Boston College Athletics
BC-BU Home-and-Home Series Begins Tonight
January 19, 2007 | Women's Hockey
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Jan. 19, 2007
#8 Boston College Eagles (15-5-2, 9-3-0 HEA) vs. Boston University Terriers (13-7-2, 5-5-1 HEA)
Friday, January 19, 2007, 7:00 p.m.
@ Boston University Terriers
Boston, Mass. - Walter Brown Arena
Saturday, January 20, 2007, 4:00 p.m.
vs. Boston University Terriers
Chestnut Hill, Mass. - Conte Forum
DROPPING THE PUCK
The Eagles took two from the Vermont Catamounts up in Burlington last weekend by 7-0 and 5-0 scores. Freshman Molly Schaus took the weekend off while sophomore Johanna Ellison started both games in net and earned both the shutouts. Ellison turned away 31 shots combined in the two games, while on the other end of the ice, sophomore Meghan Fardelmann and freshman Kelli Stack put together 14 points in between them. Seven different Eagles potted goals for eighth-ranked Boston College as it went on to pick up four points in the standings to leap into a first-place tie.
BC vs. THE TERRIERS
Boston College is unbeaten, 13-0-1, against Boston University in 14 games, including 10 meetings in the annual Beanpot Tournament prior to the Terriers becoming a Division I program in 2005. Since the 2005-06 season, the Eagles are 3-0-1 against their cross-town rival. The teams last met on November 4, 2006 in Chestnut Hill when the Eagles skated to a 5-2 victory. The only tie in the series was on October 18, 2005, at Walter Brown Arena when the extra period couldn't snap a 3-3 draw.
SCOUTING THE TERRIERS
The Terriers, at 13-7-2 with a 5-5-1 league record, sit fifth in the Hockey East standings. Thursday night, the Terriers traveled down to Storrs, Conn. and upset league-leading UConn in overtime, 3-2. They returned home to Walter Brown to defeat another pack of Huskies, Northeastern, 4-2.
The leading scorer for the Terriers is freshman Melissa Anderson (24 points). Sophomore Allyse Wilcox and freshman Melissa Haber have split time in goal, but Haber was the netminder of record last week, going 2-0-0 and earning the league's Rookie of the Week.
YOUNG GUNS
The freshman and sophomore classes are creating noise for the Eagles this year in scoring as the top five point-getters are from the classes of 2010 and `09. Freshman Kelli Stack leads the team with 29 points (9 goals, 20 assists), and is second in the league.
Goals Assists Points Freshmen 43 56 99 Sophomores 30 39 69 Juniors 13 29 42 Seniors 2 4 6 Team 88 128 216HALF CENTURY FOR COACH
Tom Mutch earned his 50th head coaching win on January 12, 2007 with a 7-0 win over the Catamounts. He picked up his 51st the very next day. All 122 games as a head coach (51-58-13, .480) have come while at the helm of the Eagles. Mutch's first year at BC was the 2003-04 season when he jumped cross-town from his second stint as the assistant for the Northeastern men.
THE GOALS KEEP A'COMING...
The Eagles averaged six goals per game in three games last week and now score an average of 4.75 goals in Hockey East games to lead the league. Seven of the last 13 goals have come on the power play.
...AND THE AWARDS DO TOO
Sophomore Meghan Fardelmann became the third Eagle to receive Hockey East's Player of the Week this past Tuesday after putting together a three-game stretch of multiple-point contests, including five goals and four assists. Fardelmann moved up to fourth on the team in scoring with 14 goals and seven assists. The sophomore finished her rookie campaign 9-10--19.
SHUTTING DOWN THE OPPOSITION
Boston College has not let up a goal in the last 140:15 of play and has allowed only one goal in the last 240:00. Eagle goaltenders Molly Schaus and Johanna Ellison have combined for three shutouts in the last four games, including both games last weekend against UVM.
THE NATIONAL SCENE (as of January 16, 2007)
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine USCHO.com Division I Women's Poll Women's College Hockey Poll Team (first place votes) Team (first place votes) 1. Mercyhurst College (18) 1. Mercyhurst College (15) 2. Wisconsin (1) 2. Wisconsin 3. New Hampshire 3. New Hampshire 4. Harvard 4. Dartmouth 5. Dartmouth 4. Harvard 6. St. Lawrence 6. St. Lawrence 7. Minnesota 7. Minnesota 8. Boston College 8. Boston College 9. Minnesota-Duluth 9. Minnesota-Duluth 10. Ohio State 10. Ohio State RV: Yale. RV: Rensselaer, Yale.THE ROAD AHEAD
Boston College plays two games at Conte Forum next weekend, including a 2 p.m. contest against Vermont on Saturday as part of Women's Hockey East's "Skating Strides Against Breast Cancer" Campaign. The Eagles will also host Maine on Sunday at 2 p.m. Both games will complete the three-game series with each team.
UNDER-22 SELECTS
This summer, three Eagles were invited to participate in the U.S. National Women's Hockey Festival, which served as a try-out for the U.S. Under-22 Select Team. Defenseman Maggie Taverna, and forwards Deb Spillane and Becky Zavisza traveled to Lake Placid, N.Y. for the festival, and Taverna and Spillane were selected to play in the Under-22 series against the Canadian team August 24-27. The Americans were edged, 2-1, by the Canadians in the series.
THERE'S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING...
The Eagles had their best season in program history last year, and with it came lots of firsts. On February 14, 2006, Boston College won its first-ever Beanpot trophy by defeating Harvard, 2-0, in the title game. Next, the Eagles picked up their first win in a Hockey East tournament game since joining the conference in 2002 when they beat Providence in the semifinals, 3-1. When Boston College moved on to play New Hampshire the next night, it marked the first conference title game for the Eagles. The girls from The Heights finished off their season by hitting the 20- win mark, a feat which none of the previous Boston College teams accomplished.
COACH'S CORNER
Tom Mutch enters his fourth season as head coach of the Boston College women's ice hockey program, a program he led last season to its most successful since it joined Women's Hockey East five years ago. His overall record at the Heights in three-plus seasons is 51-58-13 (.480).
Mutch earned his first women's hockey coaching experience in 1996 when he accepted a position as the United States Women's National and Olympic Hockey team assistant in Nagano, Japan. During his tenure there, Team USA captured an Olympic gold medal with a 6-0 record in 1998, culminating into a 3-1 victory over Canada in the finals. During the 1997 World Championship in Ontario, Canada, the Americans took home silver after falling to Canada, 3-1, in the championship game.
After Nagano, Mutch served as the assistant men's hockey coach for the Omaha Lancers Hockey Club (1998-2000) and the University of Nebraska-Omaha (2000-2002). In 2002, he returned to Boston for his second stint as the men's assistant hockey coach at Northeastern, where he had previously served as an assistant from 1994 to 1996.
Mutch skated for the Northeastern Huskies from 1986 to 1988. After college, he spent several years playing professional hockey in the Central Hockey League for both the Memphis Riverkings and the Flint Bulldogs. While with the Bulldogs (1991-92), he registered 30 goals and 40 assists, landing him second on the team in both goals scored and total points. As a Riverking (1992-93), he led the team with 43 goals. Mutch then spent one season playing with the Adendorgf (Germany) Lions Hockey Club.
Tom is married to Laurie Mutch, who is the assistant athletic director and women's hockey coach at the Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts. The couple just had their first child, Karleigh, on September 16, 2006.
EAGLE ACCOLADES THIS SEASON
Meghan Fardelmann, So. F; Lansing, Kan. TPS Player of the Week (Jan. 15) NEHJ Player of the Week (Jan. 18)
Megan Keever, Fr. F; Harrisburg, Pa. Mission Rookie of the Week (Nov. 7) USCHO Offensive Player of the Week Honorable Mention (Nov. 7)
Molly Schaus, Fr. G; Natick, Mass. Pure Hockey Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 2&23) ITECH Rookie of the Week (Oct. 8) Mission Rookie of the Month (October) ITECH Goalie of the Month (November) TPS Player of the Week (Jan. 2)
Deborah Spillane, Jr. F; Franklin, Mass. USCHO Offensive Player of the Week (Jan. 9)
Kelli Stack, Fr. F; Brooklyn Heights, Oh. UNH All-Tournament Team (Nov. 25) Mission Rookie of the Week (Dec.11, Jan. 8)
Maggie Taverna, So. D; Howell, N.J. Pure Hockey Defensive Player of the Week (Nov. 20)
Allie Thunstrom, Fr. F; Maplewood, Minn. TPS Player of the Week (Nov. 7) USCHO Offensive Player of the Week Honorable Mention (Nov. 7) Mission Rookie of the Month (December)
Becky Zavisza, So. F; Suffield, Conn. USCHO Offensive Player of the Week (Nov. 7)
