Boston College Athletics
Hockey Plays Two Key Games Against UNH
March 01, 2002 | Men's Hockey
March 1, 2002
Boston College at New Hampshire
Saturday, March 2
Whittemore Center
7 p.m.
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THE EAGLES IN BRIEF: This weekend marks the end of the regular season for HOCKEY EAST members and the league race is still up for grabs. The series between Boston College and New Hampshire will go a long way in determining places one through three and five through seven in the league standings.
The Eagles enters this weekend's series with UNH with an 18-14-2 overall record and a 10-11-1 mark in HOCKEY EAST games. BC has won five of its last six games and six of its last eight.
The Eagles' success has been streaky this season. The team has five- , four- and three-game winning streaks to its credit, but also has a six-game losing streak and a four-game winless streak.
AGAINST THE WILDCATS: Boston College and New Hampshire have met 101 times with the Wildcats holding a 49-47-5 series advantage. BC's senior class of Jeff Giuliano and Ales Dolinar, both New Hampshire residents, has a 5-6-1 record against UNH since their freshman year.
New Hampshire won the first meeting of the season in overtime by a 5-4 score on Nov. 30 at the Whittemore Center. BC trailed 4-1 to open the third period, but rallied tie the game and send the game to overtime.
Dolinar and Giuliano each have six points against the Wildcats to lead the team in scoring. Both players have scored one goal and added five assists in 12 games against UNH. Sophomore Tony Voce follows with three points on two goals and one assist.
PLAYOFF PICTURE: The Eagles' playoff picture became a bit clearer this week when UMass-Lowell earned home-ice advantage, meaning BC will play a road quarterfinal series for the first time since the 1996-97 season.
The picture will become even sharper after Friday's games. The Eagles can still finish fifth, sixth or seventh depending on Northeastern and Providence's final games and BC's performance against UNH.
Should Providence defeat UMass-Lowell and the Eagles are unable to gain a point from New Hampshire, BC finishes seventh, regardless of what Northeastern does. Should Providence lose, Northeastern defeats Merrimack and BC wins one game against UNH, the Eagles would finish sixth.
BC can finish fifth in two cases. If Providence and Northeastern both lose and BC (at least) ties UNH in one game, then the Eagles will be in fifth place. Also, should Providence lose and Northeastern win, then BC will need three points from UNH to move into fifth.
BC holds the first tie-breaker (head-to-head wins) against Northeastern, but loses it to Providence.
LAST TIME AGAINST UNH: Boston College scored three times in the third period to overcome a 4-1 deficit and tie the game at 4-4 at the end of regulation, but the Wildcats' Darren Haydar scored his third goal of the night 2:26 into overtime to lead UNH to a 5-4 victory at the Wittemore Center on Nov. 30.
Ryan Murphy gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead at 10:27 of the first period, but New Hampshire scored three goals within 3:27 in the second period to open a 4-1 lead.
Ben Eaves ignited the Eagles' comeback with a 4x4 goal at 3:54 of the third, then Brett Peterson brought the Eagles within one goal at 7:28. Tony Voce brought BC all the back when he scored the game-tying goal at 14:08.
The Eagles dominated play in the third period and overtime session, out-shooting the Wildcats by a combined 17-6 margin. BC hit two posts - one by J.D. Forest with less than one minute remaining in regulation - and one in overtime, but the Wildcats scored on their first trip into the Eagles' zone in the extra stanza.
Matti Kaltiainen made 27 saves for BC, while Michael Ayers made 29 saves in net for New Hampshire.
LAST TIME OUT: Ben Eaves scored two goals and Ales Dolinar added his third of the weekend as BC completed the two-game sweep of Northeastern with a 3-1 win at Kelley Rink on Sunday, Feb. 24.
Eaves and Dolinar scored 54 seconds apart in the first period to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead after the first period. Eaves one-timed a shot from the point on the power-play that beat Northeastern goaltender Keni Gibson for a 1-0 lead at 12:03. Tony Voce and J.D. Forrest also assisted on the goal.
Dolinar's goal was set up by a give-and-go play with Ryan Shannon and Jeff Giuliano into the zone. Shannon skated in, curled around and found Giuliano streaking in on net. Giuliano then curled and passed off to Dolinar stationed in front of the net for the short one-timer at 12:57.
Northeastern got within one on a Mike Ryan partial breakaway at 5:19 of the second period as the Huskies continued to pressure for the rest of the game, but Eaves' second goal of the night at 18:24 of the third secured the win for BC. Voce and Andrew Alberts assisted on the goal.
Matti Kaltiainen made 23 saves in the win, while Gibson made 31 saves for Northeastern.
WALKER BACK IN THE LINEUP: Junior forward A.J. Walker will return to the lineup this weekend after suffering a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee on Feb. 4 in the first round of the Beanpot. He suffered the injury when he slid into the goalpost in the first period against Boston University. Walker missed the Eagles' last six games with the injury.
POST-BEANPOT PUSH HAS BEGUN: Boston College has started its traditional post-Beanpot push to the NCAA Tournament. The team is 3-1-0 so far after the 2002 Beanpot ... since the 1997-98 season, Boston College is a combined 44-10-4 after the Beanpot, a .793 winning percentage. Included are three HOCKEY EAST Tournament titles and four consecutive runs to the Frozen Four. Four of the nine losses have been in postseason tournament play: 1998 - national championship game, 1999 - national semifinal, 2000 - HOCKEY EAST Tournament final and national championship game ... Boston College has a 4-2-1 record against New Hampshire in games played after the Beanpot since the 1997-98 season.
NEW HAMPSHIRE NATIVES: Three Boston College players currently live in the Granite State. Senior captains Jeff Giuliano and Ales Dolinar both reside in Nashua, while freshman Ryan Murphy now lives in Bow.
HOLDING A LEAD TO CLOSE THE GAME: This season, Boston College is 15-0-1 when holding a lead entering the third period. Conversely, the Eagles are 2-11-1 when trailing entering the final stanza.
KELLEHER MAKES A STATEMENT IN FEBRUARY: Junior netminder Tim Kelleher ended the month of February on a very positive note. In his three starts in February, Kelleher was 3-0-0 with a .927 save percentage and 2.00 goals against average. He backstopped the team to its 4-3 victory over No. 7 Maine on Feb. 8. He followed that with a 23-save, 2-1 victory over Merrimack (Feb. 15) and a 25-save, 7-2 victory over No. 13 Northeastern ... BC's offense averaged 4.33 goals per game in Kelleher's three February starts.
KALTIAINEN LOVES "HOME" COOKING: Freshman Matti Kaltiainen has made four starts at Kelley Rink this season and has found tremendous success on the familiar home ice. He is 3-1-0 at home with a 1.26 goals against average and a .950 save percentage. He has only allowed five goals in four games at home ... his wins came over Providence (4-1 on Nov. 14), No. 7 and previously undefeated Boston University (3-1 on Nov. 17) and No. 13 Northeastern (3-1 on Feb. 24). His only loss was to the Terriers (2-1, Jan. 18).
VOCE AMONG THE NATIONAL LEADERS ...: Sophomore Tony Voce is listed among the Division I national leaders in six categories. The following is a list of his ratings as compiled by USCHO.com (as of Feb. 28) and the NCAA (as of Feb. 26).
Overall scoring: Tied for 11th (44 points) Goal scoring: Tied for seventh (23 goals) Shorthanded goals: Tied for fourth (four) Goals per game: Eleventh (0.68) Points per game: Thirteenth (1.29) Game-winning goals: Tied for 10th (four)
WHO'S HOT: Sophomore Tony Voce has a seven-game point-scoring streak alive, netting three goals and eight assists for 11 points in that span. Also during that time, he's a plus-10 on the ice ... classmate Ben Eaves has nine points (four goals, five assists) in six games since returning from injury ... sophomore J.D. Forrest has eight points in the last seven games and assists in each ofthe last four ... senior Jeff Giuliano has six points (two goals, four assists) in the last six games ...the power-play unit has recorded one goal in each of the last seven games, its longest scoring stretch of the season.
