Boston College Athletics
BC, Dartmouth Faceoff Sunday At 4 p.m.
November 30, 2008 | Men's Hockey
Nov. 30, 2008
COLLEGE HOCKEY GAME PREVIEW
Game 14
Boston College at Dartmouth
Date: Sunday, Nov. 30, 2008
Faceoff: 4 p.m.
Location: Hanover, N.H.
Venue (Capacity): Thompson Arena (4,500)
Radio Broadcast: WROL 950 AM; bceagles.com
Live Stats: dartmouthsports.com
Team Records: Boston College - 8-4-1, 5-3-1 Hockey East Association; Dartmouth - 6-3-0, 5-2-0 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference
Team Rankings: Boston College - No. 5 USCHO.com, No. 6 USA Today; Dartmouth - No. 20 USCHO.com, ARV USA Today
DROP THE PUCK: No. 5/6 Boston College will break from Hockey East Association competition for the second straight game when it plays at Dartmouth College on Sunday, Nov. 30. Game time is set for 4 p.m. BC returns to Hanover, N.H. and Dartmouth College for the first time since Nov. 26, 2002 when the host Big Green earned a 5-4 overtime victory over BC.
THE DARTMOUTH SERIES: Boston College and Dartmouth College are meeting for the 70th time in the all-time series that dates back to the 1920-21 season. The teams are also facing off for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign. BC earned a 4-1 home victory over the Big Green in the last meeting between the teams on Nov. 25, 2003. The Eagles are 2-3 against Dartmouth under head coach Jerry York. The teams met once in each of five seasons: 1994-95, 1995-96, 1999-2000, 2002-03 and 2003-04. Dartmouth last defeated BC 5-4 in overtime on Nov. 26, 2002 in Thompson Arena.
THE LAST MEETING (11-25-03): Ben Eaves and Tony Voce each registered two assists and Ryan Shannon netted the game-winning goal to lead BC to a 4-1 win over Dartmouth in Kelley Rink. Matti Kaltiainen made 13 saves in net for BC.
THE LAST MEETING AT DARTMOUTH (11-26-02): Dartmouth's Mike Ouellette scored at 2:39 of the overtime period to lift the host Big Green over BC, which suffered its first road defeat of the 2002-03 season. Ryan Shannon and Andrew Alberts scored one goal each to give the visiting Eagles an early two-goal lead. Dartmouth countered and tied the score at 3-3 after two periods before BC's Patrick Eaves and Dartmouth's Max Guimond traded third-period scores.
RADIO BROADCAST INFORMATION: All BC hockey games are streamed live over the internet at bceagles.com and are carried live on WROL 950 AM. Jon Rish (play-by-play) and Ken Hodge (color analyst) will call the action.
LAST TIME OUT: Senior Andrew Orpik scored two times - the team's first and last goal - while freshman Cam Atkinson and junior Matt Price both tallied one goal and one assist to lead fifth-ranked Boston College to a 5-1 non-conference victory over Harvard before a sellout crowd of 7,884 fans in Kelley Rink on Friday afternoon. The teams traded the game's first two scores before the host Eagles netted four consecutive goals, including three in the final period, to earn the victory. BC captain Brock Bradford scored his national-leading 13th goal of the season and sophomore goalie John Muse made 18 saves in his eighth win of the season and the 33rd of his career.
THE POLLS: Boston College is ranked fifth by USCHO.com and sixth according to USA Today in national polls released on Monday, Nov. 24. The Eagles received the nation's top preseason billing by USA Today and USCHO.com and have not slipped lower than No. 6 in either weekly ranking.
BLISTERING PACE: Senior captain Brock Bradford has registered 21 points - 13 goals and eight assists - in 13 games. He enters Sunday's game leading the country in both points per game (1.62) and goals per game (1.00); he is tied with Yale's Sam Backman for first place in goals per game. A resident of Burnaby, B.C., Bradford has scored at least one goal in eight (of 13) games and has scored multiple goals four times, including a hat trick at Merrimack (Nov. 14). POWER PLAY: BC has scored 19 power-play goals in 13 games and is converting its chances at a 20.0 percent rate (19-for-95). That mark ranks ninth among national leaders entering Sunday's game. The team is 0-for-10 in power-play opportunities over the last two games. BC has scored multiple man-advantage goals in seven of its 13 games this season. Individually, senior Brock Bradford and sophomore Brian Gibbons are the top power-play producers, having totaled eight points apiece in man-advantage situations. Bradford is the team's top goal scorer in power-play situations with five power-play goals in 13 games.
PENALTY KILL: BC has killed 86.4 percent (57-of-66) of its opponent power plays. In the last three games, the team has killed 14-of-15 (93.3 percent) of its opponents' power plays. In penalty-killing situations, Bradford and Gibbons have each registered two points - one goal and one assist - while junior Matt Price has also scored a shorthanded goal for BC.
FROM THE FACEOFF DOT: Boston College has averaged a win at the faceoff circle 47.9 percent (437-of-912) of the time. Junior center Ben Smith has an impressive 56.9 percent (107-for-188) win rate. Freshman center Paul Carey, who has taken 71 faceoffs in 11 games, has amassed a 62.0 percent win rate (44-of-71).
THE COACH: Jerry York is in his 37th season as a head coach and his 15th season at Boston College. He is the second winningest coach in NCAA history and first among active Division I coaches. He has an 811-519-85 career record and a 344-184-51 mark as coach of the Eagles. York is a 1967 graduate of Boston College where he was a three-year letterman and earned All-America and All-New England first-team honors in 1966-67.
THE GOALIE: Boston College's goaltending duties are in the firm grasp of sophomore John Muse. Muse played in all 2,725 minutes in net during the team's 44-game 2007-08 campaign. He led all goaltenders in the nation in that category and totaled a BC single-season record 1,171 saves. Through 13 games in 2008-09, Muse owns a 2.89 goals against average and a .896 save percentage.
