Tuesday Night Tilt on Deck vs. UMass

BOSTON COLLEGE vs. MASSACHUSETTS
Boston College welcomes the Minutemen of UMass to The Heights for the first time this season for a mid-week matchup. The Eagles, currently in second place, back one point of Northeastern, looks to elongate their six-game winning streak and eight-game unbeaten string against Massachusetts, who is tied for eighth place. Over the course of the last six games between BC and UMass, the Eagles have gone 6-0- and outscored the Minutemen, 37-9. In the last 13 fixtures, Boston College owns an 11-1-1 mark against UMass and dating back to 2008, the Eagles own a 25-4-1 advantage over their in-state foe. All in all, Boston College leads the overall series, 61-13-3. Since Boston College joined the league and has been hosting UMass since 1995, BC is 34-6-3 against Massachusetts on The Heights and has not lost against UM at home since Jan. 18, 2013. Since Massachusetts has joined Hockey East, Boston College has mounted a 34-6-3 mark on home ice and a 28-5-1 win-loss total in Amherst. Tuesday marks the third meeting between BC head coach Jerry York and UMass skipper Greg Carvel since he arrived in Amherst. York owns the 2-0 edge.

MINUTE ON THE MINUTEMEN
Massachusetts skates into Tuesday's tilt a much different team than last season. The Minutemen suffered a 5-29-2 mark and finished dead last in Hockey East but have surprised many as UMass comes into this pivotal matchup with a respectable .500 record (11-11-1) and just recently knocked off first-place Northeastern on Friday night in Amherst. The Minutemen have been a little of everywhere this season, stringing together a pair of three-game winning streaks at the beginning and middle of the season. From a statistical standpoint, UMass is a program to keep your eyes on as the Minutemen's top five point getters are all rookies, including Oliver Chau (8-11-19), Mitchell Chaffee (9-7-16), John Leonard (5-10-15), fourth-overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft Cale Makar (3-10-13) and Mario Ferraro (3-10-13). Chau is Hockey East's leading scoring rookie, ninth nationally, averaginh 0.83 points per game. The Minutemen offense as a whole ranks 38th, nationally, and seventh in Hockey East, averaging 2.78 goals per game. The defense has struggled, surrendering 3.30 goals per game which is next to last in the league and 51st in the NCAA.

CAN'T KEEP UP WITH COTTON
Sophomore David Cotton has meshed together a career best seven-game point streak, starting on Dec. 2 at BU. The Parker, Texas native tallied his second power play goal of the season and sixth of his career on Jan 14 vs. UNH. Cotton has accounted for at least one point in 10 of his last 11 outings, including four multi-point performances in that run. The second-year winger is now tied for the team lead in scoring with 18 points (6-12-18) through 23 outings.

McPHEELIN' IT
Sophomore forward Graham McPhee scored his first short-handed goal of the season and second of his career on Jan. 14 and followed that up with another tally for his first-career multi-goal game. With the two tallies, the Las Vegas native assumed the team lead in goals scored (8) and put Boston College in a tie for second, nationally, with four short-handed goals on the season.

DEFENDING THE NEST
Boston College's defense continues to limit the opposing lamp being lit as BC is now holding its opponents to 2.83 goals per game. That number is 28th, nationally, and sixth overall in the league. Over the course of the last 15 games, BC has given up four or more goals on only five occasions.

CASE'N THE JOINT
Captain Casey Fitzgerald is BC's leading scoring defenseman (4-9-13), which is tied for 16th in the conference. The junior leads the Eagles in shots on goal (67), second in blocked shots (25) and scored his first power play goal of the season on Jan. 6 vs. NMU.

LOOSE CHANGE
- Boston College continued its recent dominance over New Hampshire with its seventh-straight victory over the Wildcats on Jan. 14. The Eagles are unbeaten in their last 11 contests against UNH, amazing a 9-0-2 mark in that run. In the last 18 meetings against New Hampshire, Boston College is 15-1-2.

- Sophomore Graham McPhee scored his first short-handed goal of the season and second of his career and followed that up with his first-career multi-goal game. With the two tallies, the Las Vegas native assumed the team lead in goals scored (8) and put Boston College in a tie for second, nationally, with four short-handed goals on the season. Christopher Grando, Christopher Brown and Julius Mattila have also scored short-handed goals this season.

- Sophomore David Cotton extended his point streak to a career-high seven games after tallying his second power play goal of the season and sixth of his career. The Parker, Texas has accounted for at least one point in 10 of his last 11 outings, including four multi-point performances in that run. The second-year winger is now tied for the team lead in scoring with 18 points (6-13-18) through 23 outings.

- First-year forward Jacob Tortora scored his fourth goal of the season and first since Nov. 18 at Northeastern. The Victor, N.Y. native has nine points (4-5-9) on the season.
- Junior forward JD Dudek secured his second multi-point performance of the season with his third goal and ninth assist of the year. Dudek's tally stood as the game-winning goal, marking his second of the season and fifth of his career.

- Rookie Christopher Grando turned in his second-career multi-assist performance and third-career multi-point performance with a pair of assists on Sunday afternoon against New Hampshire.

- Freshman Casey Carreau notched his third assist of the season and first since one at Boston University on Dec. 2. Sophomore Ron Greco picked up his first assist of the season and sixth point of the year with the help on McPhee's second goal of the game. Sophomore Connor Moore also assisted on Dudek's game-winning goal for his sixth assist of the season and first since Dec. 1.

THE BRICK WOLL
Sophomore backstopper Joseph Woll has stopped 418-of-464 shots faced in his first 17 outings for a .901 save percentage which is currently 56th in all of college hockey while his 2.80 goals against average ranks 43rd in the game. Woll has stopped 1,330 - of - 1,463 shots faced (.909 save percentage) with a career mark of 2.69 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. Woll recently returned from the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship where he backstopped Team USA to a bronze medal.

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Players Mentioned

Christopher Brown

Casey Carreau

David Cotton

JD Dudek

Casey Fitzgerald

Chris Grando

Ron Greco

Julius Mattila

Graham McPhee

Connor Moore

Jacob Tortora

Joseph Woll