Boston College Athletics
Eagles And Terriers Kickoff Season Series At Agganis Arena Friday
December 04, 2008 | Men's Hockey
Dec. 4, 2008
COLLEGE HOCKEY GAME PREVIEW
Game 15
Boston College at Boston University
Date: Friday, Dec. 5, 2008
Faceoff: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Boston, Mass.
Venue (Capacity): Agganis Arena/Jack Parker Rink (6,300)
Television: CN8
Radio Broadcast: WROL 950 AM; bceagles.com
Live Stats: goterriers.com
Team Records: Boston College - 9-4-1, 5-3-1 Hockey East Association; Boston University - 9-4-0, 4-4-0 HEA
Team Rankings: Boston College - No. 2 USCHO.com, No. 3 USA Today; Boston University - No. 7 USCHO.com, No. 5 USA Today
DROP THE PUCK: BC and Boston University faceoff for the 243rd time in the storied rivalry on Friday, Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m., at Agganis Arena. The teams will play the second game of the home-and-home series at Boston College on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m.
THE BOSTON UNIVERSITY SERIES: Boston College and Boston University have met 242 times in the all-time series; the Terriers hold a 120-106-16 advantage. BC won the 2007-08 Hockey East season series, 2-0-1, and earned a third victory over Terriers in the first round of the Beanpot. BC is 27-29-6 against Boston University under head coach Jerry York ... The two teams have met 15 times in the last three-plus seasons; the BC senior class holds a 8-6-1 advantage. BC and BU met six times in 2005-06 (2-4-0), five times in 2006-07 (3-2-0) and four times (3-0-1) last winter ... BC is 4-1-0 against BU in Agganis Arena over the last three-plus seasons.
RED, WHITE & BLUE: Boston College freshman Jimmy Hayes was one of 22 players selected to the 2009 United States National Junior Team, USA Hockey announced on Wednesday. Hayes will compete for Team USA at the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championship, in Ottawa, Ontario, Dec. 26, 2008-Jan. 5, 2009. The 6-foot-5-inch, 205-pound Hayes is one of 13 forwards on the roster. Hayes has played in 13 games at Boston College this season. He has tallied eight points - six goals and two assists. He ranks second (tied) on the team in goals. Hayes' selection marks the 12th time in the last 13 seasons that BC has been represented on the U.S. National Junior Team. Serving as head coach of U.S. National Junior Team is Ron Rolston, head coach of the U.S. National Under-18 Team within USA Hockey's National Team Development Program and former assistant coach at Boston College (2002-04).
PLAYER TO WATCH: Captain Brock Bradford, who missed 39 games during a junior season in which he suffered multiple breaks in his left arm, is off to an incredible start to his senior campaign. The Burnaby, British Columbia, resident has registered 22 points - 13 goals and nine assists - in 14 games. He enters Friday's game against Boston University leading the country in points per game (1.57) and checks in at No. 2 among all skaters in college hockey in goals per game (0.97). The 5-foot-9-inch forward has scored at least one goal in eight (of 14) games and has scored multiple goals four times, including a hat trick at Merrimack (Nov. 14). He has totaled five multiple-point performances, including two four-point efforts and two three-point nights.
MR. NOVEMBER: The senior captain took home the league's top player award for the month of November after registered seven goals and 13 points in eight games, including back-to-back four-point performances against Merrimack (11/14) and New Hampshire (11/15). Bradford recorded at least one point in seven of eight November games and scored at least one goal four times, including his first career hat trick at Merrimack.
SUCCESS IN KELLEY: Boston College is 7-1-0 this season in games played in Kelley Rink, suffering its sole loss to Notre Dame on Nov. 7. The team is 4-0-0 against Hockey East Association opponents. BC is averaging 4.1 goals per game, scoring nearly 40 percent (13-of-33) of its goals in the third period of play, in its home venue while allowing an average of 2.6 goals against. The Eagles have played in front of a sellout home crowd of 7,884 three times: Oct. 10 against Wisconsin, Nov. 10 against Notre Dame and Nov. 28 against Harvard. The Eagles are averaging 5,967 fans at each home game. BC boasts this impressive home record following a 2007-08 season in which it went 6-7-4 at home, failing to reach the 10-win plateau for the first time since 2001-02.
YOUNG GUNS: Four freshmen forwards - Barry Almeida, Cam Atkinson, Paul Carey and Jimmy Hayes - have all gotten their BC careers off to a fast start. All four freshmen forwards have played in at least 12 games and have tallied more than five points. Hayes (6-2--8) and Carey (4-4--8 assists) are leading the charge with eight points apiece, while Almeida ( 2-4--6) and Atkinson (3-2--5) have come on strong, totaling one goal and one assists each in the last two contests. All combined, these four freshman forwards are scoring 29.4 percent (15-of-51) of the team's goals.
BLUELINE JOE: BC sophomore Joe Whitney, a 2007-08 Hockey East All-Rookie Team honoree, has made the change from skating on the forward lines to a regular defenseman. The Reading, Mass., resident has played each of BC's last four games there, yet Whitney is not a total stranger to the blueline. He has played the left point on BC's first power-play unit for the majority of his freshman and sophomore campaigns. A gifted playmaker, the 5-foot-6-inch Whitney, registered a team-high 40 assists in 2007-08, finishing second among all freshmen in BC hockey history in single-season assist scoring and second among the nation's leaders in assists per game. Additionally, he led all BC players in power-play production last winter with 29 points - five goals and 24 assists - in his freshman campaign.
BALANCED ATTACK: Since the team's 5-5 tie at Merrimack on Nov. 14, BC is 4-1-0 and has outscored opponents 20-12. Led by Jimmy Hayes (four goals) and Brock Bradford (three goals), BC's 20-goal scoring output has come from 11 different forwards across all four forward lines. All totaled, 15 BC skaters have registered multiple points during this five-game stretch, six players have scored multiple goals and 15 players have a positive plus-minus rating. Benn Ferriero (+5) and Tim Kunes (+5) lead the team in the plus-minus category during this time.
• Senior assistant captain Benn Ferriero, a 40-plus-point scorer in each of his previous two seasons, was held from the scoresheet during BC's first four games. Yet, the Essex, Mass., resident has consistently appeared in the final box score over the last 10 contests. The 5-foot-11-inch, 192-pound forward has averaged one point per game during the last 10 contests (2-8--10). He has tallied at least one point eight times. Ferriero is BC's lone 100-point scorer on the roster.
• Sophomore Brian Gibbons, who forced overtime at Dartmouth last Sunday on his sixth goal of the season with 38.2 seconds left in regulation, has been BC's most consistent representative on the final box score having recorded at least one point in 12-of-14 games this season. Gibbons ranks second on the team in overall scoring with 18 points - six goals and a team-high 12 assists. Gibbons and Bradford have each registered five multiple-point performances.
• Fourteen games into his senior season, left wing Kyle Kucharski has surpassed his single-season high for goals with four, and is one goal away from tying his goal-scoring output from his first three seasons at the Heights combined. The Saugus, Mass., resident entered the 2008-09 campaign with five goals, nine assists and 14 points. The 6-foot-3-inch, 200-pound forward has six points - four goals and two assists - this year.
• Ten games into his junior season, center Matt Lombardi has established a single-season high in assists with four (1-4--5). A resident of Milton, Mass., Lombardi recorded three assists in both his freshman and sophomore campaigns. He registered the first multiple-point performance (two assists) of his career in BC's 5-1 win over Harvard on Friday, Nov. 28. Lombardi connected with linemate Andrew Orpik on both of his even-strength scores.
• Anthony Aiello, a defenseman for each of his previous 114 collegiate contests, played the first game of his career on the forward lines at Dartmouth on Sunday, Nov. 30. The versatile senior, a fifth-round draft choice of the Minnesota Wild, has tallied one assist in 10 games in 2008-09.
