Friday Night Date against the Badgers Opens Kelley Rink Slate

GAME DAY INFORMATION
WHEN	Friday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.
WHERE	Chestnut Hill, Mass. // Kelley Rink at Conte Forum
HOW TO FOLLOW	Live Stats // Video // Audio
GAME NOTES	PDF // WEB Version
MEDIA CENTER	(online stream only) // P x P: Jon Rish // Color: Andy Powers // Engineer: Mark Feldman

BOSTON COLLEGE vs. WISCONSIN
Boston College welcomes Wisconsin for its 2015-16 home opener on Friday night, marking the first time the Eagles start the campaign in Chestnut Hill against a Big Ten foe in 15 years. The last home opener against a Big Ten team was actually against the Badgers when UW defeated the Eagles, 3-2, at Kelley Rink on Oct. 27, 2000. These two national powers are no strangers to the big stage as two of the last six meetings between BC and UW have been in the national title game. In 2006, Wisconsin's Tom Gilbert scored the game-winning power play goal at 9:32 of the third period to boost the Badgers to the title in Milwaukee. In 2010, the Eagles won their fourth national title at Ford Field in Detroit when Boston College stormed by Wisconsin, 5-0, on April 10, 2010. Friday's home opener marks the 23rd meeting between the two programs as Boston College holds a four-game advantage, 13-9. Wisconsin's win in the national title game in 2006 gave the Badgers a 9-8 lead in the series before BC has rattled off the last five victories, including last year's 9-2 victory at Kelley Rink on Oct. 18, 2013. In the last four games, the Eagles have accumulated 23 goals while allowing only seven. This will be Wisconsin's fifth time playing at Kelley Rink with BC owning a 3-1 advantage. The Badgers' lone win at Kelley Rink was that season opener in 2000. The Eagles have emerged victorious at home on Oct. 18, 2013 (9-2), Oct. 10, 2008 (5-4) and Oct. 25, 2002 (4-2). Jerry York is 8-3 all-time against Wisconsin as head coach of the Eagles while Badgers' skipper Mike Eaves is 1-6 all-time against Boston College.

BUCKY BEAT
Wisconsin started off its 2015-16 campaign eager to turn the page following a dismal 4-26-5 mark overall and a 2-15-3 record in Big Ten play last season. The Badgers finished with the second-worst winning percentage in college hockey (18.6), just 0.3 percentage points behind Princeton. Wisconsin showed resiliency in its home opener against Northern Michigan last weekend. On Friday, Oct. 9, Wisconsin's Grant Besse scored an extra attacker goal with 41.2 seconds left to force a draw. The following night, Wisconsin fell behind against the Wildcats, 3-0, and scored three goals in the third, including a pair of power play tallies, to grab another stalemate and come out of the weekend 0-0-2. Luke Kunin tallied that late goal on the power play in the third. Over the course of the weekend, Wisconsin converted 30 percent of its power play opportunities (3-for-10) and killed off 5-of-6 on the penalty kill. Wisconsin's power play is currently tied for eighth in all of college hockey. Now-junior Besse, who tied it up on Friday, led Wisconsin with 11 goals and 22 overall points last season. Wisconsin entered the season with relative uncertainty in goal. Prior to the beginning of this season, senior Adam Miller had played in only two games with zero starts while Matt Jurusik would be an incoming freshman. Miller stopped 30 shots on Friday while Jurusik turned away 22 offers on Saturday. Wisconsin's Seamus Malone is one of nine rookies in the entire country heading into this weekend with three points (0-3-3) affixed to their name.

OFFENSIVE TIDBITS
• Zach Sanford scored his first-career power play goals in BC's first two games - marks the first time an Eagle started with back-to-back PPGs since Brock Bradford in 2008-09 season

• Chris Calnan has now scored a goal in back-to-back season openers - his game-winner at Army occurred in his 75th-career game and was his 30th-career point

• Alex Tuch is averaging 1.50 assists per game and is one of 20 skaters in college hockey to have posted three or more assists through three games

• Three rookies scored their first-career goals in the season opener at Army - it marks the first time under Jerry York three rookies score in the BC's season opener

DEFENSIVE TIDBITS
• Teddy Doherty assisted on both of Zach Sanford's first-career power play goals this weekend and is tied for 10th amongst all defensemen with 1.00 points per game

• Thatcher Demko has stopped 49-of-52 shots to set his save percentage at .942, tied for 13th in the NCAA - his goals against is 1.52 (16th)

• BC's penalty kill is tied for 29th in the NCAA, stopping 8-of-10 chances for the opponent through two games

• Following the melee at Army, BC is the second-most penalized team in college hockey (24.0 PIM/game), only behind Army (58 PIM/game)

HOME TURF
Since Jerry York has been head coach at Boston College, the Eagles possess a 13-7-1 record in home opening games on The Heights. Dating back to the 2007-08 season, the Eagles are 6-1-1 in their first game of the season at Kelley Rink.

ROOKIE ROMP
Boston College's freshmen class came to play in the season opener at Army on Oct. 9 as three rookies scored their first collegiate goals. Miles Wood, Casey Fitzgerald and Chris Brown all found the back of the net in their first game donning the maroon and gold, marking the first time under Jerry York three freshmen scored in a season opener.

LUMBER YARD
Freshman forward Miles Wood set the tone early in his Eagle career, posting three points in his BC debut, including a goal and two assists. It has been 15 years since a rookie notched three points in his first-career game. The last time that occurred was when Ben Eaves doled out three assists in a 4-1 win over Notre Dame on Oct. 13, 2000 at Omaha Civic Auditorium. The last time any Eagle started the year with a three-point performance was when Brian Gibbons (2-1-3) and Brock Bradford (1-2-3) both turned the trick against Wisconsin on Oct. 10, 2008.

ZACH ATTACKS
Sophomore Zach Sanford scored his first-career power play goal at Army on Oct. 9 and followed that up with with his second extra-man tally at Rensselaer on Oct. 11. The last time an Eagle started the season with back-to-back power play goals was at the beginning of the 2008-09 season when Brock Bradford scored power play goals on Oct. 10 and Oct. 17, 2008. The two consectuvive goals for Sanford also marks his first-career goal scoring streak. He is just one of five skaters in college hockey with a pair of power play goals to his name.

LIVING HISTORY
The Schiller Family Head Hockey Coach of Boston College, Jerry York, enters his 44th season of coaching college hockey. Not only is York the winningest coach in the game's history, having amassed 985 victories and a win loss total of 985-592-105 (.616), York is approaching another historic benchmark. After locking up the most wins all-time at his alma mater (502) and heads into his 22nd season behind the Eagles' bench, he now has the 1,000-win plateau in his sites. York is just 15 wins away from hitting that number as he is already the winningest coach in the game's history.

CALLING ON CAL
Junior Chris Calnan not only scored a goal in his second-consecutive season opener on Oct. 9 at Army, he also logged his fifth-career game-winning goal and did so in his 75th-career game as an Eagle. The Norwell, Mass., native has now scored 30-career points.

DEMKO ON THE DOCKET
For the second-consecutive season, Boston College goaltender Thatcher Demko has been placed on the 2015-16 Mike Richter Award watch list along with 19 other netminders. The Mike Richter Award goes to the most outstanding goaltender of the season and is awarded during Frozen Four weekend. Junior Mike Santaguida of Vermont and New Hampshire's Danny Tirone also join Demko on the list from Hockey East.

KELLEY RINK ON THE BRINK OF 300
Boston College celebrates its 28th season of playing hockey on Kelley Rink at Conte Forum. Starting in 1988, BC's overall record at Kelley Rink is 298-118-37 (.699). The Eagles played at McHugh Forum prior from 1958-86 when Boston College posted an overall mark of 282- 95-10 (.748). Boston College has one 10 or more games at home the last seven-consecutive seasons.

EAGLETS
Boston College is the youngest team in college hockey by an average of 10 days. As of Oct. 1, the Eagles average age was 20 years and 169 days, 10 days behind Boston University. The Terriers average 20 years and 179 days per player. Michigan rounds out the top three (20 years, 235 days).

SHOW BIRDS
With the addition of former BC captain Tommy Cross to the Bruins on Oct. 12, the Eagles are now tied with Michigan for having the most alumni (17) in the NHL this season.

WHADDYA HAVE ON DRAFT
Boston College sports the most NHL draft picks of any current college hockey team. The Eagles have 13 student-athletes that have already been drafted by a National Hockey League franchise while Michigan, Minnesota and North Dakota all have 12 on their respective teams. Of the eight student-athletes that are first-round draft picks, BC has two dressing in maroon and gold. Alex Tuch (Minnesota) was drafted 18th overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft while Colin White (Ottawa) was taken 21st overall in the 2015 Draft.

START SPREADIN' THE NEWS
Boston College and North Dakota will meet in a new marquee event next season, the College Hockey Showdown, on December 3, 2016 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The NCHC will serve as a co-host for the College Hockey Showdown with Madison Square Garden while North Dakota will be designated as the home team. Fans can also stay up to date on the latest College Hockey Showdown at Madison Square Garden information by following the event on Twitter @HkyShowdown_MSG.

Friday Night Date against the Badgers Opens Kelley Rink Slate

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Players Mentioned

Christopher Brown

Chris Calnan

Thatcher Demko

Teddy Doherty

Casey Fitzgerald

Zach Sanford

Alex Tuch

Colin White

Miles Wood