Men's Hockey Welcomes No. 3 Minnesota

Nov. 27, 2014

GAME NOTES: PDF  |  ISSUU (web based)  |  Minnesota Notes

LIVE VIDEO: Eagle Vision

LIVE AUDIO: WEEI 850 AM (P x P: Jon Rish  |  Color: Andy Powers)

LIVE STATS

BOSTON COLLEGE vs. MINNESOTA

Kelley Rink will treat the Boston College faithful to a post-Turkey Day delight as the Minnesota Golden Gophers skate into Boston on Black Friday. Minnesota, last year’s national runners up, joined the Eagles in Philadelphia as part of the 2014 Frozen Four. Despite not meeting in the City of Brotherly Love, the Eagles paid homage to Mariucci Arena early last year and combatted the Gophers for a pair in Minneapolis. On Oct. 25, 2013, BC and Minnesota skated to an epic 3-3 tie thanks to a pair of goals from Michael Sit, 11 seconds apart, in front of his hometown crowd.  Additionally, Ian McCoshen earned SportsCenter’s top play after a game-saving play down the stretch. The following contest on Oct. 27, Minnesota throttled the Eagles in a 6-1 decision. Friday’s matchup marks the 32nd meeting all-time between these two storied programs as Minnesota owns a slight 15-13-3 advantage. Ten of those meetings have occurred in the NCAA Tournament where the Eagles own a 6-4 advantage. Both Boston College (1949 | 2001 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012) and Minnesota (1974 | 1976 | 1979 | 2002 | 2003) have won five national championships in their program’s history. Combined, the Eagles and Golden Gophers have been to 45 Frozen Fours as BC owns the most appearances with 24. Since arriving at Boston College, Jerry York has gone 4-5-2 against Minnesota. York and Minnesota head coach Don Lucia have squared off eight times at their respective institutions and Lucia owns the slight advantage, 4-3-1. When York and Lucia square off, the two will have combined for 1,628 victories. The only other combo that could have more victories if facing off as current coaches is Michigan’s Red Berenson (1,763 wins). 

GETTIN’ DOWN WITH GOLDY

Minnesota has been the team to beat in 2014-15 after it reigned supreme as the No. 1 team in the country for the first six weeks in both the USCHO.com and USA Today / USA Hockey polls before Michigan Tech dethroned the Gophers on Nov. 17. Minnesota won the Ice Breaker Tournament in South Bend, Ind., after taking out Minnesota Duluth (4-3) and Rensselaer (3-0). The following weekends, UM swept Bemidji State and split with St. Cloud State, respectively, before sweeping Notre Dame at home. Minnesota met up with Minnesota Duluth the next weekend and did not have as much luck the first time, losing both games. The Gophers just staged an exhibition game against the USA Under-18 squad and lost, 5-4, in overtime, so Minnesota rolls into Boston hungry for a victory. The Golden Gophers have yet to win a true road game, losing at St. Cloud and at Minnesota Duluth. Over half of Minnesota’s roster is drafted by an NHL club, including 16-of-27 Gophers. Senior Kyle Rau leads Minnesota’s offense with the 21st-best mark in the country with 1.20 ppg (3-9-12). Sophomore Justin Kloos has netted a team-best six goals which stands as the NCAA’s 18th-best mark. Three of those tallies have come via the power play. Junior Mike Reilly is one of the nation’s premiere scoring defensemen, tied for the second-best mark amongst all blue liners with 1.10 ppg (2-9-11). The Gophers’ offense is tied for 15th in the nation, scoring at a clip of 3.20 gpg, while the defense is slotted 20th (2.20 gpg). The power play operates as the fourth-highest unit in college hockey, scoring 27.8 percent of the time (10-of-36), but the penalty kill has struggled. The Gophers are 42nd in penalty killing with a mark of 79.2 percent (38-of-48).

BATTLING THE BIG TEN

Before Friday’s game, Boston College battled the Big Ten Conference six times as an official league. The addition of Penn State in 2013-14 gave the Big Ten a six-team league and an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament. Last season, the Eagles posted a 3-2-1 mark against Big Ten foes, including an 0-1-1 mark against Minnesota, 2-0 total against Penn State, 1-0 mark against Wisconsin and an 0-1 mark against Michigan. Amongst the Big Ten as a whole in BC history, the Eagles are 44-55-5 (.447) against the conference.

REACHING NEW “HEIGHTS”

On. Nov. 21, 2014, at Massachusetts, the Eagles secured a 5-3 victory to make Jerry York the winningest coach in Boston College hockey history. Heading into thes contest, York was even with his former coach John “Snooks” Kelley at 501 total victories. Following the 5-3 decision, York holds the claim as both the winningest coach at his alma mater (503-244-15) and in college hockey history (970-582-102).

POWER PLAY IS PARAMOUNT

Scoring on the power play has proved to be key to the Eagles’ success in the early goings of the 2014-15 schedule. Boston College has scored at least one goal or more in five of its seven victories thus far. Conversely, the Eagles are 2-5 when denied a power play goal. In all, Boston College has converted six of its 54 chances at a rate of 11.1 percent which ranks 43rd in the country right now.

TOUGH THROUGH TWO

Boston College has proved how important it is to get out ahead early. The Eagles are 6-1-0 with a lead after two periods of regulation, yet have not come back to win a game while facing a deficit through 40 minutes of regulation. The Eagles are 0-3-0 when down after two periods of play.

REMEMBER THE LAST TIME BC LOST FOUR GAMES? 

The last time Boston College lost four consecutive games, you would have to look back to the 2003-04 season when the Eagles lost to UNH (3-2 - Feb. 28), Maine (3-0 and 3-4, March 5-6) and BU (3-2, March 11). That season, the Eagles went on to compete in the 2004 Frozen Four, in Boston, eventually falling to Maine in the national semifinal, 2-1, on April 8, 2004. BC snapped its recent four-game slide in a 3-2 triumph at Michigan State on Nov. 14.

WHERE THE OFFENSE STANDS

Through 12 games, Boston College is averaging 3.25 goals per game, which is 13th best in all of college hockey. That mark is third best in Hockey East.

CALL ON CAL

On Nov. 21 at UMass, sophomore forward Chris Calnan not only recorded his first-career two-goal game, each variety of goal was also a first. Calnan scored his first-career power play while his strike midway through the third period stood as BC’s game-winning goal, also a career first.

GAUDREAU 2.0

Sophomore forward Matthew Gaudreau has only dressed in six games this season, but scored in two of them already. The Carneys Point, N.J., native also scored in back-to-back games on Nov. 11 and Nov. 14, marking his first-career point streak. Gaudreau has played in 14 career games and netted his first-career goal against Army on Nov. 10. He also registered his first-career assist on Nov. 22 against Maine.

COMIN’ STRAIGHT AT YA

Destry Straight potted his first game-winning goal of the season en route to a three-point performance, including two goals and an assist, against Maine on Nov. 22. The West Vancouver, B.C., native last tallied three points in a game when he secured a hat trick against Penn State at the Three Rivers Classic at CONSOL Energy Center on Dec. 28, 2013. Straight is BC’s current career leader in goals scored with 19.

DEFENSIVE POSITIONING

Boston College’s defense is ranked 31st, surrendering 2.58 goals per game. That mark currently ranks seventh in Hockey East.

CONNECTING THE DOHTS

Junior defenseman Teddy Doherty earned Boston College’s first Hockey East award of the season after landing Defensive Player of the Week honors. Doherty not only accounted for his second-career three-point performance with a goal and two assists, he also notched his first-career game-winning goal and was a game-high +4 on Oct. 18. Following his third mutli-point performance (1-1-2) against Maine on Nov. 22, Doherty is 11th amongst all defensemen in scoring with 0.83 points per game (2-8-10).

HANDS UP FOR HANIFIN

Newcomer Noah Hanifin scored his first-career goal as an Eagle against Colorado College and followed that with his first-career mutli-point game with both assists on Adam Gilmour’s 5-on-3 tallies against UMass. At UMass on Nov. 21, Hanifin registered his first-career three-point performance with a goal and two helpers.

LAST LINE OF DEFENSE

Sophomore goaltender Thatcher Demko is 7-4 on the season and currently ranks 23rd in the NCAA in goals against average with 2.09 with a save percentage of .921, good for 32nd in college hockey. Demko’s winning percentage of .636 is tied for 22nd in the country.

Boston College Athletics

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