Eagles and River Hawks Lock Up in Lowell on NESN

BOSTON COLLEGE vs. UMASS LOWELL
A big series looms large for both Boston College and UMass Lowell in an old-fashioned home-and-home Hockey East series this weekend. The Eagles will head to Tsongas Center Friday night, alone in first place, while the River Hawks rest in fifth, six points behind Boston College (24-18). BC is looking to exact revenge on UML as the last time these two teams met, Lowell kept Boston College out of the NCAA Tournament by defeating the Eagles, 4-3, in the Hockey East Championship game at TD Garden on March 18, 2017. The River Hawks have had Boston College's number in recent history, winning the last four games outright by a combined score of 14-6. In the last 10 meetings against UMass Lowell, BC is 3-5-2. Since Tsongas Center was erected, Boston College owns an 18-9-2 mark in that building, but in the last six games, BC has only put up a 1-4-1 record. In Hockey East Tournament action, Boston College and Lowell have met nine times. The Eagles have a significant upperhand with a 5-2-2 overall record over the River Hawks, going 2-1-1 in quarterfinal action, an unblemished 3-0 mark in the semifinal round and an 0-1 mark in the championship bout. Since taking over at BC, Coach York has amassed a 45-23-4 mark against the River Hawks. In all, Boston College is 64-40-9 and since Lowell head coach Norm Bazin's arrival, the Eagles are 7-7-3 in 17 meetings.

LET'S GET ROWDY
UMass Lowell has righted the ship a bit after a rocky 4-6 start and have slowly crept back into the Pairwise discussion at No. 27. The River Hawks have gone 4-2 in their last six outings but with losses to Arizona State and last-place Vermont. Sophomore forward Ryan Lohin leads UML with 21 points (8-13-21) while sophomore forward Kenny Hausinger and senior John Edwardh both are atop the goal scoring chart with nine apiece. Lohin is one of four skaters in all of college hockey with three short-handed goals to his name this season. Both UMass Lowell's offense and defense rank near the middle of the pack as the River Hawks' are averaging 3.12 goals per game, good for 18th in the NCAA and fourth in Hockey East, while defensively, UML is surrendering 2.76 goals per game (25th NCAA • 5th in Hockey East). Junior goaltender Christoffer Hernberg has been a force in between the pipes with 12-5 mark, best in Hockey East, and a 2.18 goals against average, which is 14th nationally and third in the league. Hernberg's .917 save percentage is 13th best in college hockey and third best in Hockey East. He is one of 17 netminders in the NCAA with three or more shutouts to his name.

NOTES FROM THE UMASS CONTEST
Boston College extended its winning streak over UMass to seven games with a 2-1 win over the Minutemen on Tuesday night, Jan. 23 at Kelley Rink. The Eagles have not lost to UMass in the last nine games, going 8-0-1 over the stretch and 12-1-1 over the last 14 contests. Sophomore Jesper Mattila tallied his third goal of the season and first-career power play marker on Jan. 23. It marks Mattila's first goal since a three-point showing (1-2-3) at Northeastern on Nov. 18. Rookie Logan Hutsko scored his fifth goal of the season and second in three games late on Jan. 23. The Tampa, Fla. native's tally was unassisted, marking BC's second unassisted tally this season (David Cotton – Dec. 2 at Boston University). Hutsko's tally also stood as his first-career game-winning goal. Junior Christopher Brown assisted on Jesper Mattila's first-career power play goal, marking his 50th-career point in his 96th game wearing the maroon and gold. Connor Moore provided the primary assist on Jesper Mattila's power play goal, marking his third-career occurrence he's registered assists in back-to-back outings.

CAN'T KEEP UP WITH COTTON
Sophomore David Cotton had his seven-game point streak curbed on Jan. 23 vs. Massachusetts after starting one up on Dec. 2 at BU. Cotton has accounted for at least one point in 10 of his last 12 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.

THE BRICK WOLL
Sophomore backstopper Joseph Woll has stopped 438-of-485 shots faced in his first 18 outings for a .903 save percentage which is currently 53rd in all of college hockey while his 2.69 goals against average ranks 37th in the game. Woll has stopped 1,350 - of - 1,484 shots faced (.910 save percentage) with a career mark of 2.66 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.

DEFENDING THE NEST
Boston College's defense continues to limit the opposing lamp being lit as BC is now holding its opponents to 2.75 goals per game. That number is 24th, nationally, and fourth overall in the league. Over the course of the last 16 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 (69), second in blocked shots (25) and scored his first power play goal of the season on Jan. 6 vs. NMU.

Eagles and River Hawks Lock Up in Lowell on NESN

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Players Mentioned

Christopher Brown

David Cotton

Casey Fitzgerald

Logan Hutsko

Jesper Mattila

Graham McPhee

Connor Moore

Joseph Woll