Men's Hockey Welcomes Merrimack on NESN Wednesday

Jan. 21, 2015

GAME NOTES: PDF  |  ISSUU (web based)

TELEVISION: New England Sports Network (P x P: Tom Caron  |  Color: Craig Janney)

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

LIVE STATS

BOSTON COLLEGE vs. MERRIMACK

Merrimack is only one of three teams in Hockey East the Eagles have not faced off against this season (Vermont, Notre Dame) as the Warriors make their way into Kelley Rink for a Wednesday night tilt on NESN. Wednesday’s puck drop stages one of the longest running streaks in Hockey East as the Warriors are in search of their first victory within Conte Forum since Oct. 31, 1997 (6-4). Twenty-eight games have transpired between Halloween of ’97 in which Boston College has mounted a 25-0-3 record against Merrimack within that stretch. All-time at Kelley Rink, BC is 35-6-3 against Merrimack since the start of Hockey East play. All-time, the Eagles possess a 62-21-5 overall edge as all 21 losses and five draws against MC occurred in Hockey East action. Merrimack head coach, Mark Dennehy, a former Eagle under Len Ceglarski, started off his career against Jerry York winless in his first 19 meetings. York posted a 17-0-2 mark against Dennehy’s club until he obtained the elusive first win over his alma mater on Nov. 1, 2009, in North Andover. In all, York is 27-4-3 against Dennehy. Merrimack’s has won once in its last nine tilts against the Eagles with that victory taking place on Feb. 15, 2013, when Conor Toomey scored an overtime game-winning power play goal with 31 seconds left in overtime in North Andover. Wednesday’s game marks the first time Merrimack was ever ranked high than BC. The last time these two clubs were ranked was Feb. 24, 2013.

MACK’TION

Merrimack will tout a high ranking than Boston College on Wednesday evening as the Warriors have been pegged the No. 14 team in the country after sweeping No. 12 Quinnipiac in a home-and-home this past weekend. The Warriors started the season with an unblemished 4-0 mark and skated through November with a 6-3 record. Before its sweep of Quinnipiac, Merrimack defeated No. 8 Minnesota in Minneapolis in the first round of the Mariucci Classic before losing to Hockey East foe UMass Lowell in the finals on Jan. 3. The Warriors have sported several prized recruits in recent past and this year is no different as rookie Brett Seney was taken the league by storm. Seney is tied for 38th, nationally, in scoring with 10 goals and 11 assists (1.00 ppg) and tied for 12th in college hockey with three game-winning goals. In the NCAA, Seney is tied for fourth amongst all first-year scared and the second most productive scorer (behind BU’s Jack Eichel) in Hockey East. Defensively, though, is where Merrimack shines brightest. Heading into Wednesday, Merrimack ranks fourth in the NCAA in team defense (1.95 goals per game) and is one of only four other teams in the country (Yale – 1.53, Cornell – 1.65 and Vermont – 1.78) to hold their opponent to under two goals per game. Senior goaltender Rasmus Tirronen and newcomer Collin Delia have seen most of the time as Tirronen is taking the brunt of it. Both backstoppers rank in the top 15 in save percentage and goals against. Dellia ranks eighth in both goals against average (1.83) save percentage (.935) while Tirronen is 11th in goals against (1.94) and 15th in save percentage. Merrimack’s strong defense can be attributed to its fourth-ranked penalty in all the land, as one of four teams in the NCAA to stop opponents at a rate of 90 percent (82-for-91 – 90.1 percent) on the penalty kill.

PRIME TIME EAGLES

Wednesday’s broadcast marks the third time in four games the Eagles have been shown live on the New England Sports Network. BC took down Northeastern’s on Jan. 10, 4-2, before defeating Boston University on the road on Jan. 16.

ROOKIE ROMP

 All goal scorers in Friday night’s victory over Boston University at Agganis were all freshmen. Rookies Alex Tuch (2), Noah Hanifin and Zach Sonford teamed up to help push BC to victory.

CRACKING JACK

- Boston College held the nation’s leading scorer, Jack Eichel , to a -2 plus/minus rating in the BU win on Jan. 16. In 20 games as a Terrier, Eichel had finished with a minus only two other times, including against Maine on Nov. 21 (-1) and Dartmouth on Nov. 30 (-2).

BEAK STREAK

After a bit of an uneasy start (4-5-0), Boston College had rattled off the nation’s longest unbeaten streak that spanned from Dec. 5, 2014, to Jan. 16, 2015. Over the course of that time, the Eagles recorded a 6-0-2 mark in their unbeaten string of eight games. The Eagles’ unbeaten string started on Dec. 5 with a 2-2 draw at New Hampshire and concluded after losing at Maine on Jan. 18.

PARSING THE PAIRWISE

Boston College is currently 19th in the Pairwise rankings with an RPI of .5397. The  Eagles are currently sixth amongst Hockey East teams as BU (eighth), UMass Lowell (ninth), Vermont (T-12th), Merrimack (T-12th) and Providence (15th) all rank ahead of the  Eagles to this point. 

TAG, YOU’RE IT

When Boston College scores first, the Eagles have mounted a 9-2-1 record.

WHERE THE OFFENSE STANDS

Through 23 games, Boston College is one of 18 clubs averaging over three goals per game. The Eagles are scoring at a rate of 3.04 goals per game, ranking them 16th inall of college hockey and third in Hockey East.

GOLDEN TUCH

Alex Tuch broke for several career bests on Jan. 16 at Agganis Arena against BU. Tuch tallied his first-career three-point performance, his first-career two-goal performance and first-career power play goal. Tuch now has four multi-point performances in his rookie season. Tuch leads all rookies with 17 points (7-10-17) and is currently slotted as the 15th-most prolific scorer in the country amongst rookies.

HAPPY GILMOUR

Adam Gilmour’s career best six-game point streak game to a close on Jan. 18 at Maine, but strung together four goals and four assists over the course of Dec. 13 to Jan. 16. Gilmour leads BC with five power goals on the season and is currently tied for ninth in the nation in that category and tied for first in Hockey East. The Hanover, Mass., native scored a power play goal in consecutive games from  Jan. 2-3, marking the first time an Eagle has scored power play markers in consecutive games. Gilmour followed that up with another power play tally on Jan. 10 to give him three in four games. Gilmour’s four-game goal scoring streak (Jan. 2-10), stands as the longest career goal-scoring spell of any current Eagle.

SIT ‘EM DOWN

Senior assistant captain Michael Sit scored his first goal the season at Maine on Jan. 18. He owns six goals for his career.

ZACH ATTACHS

Rookie Zach Sanford has done his duty dishing the puck, recording 11 assists thus far. In his 10th game, Sanford found the back of the net on Nov. 14. Sanford has since scored three goals and nine assists and is currently in the midst of a four-game point streak. Sanford is currently second amongst all rookies with 14 points (4-11-15) and is ranked 25th amidst all first-year skaters.

DEFENSIVE POSITIONING

BC’s defense is tied for 22nd, surrendering 2.39 goals per game. That mark currently ranks fifth in Hockey East.

BLUE-LINE BOPPERS

The Eagles’ defensive corps is not having a problem lighting the lamp itself. Boston College has scored 70 goals on the season with 13 coming from the twigs of the blue liners.  In BC’s first victory of the season against RIT, four of Boston College’s six goals game from defensemen (Matheson, Doherty, Santini, McCoshen). Heading into the weekend of Jan. 16, Teddy Doherty (5-11-16) and Michael Matheson (2-12-134 rank second and fifth in team scoring.

HANIFIN HAVIN’ FUN

Newcomer Noah Hanifin tallied his fourth multi-point performance of the season (1-1-2) on Jan. 16, including his first-career power play goal. 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. Hanifin is in the midst of his longest point streak at BC of three games.

McCAUTION MAKING MOVES

Sophomore Ian McCoshen notched his third-career multi-point game and first-career outing with a pair of assists on Jan. 16, 2015. The Faribault, Minn., native assisted on both Boston College 5-on-3 penalties.

Boston College Athletics

Men's Hockey Welcomes Merrimack on NESN Wednesday

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