Boston College
Boston University
College Hockey's Best Rivalry Heads to Kelley Rink Friday Night
November 29, 2017 | Men's Hockey
The 275th installment of The Battle of Comm Ave. makes its way to The Heights as the Eagles look to extend their unbeaten streak to nine over their arch rivals
THE BATTLE OF COMM AVE.
Both teams always have the Battle of Comm Ave. circled on their respective calendars as Boston University makes its way down the green line for a Friday night puck drop at Kelley Rink. Not only does Friday's fray mark the 275th installment of the Green Line Rivalry, the 2017-18 season is the centennial season in which these two adversaries first met. BC and BU first met on Feb. 6, 1918 as part of Boston College's first-ever varsity hockey season. The Eagles skated to a 3-1 victory. Last year, Boston College and Boston University met on the ice four times and the Terriers came away with three of those decisions. BC salvaged the series last season after ousting the Terriers from the Hockey East semifinals, 3-2, on Match 17, 2017. BU heads to Kelley Rink Friday night for the first meeting of the 2017-18 season, a site in that has seen even play in recent history as BC and BU have skated to a 5-5-1 mark since 2007 on The Heights. Against BU at Kelley Rink, head coach Jerry York is 17-13-4 heading into Friday's rivalry game on The Heights. As a whole, York is 7-4-1 against his BU counterpart, 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 44-42-8 against Boston University as head coach of the Eagles. Friday also marks the 128th encounter in Hockey East play and of course as this heated series would have it, the overall conference mark between BC and BU is tied at 57-57-12 in league play. In all, the Terriers hold an 10-game advantage over Boston College in the overall series, with a 133-123-18 mark.
RHETT REPORT
Boston University heads to The Heights with a 6-8-1 record and is tied for fifth in the Hockey East standings with a 4-4-1 mark in league play. The Terriers are fresh off their bi-annual trip to Madison Square Garden for Red Hot Hockey as BU lost to Cornell, 4-3, last Saturday on November 25. Sophomore forward Patrick Harper lead Boston University with 15 points, including six goals and nine assists, while junior Bobo Carpenter's eight goals is a BU best in that category. Carpenter is tied for the Hockey East lead in goals scored thus far. Half of Carpenter's goals (4) have come via the power play while two of his other tallies have come short handed as he is one of five NCAA skaters with two short-handed goals this season. Both the Terriers offense and defense are middle of the pack nationally. Boston University's offense is scoring a rate of 2.73 goals per game which is tied for 33rd on the national landscape while the defense is allowing 2.87 goals per game, slotting the Terriers 30th overall.
TERRIFYING TRIO
Boston College's line of David Cotton – Julius Mattila – Jake Tortora contributed on all four goals in a 4-4 tie against Harvard, accounting for 11 points, including four goals, seven assists, eight shots on net and a combined +9 rating.
FOUR-POINT PHENOMS
Julius Mattila's four-point performance vs. Harvard, along with David Cotton's, was the first four-point showing of any Eagle this season. In his 45th-career game, Mattila accounted for his first-ever two-goal performance and multi-assist showing. Mattila also finished with a +4 plus/minus rating, the best in the Finnish product's career. Cotton recorded BC's other four-point night, posting his seventh point (2-5-7) in his last three outings. Cotton scored his second goal of the season, 12th all-time, and turned in his second-career three-assist performance. The Parker, Texas native also racked up three assists against Notre Dame on Jan. 28, 2017.
DEFENDING THE NEST
Boston College's defense continues to limit the opposing lamp being lit as BC is now limiting its opponents to 2.60 goals per game. That number is tied for 16th, nationally, and is third, overall in the conference. Over the course of the last eight games, Boston College has only given up three goals on two occasions.
KILLIN' IT
Boston College's penalty kill is staving off oppnents' power plays at a rate of 83.8 percent (57-of-68) and is currently 21st in the nation and fourth in Hockey East. BC has kept its opponents off the board on the power eight of 15 times this season.
THE BRICK WOLL
Sophomore backstopper Joseph Woll has stopped 279-of-328 shots faced in his first 10 outings for a .905 save percentage which is currently tied for 49th in all of college hockey while his 2.56 goals against average ranks 30th in the game. Woll has stopped 1,209 - of - 1,327 shots faced (.911 save percentage) with a career mark of 2.62 goals against average. Woll was also one of 20 goalies named to the watch list for the 2018 Mike Richter Award, which annually honors the most outstanding goaltender in NCAA Division I men's hockey.
ALL WE DO IS WIN WIN WIN (...WIN WIN WIN WIN AND A TIE...)
Boston College is currently on an eight-game unbeaten streak, having won seven-straight contests and most recently tied Harvard, 4-4, on November 24 at Kelley Rink. It marked the Eagles first seven-game winning streak since rattling off 11 in a row from October 16 to November 28, 2015. It marks the longest unbeaten spell since BC went 9-0-1 from October 16 to November 13, 2016. Heading into the Battle of Comm Ave, Boston College is tied with Clarkson for the second-longest unbeaten streak in the nation as both clubs are unbeaten in their last eight. Notre Dame leads the country on a red-hot nine-game winning stretch.
ROAD BIRDS
In addition to its seven-game winning stretch, Boston College has also won four true road games in a row (UVM, UVM, UNH, NU). It marks the first time the Eagles have won four-straight road games since the 2009-10 season when BC defeated UMass (3-1 – Dec. 4, 2009), BU (4-1 – Dec. 5, 2009), Harvard (3-2 – Dec. 9, 2009) and Providence (3-1, Dec. 12, 2009).
ATOP THE LEADERBOARD
Boston College might have had a slow start in the non-conference slate, but the Eagles have responded rather thunderously in conference play. Winning their last seven league games (Merrimack (2) , UConn, Vermont (2), New Hampshire and Northeastern) and an OT win over Providence, the Eagles are all alone in first place in the Hockey East standings by five points over Providence, having accrued 16 points with a 8-1 record to the early goings of the conference slate.
SHORTY SZN
Christophher Grando and Julius Mattila both have tallied short-handed goals this season. They are two of 52 skaters in the NCAA with at least one short-handed goal in 2017-18.
