Eagles Host UNH Friday on Senior Day

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The third-ranked Boston College women's hockey team will close out its regular-season home schedule on Friday, Feb. 9, when the Eagles host New Hampshire in a Hockey East contest at 2 p.m. at Kelley Rink. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3, which is available at WatchESPN.com and on the ESPN app.

The day will feature two special ceremonies. Prior to the game, the Eagles' four seniors will be honored during a Senior Day presentation. And following the game, Hockey East Commission Joe Bertagna will formally present Boston College with the 2017-18 Hockey East regular-season trophy, which they clinched on Jan. 27.

Friday's game will be the third and final Hockey East regular-season meeting between the two teams this season. BC claimed the first two games: a 6-0 victory at Kelley Rink on Jan. 5, and a 5-1 road win on Jan. 7. In the home game, Daryl Watts (four goals, one assist) and Makenna Newkirk (one goal, four assists) each posted five-point days. Two days later in Durham, Caitrin Lonergan (two goals, two assists) and Kenzie Kent (two goals, one assist) led the way in the away victory.

With three league teams – BC, Boston University and Northeastern – in the midst of the Beanpot Tournament, the Hockey East schedule is light this weekend with only six games scheduled Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But those games will have a large impact on the tightly-congested Hockey East standings and, ultimately, the final conference playoff picture as the regular season wraps up next weekend.

UNH currently sits in fourth place standings and comes into the second-to-last weekend of league play with a one-point edge over fifth-place Northeastern for the fourth and final home-ice berth in the Hockey East Quarterfinals. A total of five points separate second-place Maine (25 points) and the fifth-place Huskies (20 points) as the teams come down the stretch of the conference schedule.

The Black Bears and third-place Providence (24 points) meet this weekend for a two-game series in Providence before BC heads up to Orono for two games next weekend to close out the regular season. Northeastern heads to Merrimack on Saturday and closes the season with single games against Vermont and at Providence next weekend.

Places six through nine in the standings are even tighter as teams vie for the final three playoff berths over the next two weeks. Boston University is currently sixth with 17 points, but has just two games remaining – against UNH next weekend. UConn (four games left) and Vermont (three games) are tied for seventh in the final two playoff spots with 15 points apiece, while Merrimack has 14 points with three games remaining. Connecticut, UVM and Merrimac all meet each other at least once in the final two weeks.

BC will face the eighth-place team in the Hockey East Quarterfinals, which begin on Friday, Feb. 23.

This weekend, the Eagles will look to continue their strong play of late, coming into the UNH game on a seven-game winning streak during which they've outscored their opponents 29-13. Since a 5-4 overtime win at Northeastern on Jan. 13, BC has not allowed more than two goals per game.

BC also boasts the top offense in Hockey East play, averaging 4.24 goals per game, and the top defense that allows 2.05 goals per game.

With three games to go, a trio of Eagles have taken aim at Hockey East's records for points, goals and assists in a season. Watts is five points back of Kendall Coyne's single-season scoring record (55 points), coming into Friday's game with 50 league points this season. Watts is also just two scores behind Coyne's single-season goals record (30), entering with 28 goals so far in Hockey East play. On the assist chart, both Lonergan and Newkirk have collected 26 assists this year, six back of Alex Carpenter's record 32. All three scoring records were set during the 2015-16 season, Hockey East's first year of its current 24-game schedule.

Watts has averaged 2.38 points per game and 1.33 goals per game in conference play this year, while Lonergan and Newkirk are both averaging 1.24 assists per league game in 2017-18.

Following Friday's game, BC will meet Boston University in the Championship game of the 40th Women's Beanpot on Tuesday, Feb. 13. Faceoff is set 7:30 p.m. at Kelley Rink, and ticket information is available at womensbeanpot.com. The Beanpot Championship, as well as the 4:30 p.m. consolation game between Northeastern and Harvard, will be streamed live on ESPN3.

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Players Mentioned

Kenzie Kent

Caitrin Lonergan

Makenna Newkirk

Daryl Watts