. 20. In all, Edquist owns a 1.75 goals against average with a .929 save percentage.

DEFENSIVE DEEDS
Following the UConn game on Jan. 24, BC is surrendering only 2.26 goals per game which is 11th best in college hockey. BC is only one of two teams in Hockey East that has given up 10 goals or less, combined, in the first period, starting off strong defensively. In all, the Eagles have limited an opposing team to scoring only one goal in a game 10 times.

PLUSSES N MINUSES
Seniors Scott Savage and Austin Cangelosi are both locked in, tied for sixth overall in all of college hockey with a +18 plus / minus rating. Closely behind are Michael Kim, Connor Moore and Christopher Brown, all tied for 11th overall with a +16 ranking.

100 FOR CANGE
Senior centerman Austin Cangelosi snapped an 11-game goal-scoring drought at Frozen Fenway on Jan. 7. The goal stood as the Estero, Fla. native's 100th-career point as Cangelosi added an assist on Michael Kim's equalizer midway through the second period. Cangelosi also remains college hockey's most lethal faceoff man, winning 65.2 percent of his draws (378-of-580). His 378 faceoff wins are the third most in college hockey but the most out of any centerman with that high of a volume.

Storied Rivals to Close Out Hockey East Series at Sold Out Conte

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Players Mentioned

Christopher Brown

Austin Cangelosi

David Cotton

JD Dudek

Ryan Edquist

Ryan Fitzgerald

Matthew Gaudreau

Michael Kim

Connor Moore

Scott Savage

Colin White

Joseph Woll