Boston College Athletics
Men's Hockey Preview: No. 6 Denver
October 13, 2010 | Men's Hockey
Oct. 13, 2010
Game #2
No. 1 Boston College at No. 6 Denver
Friday, Oct. 15, 2010 - 9:30 p.m. EST
Magness Arena - Denver, Colo.
TV: Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain
Game #3
No. 1 Boston College at No. 6 Denver
Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010 - 9 p.m. EST
Magness Arena - Denver, Colo.
EAGLES FACE WCHA-OPPONENT DENVER: No. 1 Boston College (1-0-0) returns to road action with a two-game series against Western Collegiate Hockey Association opponent Denver (1-0-1). The Eagles and sixth-ranked Pioneers will begin the weekend series on Friday, Oct. 15 at 9:30 p.m. EST inside Magness Arena and conclude the series on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 9 p.m. EST.
FSN ROCKY MOUNTAIN TO TELEVISE FRIDAY'S BC - DENVER GAME: Fox Sports Net Rocky Mountain will broadcast the Boston College - Denver hockey game on Friday, Oct. 15, 2010 at 9:30 p.m. EST (7:30 p.m. local time) from Magness Arena in Denver, Colo. FSN Rocky Mountain can be found on DirecTV channel 683 and on the Dish Network channel 414. Tori Holt (play-by-play) and Charlie Host (color analyst) will have the call with Alanna Rizzo reporting rinkside.
INTERNET AUDIO: ISP manages and produces all Boston College hockey radio broadcasts. Jon Rish (play-by-play) and Ken Hodge (color) will have the call, which is streamed live over the internet and available free of charge through Boston College's official athletics web site: www.bceagles.com.
THE POLLS: Boston College maintained the top spot in both national polls after earning a 2-0 win at Northeastern. The Eagles received 48 first-place votes from the panel of 50 coaches and media members to lead the way in the Oct. 11 USCHO.com poll. The Eagles collected 507 points, including 31-of-34 first-place votes, to claim the top spot in the Oct. 11 USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
LAST TIME OUT: Sophomore forward Steven Whitney broke a scoreless tie with 7:19 left in the third period and senior goaltender John Muse registered 35 saves to lead No. 1 Boston College to a 2-0 season-opening victory over Hockey East opponent Northeastern before a sellout crowd of 4,666 fans at Matthews Arena. Steven Whitney snapped the tie on the power play, receiving a cross-ice feed from older brother Joe Whitney and snapping a low-angle shot from near the goal line past Northeastern goaltender Chris Rawlings. Junior forward Jimmy Hayes also assisted on the goal, which broke 52 minutes, 41 seconds of scoreless hockey. Senior alternate captain Brian Gibbons netted the insurance goal into an empty-net with 9.7 seconds remaining.
QUICK HITS
• Senior goaltender John Muse registered 35 saves in the team's 2-0 season-opening victory at Northeastern on Saturday, Oct. 9. The shutout performance marked the ninth of his career. Muse ended the 2009-10 season with a 20-save shutout performance against Wisconsin in Detroit, Mich., on April 10. The 35 saves marked his most saves since a 4-3 loss at Denver on Jan. 2, 2010, a span of 17 games.
• Last winter, Boston College scored 171 goals - its highest total since the 2000-01 season and the third-most under York - and ranked second in the nation with a 4.07 goals per game average. Led by junior Cam Atkinson (30 goals) and Brian Gibbons (50 points) and Joe Whitney (45 points), Boston College returns 79 percent (360 of 456 points) of its total offensive production from one season ago.
• Junior Tommy Cross is the first junior to serve as assistant captain since Mike Brennan in 2006-07.
• For the 10th time in the last 13 seasons, Boston College has been picked as the Hockey East preseason favorite, or co-favorite, by the league's coaches.
• Cam and Tommy Atkinson, Joe and Steven Whitney, and Jimmy and Kevin Hayes are the 13th, 14th and 15th pairs of brothers to play hockey on the same team at Boston College.
• Sophomore forward Chris Kreider, who captured a gold medal with the U.S. National Junior Team at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, made his first appearance with the U.S. Men's National Team in May, traveling to the 2010 IIHF World Championship in Cologne, Gelsenkirchen and Mannheim, Germany.
• Six players - five sophomores and one freshman - participated in the 2010 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp from July 30 - Aug. 7 in Lake Placid, N.Y. - defenseman Brian Dumoulin, forward Chris Kreider, defenseman Philip Samuelsson, defenseman Patrick Wey, forward Steven Whitney and freshman forward Kevin Hayes. Kreider was one of nine returnees from the gold medal-winning 2010 U.S. National Junior Team to participate in the camp.
• Boston College enters the 2010-11 campaign with 11 players on its roster that have been selected in the NHL Draft. Those players are: Bill Arnold (Calgary/4th/2010), Cam Atkinson (Columbus/6th/2008), Paul Carey (Colorado/5th/2007), Tommy Cross (Boston/2nd/2007), Brian Dumoulin (Carolina/2nd/2009), Jimmy Hayes (Toronto*/2nd/2008), Kevin Hayes (Chicago/1st/2010), Chris Kreider (NY Rangers/1st/2009), Isaac MacLeod (San Jose/5th/2010), Philip Samuelsson (Pittsburgh/2nd/2009) and Patrick Wey (Washington/4th/2009). * Jimmy Hayes was traded to Chicago in July 2010.
MUSE EARNS LEAGUE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS: Boston College senior John Muse earned Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honors after the 5-foot-11, 180-pound goaltender registered 35 saves in the team's 2-0 season-opening victory at Northeastern on Saturday, Oct. 9. The shutout performance marked the ninth of his career. Muse ended the 2009-10 season with a 20-save shutout performance against Wisconsin in Detroit, Mich., on April 10 (and began the 2010-11 with a 35-save shutout effort at Northeastern on Oct. 9). The 35 saves marked his most saves since a 4-3 loss at Denver on Jan. 2, 2010, a span of 17 games. A resident of East Falmouth, Mass., Muse has played in 111 collegiate games. He is 63-33-15 with a 2.41 goals against average and a .914 save percentage.
THE DENVER SERIES: Boston College is 9-13-0 in the 22-game all-time series against Denver, including a 6-6-0 record in Denver, Colo. The teams met once last winter - on Jan. 2, 2010 at Magness Arena - with Denver earning a 4-3 victory.
THE LAST MEETING (Jan. 2, 2010 at Magness Arena): Joe Whitney, Tommy Cross and Brian Gibbons each scored once for the fifth-ranked Eagles and John Muse recorded 35 saves, but second-ranked Denver scored four times in the third period to win the Wells Fargo Denver Cup with a 4-3 win over BC. BC led 2-0 after two periods and 3-1 at the 5:36 mark in the third period on a Gibbons' shorthanded goal. Defenseman Tommy Cross was named to the Wells Fargo Denver Cup All-Tournament Team.
BC IN THE MILE-HIGH CITY: BC is returning to a city and state in which the program has enjoyed some of its finest memories. The Eagles captured their first and third national championships in the state of Colorado and return to Denver, the Centennial State's capital and home of the Pepsi Center, the site of its memorable trip in April 2008 for the NCAA Frozen Four. There, BC defeated North Dakota 6-1 and Notre Dame 4-1 behind a remarkable (combined) five-goal performance from Nathan Gerbe and a 49 (combined) saves by then-freshman goaltender John Muse to earn the school's third national championship. On March 19, 1949, BC defeated Dartmouth in Colorado Springs, Colo., to win its first national title.
FROM THE CENTENNIAL STATE: For Boston College sophomore Brooks Dyroff, the Eagles' trip to Denver marks a homecoming. Dyroff hails from Boulder, Colo., and attended Niwot High School from 2004-07 before enrolling at Phillips Andover Academy in Andover, Mass., where he graduated from in 2009. While at Niwot, Dyroff earned the Sean Student Leadership Award given by the state of Colorado Hockey Association to a player who demonstrates leadership on the ice and in the classroom. Dyroff is the co-founder of CEO4Teens, a non-profit organization which offers educational opportunities to teens in third-world countries; has sent 30 Indonesian students from low-income families on a year-long computer programming course at Indonesia's Campuhan College; furthered outreach to Boston area in 2009-10, awarding scholarships to Roxbury Community College's GED program to three individuals.
THE YORK FILE
Record: 851-539-92 (.605 win percentage)
Years: 39
Record at BC: 384-204-58 (.639 win percentage)
Years at BC: 17
YORK TO RECEIVE LESTER PATRICK TROPHY: Head coach Jerry York has been named one of four recipients of the 2010 Lester Patrick Trophy. The trophy is an annual award presented for outstanding service to hockey in the United States. Joining York as 2010 recipients are Hockey Hall of Famer Cam Neely, Boston University coach Jack Parker and AHL President David Andrews. The Lester Patrick Trophy ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 27 in TD Garden.
RETIRED JERSEY: On April 12, 2010, Boston College recognized former player and current coach Jerry York by retiring his jersey at the 2010 national championship celebration on O'Neill Plaza.
MORE MILESTONES FOR YORK: Head coach Jerry York is in his 39th season as a head coach and his 17th season behind the Boston College bench. He is the second winningest coach in NCAA history and the first among active Division I coaches.
EIGHTY-EIGHTH SEASON OF HOCKEY: Boston College is in its 88th season of hockey. The Eagles have compiled 70 winning seasons and a 1336-734-110 all-time record.
THE CAPTAINS: Boston College elected senior forward Joe Whitney as captain of the 2010-11 Eagle entry. Senior forward Brian Gibbons and junior defenseman Tommy Cross were elected as assistant captains.
EAGLES CHOSEN AS 2010-11 LEAGUE FAVORITE: Boston College has been chosen as the unanimous preseason favorite to win the Hockey East Association regular-season title, according to the Hockey East Coaches' Poll. BC earned nine first-place votes and a total of 90 points. Maine was picked second with 80 points, just four points ahead of New Hampshire. Boston University and Northeastern rounded out the top five selections. The announcement marks the 10th time in the last 13 seasons that the Eagles have been selected as the preseason favorite, or co-favorite, to win the conference crown. BC enters the 2010-11 campaign having captured the last year's national title - its fourth national championship in program history. Last winter also marked program's third national championship under head coach Jerry York. York and the Eagles return 17 lettermen from last year's 29-win club.
EAGLES RETURN 17 OF 21 LETTERWINNERS: With the loss of four lettermen - defenseman Carl Sneep and forwards Matt Price, Matt Lombardi and Ben Smith - Boston College returns the bulk of its squad in 2010-11. The 24-man roster features 17 returning letterwinners - two goaltenders, six defensemen and nine forwards. The group helped Boston College to a 29-10-3 overall record, including a 16-8-3 mark in Hockey East play, during a season in which the Eagles earned the Beanpot title, the Hockey East Tournament title and the NCAA Championship.
100-POINT SCORERS: Senior forwards Brian Gibbons and Joe Whitney each recorded their 100th career point last season. Gibbons ranks 55th at Boston College with 114 career points, while Whitney ranks 57th with 112 career points. Boston College has 72 players who have scored 100 points or more in a career.
SUSTAINED SUCCESS: Boston College has won 25 or more games 10 times in the last 13 seasons. In 2000-01. The Eagles set the school record with 33 victories - in 43 games - en route the school's second national championship.
HOCKEY EAST HISTORY: The Eagles have won four of the last six Hockey East Tournament titles. Overall, BC has posted a 51-23-2 record (.684) in the Hockey East Tournament. Boston College has won nine conference championships, the highest total in Hockey East. BC's league tournament titles came in 1987, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2010. Under head coach Jerry York, Boston College is 42-11-1 (.787) in the Hockey East Tournament. The Eagles have won seven titles - 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005, 207, 2008, and 2010 - in 10 championship games under York.
TWITTER UPDATES: Live in-game news updates, in short form, on Boston College hockey are available through Twitter at: http://twitter.com/BCSportsNews
REAL-TIME STATS: Live in-game updates will be provided through Denver's official athletics web site: www.denverpioneers.com
WHAT'S NEXT: Following the two-game series at Denver, Boston College will travel to Notre Dame for a single game on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.
A GLANCE BACK AT 2009-10: Boston College finished with a 29-10-3 overall record, including a 16-8-3 mark in Hockey East play. The Eagles earned the Beanpot title, the Hockey East Tournament title and the NCAA Division I championship. As the top seed in the Northeast Regional, BC defeated Alaska in the first round and Yale in the quarterfinals to advance to the Frozen Four in Detroit, Mich., the program's fourth Frozen Four in five years. There, the team defeated Miami 7-1 in the semifinals and earned the school's fourth NCAA title with a 5-0 victory over Wisconsin in the championship game. Junior Brian Gibbons captured All-Conference first-team honors, sophomore Cam Atkinson earned All-Conference second-team accolades and Chris Kreider and Brian Dumoulin earned All-Conference Rookie Team recognition. Atkinson led the nation with 30 goals.
