Eagles Open Hockey East Slate Tuesday Night with UMass

GAME DAY INFORMATION
WHEN	Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2015 at 7 p.m.
WHERE	Kelley Rink at Conte Forum // Chestnut Hill, Mass.
HOW TO FOLLOW	Live Stats // Video // Audio (WEEI 850 AM)
GAME NOTES	PDF // WEB Version // UMass Notes
MEDIA CENTER	Radio (WEEI 850 AM): P x P: Jon Rish // Color: Andy Powers // Engineer: Mark Feldman

BOSTON COLLEGE vs. MASSACHUSETTS
Boston College and Massachusetts will meet for the 75th time on Tuesday evening as the Minutemen initiate BC's conference slate at Kelley Rink. The Eagles have enjoyed success against UMass on The Heights, having won 16 of the last 17 meetings in Chestnut Hill with the lone loss occurring on Jan. 18, 2013 (5-2). In the last 10 head-to-head matchups, Boston College has won eight (8-1-1) meetings and possesses a 58-13-3 mark, all-time, against Massachusetts. Since 1994, UMass has only defeated BC in consecutive outings twice (Jan. 7 – Mar. 7, 1995 & Feb. 3 – Dec. 8, 2006). Since Massachusetts has joined Hockey East, Boston College has mounted a 31-6-3 mark on home ice and a 27-5-1 win-loss total in Amherst.

A MINUTE ON THE MINUTEMEN
Despite being picked to finish 12th in the Hockey East preseason poll, Massachusetts has strung together an impressive 4-1-1 mark to start the season, including a 6-6 tie against New Hampshire on Oct. 23, 2025, in its conference opener. Like the Eagles, UMass took a trip to Colorado Springs and swept the Tigers to start the season on Oct. 9-10, outscoring Colorado College, 10-6. The Minutemen then returned home and topped Sacred Heart, 5-2, before rallying to a wild 6-6 draw in the aforementioned UNH tilt. UMass netted five unanswered goals, including a four-spot in the third period, while six different skaters scored in that contest. Most recently, the Minutemen defeated Maine (non-conference) in overtime before losing their first game of the season against Yale (6-1) as part of the Capital City Classic in Trenton, N.J. Much like Boston College, the Minutemen are a young team. In total, UMass has 19 freshmen and sophomores, which is the fifth-most by any team in all of Division I hockey, and are the seventh-youngest team in the NCAA. The Minutemen also have the fewest seniors of any team in the nation, with only Ben Gallacher and Shane Walsh making up the Class of 2016. Sophomore Dennis Kravchenko has been a force for the Minutmen, averaging two points a game is currently tied for fifth in scoring in all of college hockey with seven goals and five assists. Kravchenko is only one of three skaters (Jake Walman – Providence) and Austin Ortega (Nebraska-Omaha) to have scored seven goals thus far and is slotted in as the second-highest goal scorer in the country. Walsh isn't far behind with 1.67 points per game, good for 13th in college hockey, while his six goals are tied for third. First-year forward Austin Plevy is currently tied for seventh with Miles Wood amongst all rookies in scoring, posting four goals and as many assists for a 1.33 ppg average. In net, rookie Nic Renyard and sophomore Henry Dill have split time. Renyard's save percentage rests at .910 (101 saves on 111 shots) while Dill has stopped 87.3 percent (96-of-110) of his shots faced. The UMass offense is currently tied for fifth in all of college hockey, scoring at a rate of 4.5 goals per game, but on the flip side, the defense is ranked 54th, last in Hockey East, after surrendering four goals a game. The special teams are a reflection of the offense and defense. The Minutemen's power play is converting a third of the time, netting eight PPGs on 24 tries (best in the conference) while the penalty kill has allowed eight goals on 25 chances (68 percent).

KELLEY RINK CLAIMS ITS 300th WIN
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 300-118-37 (.700). 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 won 10 or more games at home the last seven-consecutive seasons.

FAMILIAR FAMILY NAMES
Matthew Gaudreau was the hero on Oct. 30 evening against Denver, scoring his first game-winning goal with only 36.6 seconds left in regulation. It marked the junior's fifth-career goal and first since netting the equalizer against Harvard in the consolation game of the Beanpot on Feb. 23, 2015.

SCORE -- BORED OPERATORS
Boston College, backed by Thatcher Demko, kept the opposition off the board for a combined 206 minutes and two seconds (206:02) that spanned from the end of the Renssealer contest on Oct. 11 to the first period of the Denver contest on Oct. 30. It marked the fourth time in program history (1920-21 // 1997-98 - Scott Clemmensen // 2005-06 - Cory Schneider // 2015-16 - Thatcher Demko) and three times in the modern era. The Eagles are now the only team to shutout three-straight opponents in the modern era three separate occassions. Demko fell just short of Clemmensen's record of 254:23 scoreless minutes posted in January 1998.

BEST DEFENSIVE START IN 94 YEARS
In allowing only six goals in BC's first six regulation games, the Eagles are off to their best defensive start in program history. Boston College's 1.00 goals allowed per game through the first six contests of the season is the lowest mark in BC's 94 years of varsity hockey.

STURDY SCORELESS STRING
Thatcher Demko is the the 21st goaltender in NCAA hockey history to have shutout three opponents consecutively. He earned his sixth-career shutout at Colorado College and is now tied for sixth all-time at Boston College with six career shutouts. He is tied with Parker Milner (2009-13) and Joe Carroll (1951-54) on BC's all-time shutouts list. The junior's 1.00 goals against average is fourth best in the nation currently and his .957 save percentage is also ranked fourth. Demko's .833 winning percentage is tied for seventh in the nation thus far.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
Ryan Fitzgerald notched a pair of goals in the opener at CC on Oct. 23 while Adam Gilmour did the same the following night. For Fitzgerald, it was his first two-goal game since his hat trick against UConn on Jan. 24, 2015 and his third-career multi-goal performance. He also accounted for his team-best seventh-career game winner. Gilmour scored his 10th-career power play goal after netting his fifth-career game winner on Oct. 24.

SHORTY FOR DOHERTY
Teddy Doherty and Zach Sanford score their first-career short-handed goals against Wisconsin and Colorado College, respectively. The Eagles are one of three teams to have score a pair of short-hande tallies, joining Ohio State and Rensselaer.

QUICK DRAW CANGE
Austin Cangelosi scored 12 seconds into the home opener against Wisconsin, marking the fastest goal scored by an Eagle since Matt Price tallied 11 seconds into the game against Northeastern on March 7, 2008. The Estero, Fla., native scored twice against the Badgers, marking his second-career two-goal outing. His first also came against Wisconsin on Oct. 18, 2013.

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. They have racked up six goals and 17 assists so far this season.

HOCKEY EAST OPENERS
Since Jerry York has been head coach at Boston College, the Eagles are 11-7-3 in Hockey East opening games.

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 988 victories and a win-loss total of 988-592-105 (.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 12 wins away from hitting that number as he is already the winningest coach in the game's history.

Eagles Open Hockey East Slate Tuesday Night with UMass

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Players Mentioned

Austin Cangelosi

Thatcher Demko

Teddy Doherty

Casey Fitzgerald

Ryan Fitzgerald

Matthew Gaudreau

Adam Gilmour

Zach Sanford

Miles Wood