Boston College Athletics
Men's Hockey Preview: Massachusetts, Fri., Feb. 5
February 03, 2011 | Men's Hockey
Feb. 3, 2011
Game #25
No. 1 Boston College (18-6-0, 14-5-0 Hockey East) vs. Massachusetts (6-13-4, 5-8-4 HE)
Friday, Feb. 4, 2011 - 7 p.m.
Conte Forum/Kelley Rink (7,884) - Chestnut Hill, Mass.
NO. 1 BOSTON COLLEGE HOSTS MASSACHUSETTS: Boston College hosts Massachusetts in Hockey East play on Friday, Feb. 5, 2011 at 7 p.m. ... The Eagles and Minutemen are meeting for the first time this season and for the first time since the Eagles swept a best-of-three game Hockey East Tournament quarterfinal series last March ... The Eagles enter the contest ranked within the nation's top 10 in scoring offense (2nd; 3.79 goals per game), defense (7th; 2:17 goals allowed per game), penalty kill (1st; 89.7 percent) and power play (8th; 22.2 percent) ... Junior Cam Atkinson has 19 goals in 24 games and is ranked fourth in country in goals per game while senior Brian Gibbons leads the Eagles in eight statistical categories ... goaltender John Muse is 15-4-0 with a 2.08 goals against average and a .933 save percentage ... BC, which went 5-0-0 against Massachusetts last winter, enters competition having won 10 of its last 11 games this season and having achieved the nation's top ranking according to both polls ... Though ranked No. 1 in the polls, the team checks in at No. 5 according to the USCHO.com PairWise Rankings, college hockey's top real-time ranking source of teams qualified to receive at-large berths to the NCAA Tournament.
INTERNET AUDIO: Audio broadcasts of all Boston College hockey games - home and away - will be available free of charge through www.bceagles.com with Jon Rish (play-by-play) and Ken Hodge (color) calling the action.
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 available through Gametracker and available through both schools' official athletics web sites. Real-time stats of all college hockey games are available through the Hockey East Association's official web site: www.hockeyeastonline.com
By Position:
GOALTENDERS (3): Parker Milner (Pittsburgh, Pa.), John Muse (East Falmouth, Mass.), Chris Venti (Needham, Mass.)
DEFENSEMEN (7): Patch Alber (Clifton Park, N.Y.), Tommy Cross (Simsbury, Conn.), Brian Dumoulin (Biddeford, Maine), Isaac MacLeod (Nelson, British Columbia), Philip Samuelsson (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Edwin Shea (Shrewsbury, Mass.), Patrick Wey (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
FORWARDS (14): Barry Almeida (Springfield, Mass.), Bill Arnold (Needham, Mass.), Patrick Brown (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Cam Atkinson (Greenwich, Conn.), Tommy Atkinson (Greenwich, Conn.), Paul Carey (Weymouth, Mass.), Brooks Dyroff (Boulder, Colo.), Brian Gibbons (Braintree, Mass.), Jimmy Hayes (Dorchester, Mass.), Kevin Hayes (Dorchester, Mass.), Chris Kreider (Boxford, Mass.), Pat Mullane (Wallingford, Conn.), Joe Whitney (Reading, Mass.), Steven Whitney (Reading, Mass.)
By Class:
SENIORS (3): Brian Gibbons (Braintree, Mass.), John Muse (East Falmouth, Mass.), Joe Whitney (Reading, Mass.)
JUNIORS (8): Barry Almeida (Springfield, Mass.), Cam Atkinson (Greenwich, Conn.), Tommy Atkinson (Greenwich, Conn.), Paul Carey (Weymouth, Mass.), Tommy Cross (Simsbury, Conn.), Jimmy Hayes (Dorchester, Mass.), Edwin Shea (Shrewsbury, Mass.), Chris Venti (Needham, Mass.)
SOPHOMORES (9): Patch Alber (Clifton Park, N.Y.), Brian Dumoulin (Biddeford, Maine), Brooks Dyroff (Boulder, Colo.), Chris Kreider (Boxford, Mass.), Parker Milner (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Pat Mullane (Wallingford, Conn.), Philip Samuelsson (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Patrick Wey (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Steven Whitney (Reading, Mass.)
FRESHMEN (4): Bill Arnold (Needham, Mass.), Patrick Brown (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Kevin Hayes (Dorchester, Mass.), Isaac MacLeod (Nelson, British Columbia)
Miscellaneous:
Average Age (as of 10/1): 20 Years, 7 Months
Youngest Player (as of 10/1): Patrick Brown, 18 years, 4 months
Oldest Player (as of 10/1): Tommy Atkinson, 22 years, 10 months
Most Games Played: 146, Joe Whitney
Fewest Games Played: 16, Kevin Hayes
Home State/Territory Breakdown
Arizona (1), Colorado (1), Connecticut (4), Maine (1), Massachusetts (12), Michigan (1), New York (1), Pennsylvania (2), British Columbia, Canada (1)
POPULAR EAGLES:
• Through nine home games this season, Boston College leads Hockey East in attendance and is averaging the second-highest home attendance figure (6,411 fans per game) in Kelley Rink's 23-year history. During the 2000-01 season, the team played 16 home contests and finished with an average of 6,415 fans per game. • BC has played before 6,415 fans or more in six (of nine) home games this season, including capacity crowds of 7,884 twice - against Boston University (Dec. 4) and Providence (Jan. 7).
THE POLLS:
• Boston College improved one spot - to No. 1 - in both the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com polls after a 5-1 win at UMass-Lowell on Saturday, Jan. 29.
• The Eagles had spent the previous week at the No. 2 spot and three weeks prior to in the No. 3 slot.
• BC is 10-1-0 since a 5-3 loss at Merrimack on Nov. 26 and has climbed seven spots since the Nov. 29 polls.
• The Eagles had received the nation's top preseason billing and were the nation's top-ranked team through the opening two weeks of the 2010-11 season before falling to No. 2 in the Oct. 25 polls.
THE PAIRWISE
• BC checks in at No. 5 according to the USCHO.com PairWise Rankings, a system which attempts to mimic the method used by the NCAA Selection Committee to determine participants for the NCAA Division I men's hockey tournament.
• Yale, Denver, North Dakota and Minnesota-Duluth are the top four teams in the PairWise rankings.
• The PWR compares Teams Under Consideration (TUC), those with a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) of .500 or more, judging them by four criteria: record against common opponents, head-to-head competition, record against other TUC if a team has played 10 or more games against TUC, and the RPI.
SERIES INFO VS. MASSACHUSETTS:
• Boston College is 44-10-3 in the 58-game all-times series between the teams.
• The Eagles won all five meetings between the schools last winter and are 41-9-3 under head coach Jerry York, including a 22-5-2 record inside Conte Forum, and are 4-1-0 against the Minutemen in Hockey East Tournament play.
• BC last lost to Massachusetts, 4-3 in overtime, on Nov. 22, 2008 inside the Mullins Center. It last lost to the Minutemen inside Conte Forum on Nov. 17, 2007 (3-2).
• Senior goaltender John Muse is 5-2-1 with a 1.35 goals against average and a .952 save percentage in eight career games against Massachusetts. Sophomore Parker Milner is 3-0-0 with a 2.38 goals against average and a .906 save percentage in four appearances against the Minutemen.
• Junior Cam Atkinson has recorded 12 points - seven goals and five assists - in eight career games against Massachusetts.
THE 2009-10 MASSACHUSETTS MEETINGS (5):
• BC defeated Massachusetts in each of its five meetings last winter, earning regular-season on Dec. 4 (3-1), Feb. 5 (7-1) and Feb. 26 (2-1, OT), and home Hockey East Tournament victories on March 12 (6-5) and March 13 (5-2).
• Goaltender Parker Milner started three times and recorded a 2.38 goals against average and a .906 save percentage, while John Muse started twice and went 2-0-0 with a 1.20 goals against average and a .921 save percentage in just under 100 minutes of action.
• Offensively, Cam Atkinson led Boston College with 10 points - six goals and four assists - in five games against the Minutemen while the Whitney brothers, Steven (2-6--8) and Joe (3-3--6), combined for 14 points.
LAST TIME OUT:
• Cam Atkinson scored twice and John Muse recorded 29 saves to lead second-ranked Boston College to a 5-1 victory over UMass-Lowell before a sellout crowd of 6,488 fans in Tsongas Arena.
• The visiting Eagles built a 2-0 lead with one goal in each of the first two periods before host UMass-Lowell trimmed the advantage to 2-1 with its only goal at 7:04 of the final frame. BC responded with three straight scores, including two goals 27 seconds apart in the 18th minute, for the 5-1 final.
• Jimmy Hayes also scored for the victors, while freshmen Kevin Hayes and Bill Arnold (1 goal, 1 assist) tallied consecutive scores at 18:06 and 18:33 to seal the victory, the team's 10th in its last 11 games.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Penalty-Kill Rate (National Rank): 89.7 (1)
• Boston College went 16-for-18 on the penalty kill over the last three games and owns an 89.7 percent kill rate this season (131-for-146), which is best kill rate in college hockey.
Power-Play Percentage (National Rank): 22.2 (8)
• The team leads its conference and ranks eighth nationally with a 22.2 percent success rate (26-for-117).
• BC's power play finished a combined 5-for-9 in two wins two weeks ago, including a 3-for-3 effort against UMass-Lowell, before going 0-for-5 at UMass-Lowell last weekend.
OFFENSE
Goals Per Game (National Rank): 3.79 (2)
• The team leads its conference and ranks second nationally with an average of 3.79 goals per game.
• Cam Atkinson has 19 goals in 24 games and ranks fourth in the country in goals per game.
• Brian Gibbons has tallied multiple-point performances in seven of the last 14 games and has at least one point in 21-of-24 games this season.
DEFENSE
Goals Per Game (National Rank): 2.17 (7th)
• Goaltender John Muse has started 19 of 24 games and ranks fifth nationally in save percentage (.933) and 11th nationally in GAA (2.08). He has 30 or more saves in nine games.
• Sophomore defensemen Patch Alber leads all BC defensemen with a +13 rating while classmates Brian Dumoulin (+12) and Patrick Wey (+10) rank second and third among BC blueliners.
• Brian Dumoulin has 14 points - two goals and 12 assists - in his last nine games. He leads all Hockey East defensemen in scoring with 17 points - two goals and 15 assists - in 19 conference games.
QUICK HITS
• One-hundred-point scorers Brian Gibbons (49-95--144) and Joe Whitney (38-92--130) are each gaining ground on becoming the just the 14th and 15th players in Boston College hockey's 88-year history to record 100 or more assists.
• Brian Gibbons leads the team in eight statistical categories. Gibbons leads BC in assists (20), plus-minus (+16), power-play production (11 pts), shorthanded scoring (4 pts), shorthanded goals (2), shot percentage (24.4%), penalties (25) and penalty minutes (53). He ranks second among all BC skaters in points (31) and game-winning goals (2) and third on the team in goals (11) and face-off percentage among regular centers (50.7 percent).
• Boston College has been held to two goals or fewer just four times in 24 games. It is 18-2-0 when scoring more than twice.
• Brian Gibbons is averaging nearly one goal for every four shots he takes (11 goals on 45 shots).
• Junior forward Cam Atkinson (56 goals - 48 assists - 104 points) became the 73rd Boston College player to join the 100-point scoring club with his third-period goal at Maine (Jan. 16), joining senior linemates Brian Gibbons (49-95--144) and Joe Whitney (38-92--130) as BC's active 100-point scores.
• Senior John Muse is just the second goaltender in school history to reach 70 career victories. Muse, who is 77-37-15, joins BC record-holder Scott Clemmensen who tallied 99 career wins.
• Jerry York is the fifth Boston College Eagle - and third coach - to earn the Lester Patrick Trophy, which is awarded annually for outstanding service to hockey in the United States, joining Snooks Kelley, who was honored in 1972, Len Ceglarski (1990), Joe Mullen (1995) and Brian Leetch (2007).
• Boston College's 2-1 loss at No. 17 Notre Dame marked the team's first defeat of the season, snapping a 15-game unbeaten streak (14-0-1) dating to a 3-2 loss at Northeastern on Feb. 19, 2010.
• 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.
• Three players - defenseman Brian Dumoulin, forward Chris Kreider and defenseman Patrick Wey - were among the 22 skaters that were named to the 2011 U.S. National Junior Team and competed at the IIHF World Junior Championship, Dec. 26, 2010 - Jan. 5, 2011, in Buffalo and Niagara, N.Y. It marks the first time since 2006 when Dan Bertram competed for Canada and Nathan Gerbe and Cory Schneider played for Team USA that three Eagles are participating in World Junior Championship play. It also marks the first time since the 1998 tournament that three Eagles represented the U.S. BC had four players - Jeff Farkas, Brian Gionta, Mike Mottau and Bobby Allen - on the 1998 U.S. Junior National Team.
• Six players 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.
• Boston College has 11 players on its roster who 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.
• Ben Smith, assistant captain of the 2009-10 Boston College hockey team, made his NHL debut with the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 29, 2010, while Stephen Gionta, assistant captain of the 2005-06 Eagle squad, made his NHL debut with the New Jersey Devils on Nov. 5, 2010. Smith and Gionta join Benn Ferriero, who was recalled to the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 6, to represent the 15th, 16th and 17th former Eagles to have played in the NHL this season, joining regulars Andrew Alberts (Vancouver), Brian Boyle (NY Rangers), Scott Clemmensen (Florida), Patrick Eaves (Detroit), Nathan Gerbe (Buffalo), Brian Gionta (Montreal), Peter Harrold (Los Angeles), Chuck Kobasew (Minnesota), Mike Mottau (NY Islanders), Brooks Orpik (Pittsburgh), Marty Reasoner (Florida), Cory Schneider (Vancouver), Rob Scuderi (Los Angeles) and Ryan Shannon (Ottawa).
THE YORK FILE
Record: 868-544-92 (.605 win percentage)
Years: 39
Record at BC: 401-208-58 (.639 win percentage)
Years at BC: 17
