Men's Hockey Hosts Lowell on Senior Night

Feb. 18, 2015

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LIVE STREAM:  Eagle Vision All-Access

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

LIVE STATS

BOSTON COLLEGE vs. UMASS LOWELL

UMass Lowell exacted revenge upon Boston College in the 2014-15 season opener for both clubs back on Oct. 10, 2014. The Eagles knocked UMass Lowell out of the 2014 NCAA Tournament in the quarterfinal round last year and the River Hawks remember. In the opener at Tsongas Center this year, UML topped the Eagles, 5-2, as Chris Calnan and Ryan Fitzgerald were BC’s lone goal scorers. In recent history, Boston College has dominated the series, winning 11-of-14 (10-3-1) encounters. Before BC’s lost in the season opener, the most recent setback against Lowell took place at Kelley Rink on Feb. 26, 2013 (4-2). Including that loss, BC has won six of the last seven games against Lowell on The Heights and possesses and overall mark of 25-13-3 at home against UML since the start of Hockey East. Since taking over at BC, Coach York has amassed a 44-19-3 mark against the River Hawks. In all, Boston College is 63-36-8 and since Lowell head coach Norm Bazin’s arrival, the Eagles are 6-3-1 in 10 meetings. Friday night’s game has enormous implications in the Hockey East standings. BC is two points ahead of Lowell, so a River Hawk victory would tie UML in second place. The Eagles are still chasing Boston University, which is four points ahead.

RIVER HAWK REPORT

UMass Lowell, which reached as high as the No. 4 ranked team in the land on Nov. 24, 2014, lost to Harvard on Nov. 29 and then rattled off six-straight victories to set its record to 14-3-3 without a loss in Hockey East. The River Hawks touted a 7-0-2 conference mark heading into Connecticut on Jan. 10, and ultimately were shut out, 2-0, to send UMass Lowell in a bit of a tailspin. Since the Huskies blanked UMass Lowell, the River Hawks have gone 3-6-1 and now sport a 17-10-4 mark with a 10-7-2 record in Hockey East. UMass Lowell has ridden the success of first-year forward C.J. Smith, who is the fourth highest scoring freshmen in the country and 52nd, overall, with 0.97 points per game (13-17-30). Five of Smith’s 13 tallies have come via the power play as the freshman is tied for 24th in the category. Sophomore D-man Dylan Zink is the 12th most prolific scoring defensemen in the country with 0.72 points per game (9-12-21). Anchoring the defense is junior goaltender Kevin Boyle, and despite figures that are in the middle of the pack, Boyle’s winning percentage of .640 (14-7-4) has him ranked 17th overall in that category. Boyle has a goals against average of 2.48 (40th) and save percentage of .913 (47th). In all, Boyle’s defense ranked is ranked sixth in Hockey East and 35th in the nation, giving up 2.65 goals per game, but the offense is a top-ten unit. Lowell is scoring at a clip of nearly three and a half goals per game (3.42), good for second in Hockey East and eight in the NCAA. The penalty kill ranks near the bottom in 10th place in the league (78.3 percent), but the group has not had a lot of practice. The River Hawks are only committing 8.2 penalty minutes a game, which is the third-lowest figure in college hockey.

SENIOR SCHWANN SONG

The senior class of Brad Barone, Brian Billett, Danny Linell, Michael Sit, Quinn Smith, Cam Spiro and Destry Straight will play in their last regular season game as Eagles at Kelley Rink on Friday night. This group enters the UMass Lowell game with 101 victories, including one NCAA championship (2012), two Hockey East regular season titles, one Hockey East Tournament championship and three Beanpot trophies. These Eagles have never won less than 22 games in a season.

ALL WE DO IS WIN – WIN - WIN

With an 18-10-2 mark heading into Friday’s contest, the Eagles mathematically have locked up another winning season. In its 93 season of varsity hockey, Boston College had totaled 74 winning seasons for a winning percentage of 80 percent. It’s also the 18th-straight winning season under Jerry York.

GOLDEN EAGLES

Both Teddy Doherty and Ryan Fitzgerald both met the 50-point plateau for their careers on Saturday, Feb. 14, against Vermont.  Doherty now has nine goals and 42 helpers for 51 points in 96 career games played while Fitzgerald hit the benchmark (26-24-50) in his 70th-career game. 

PARSING THE PAIRWISE

Heading into the Lowell contest, BC has jumped into a tie for 10th in the Pairwise rankings with Quinnipiac and Providence, possessing an RPI of .6333. The only team the Eagles trail in the Pairwise rankings right now is Boston University, which is in third.

HOCKEY EAST IS HEATING UP

Like every time this season, the race of the Hockey East championship is a bottleneck. Heading into the weekend, Boston College is two points clear of second place in the league with 24 points. The Eagles trail league-leading Boston University by four points. As if stands, the Eagles would have a first-round bye and have home ice for the quarterfinal series. The Eagles have three games left in conference play, including Fridya’s game with UMass Lowell and a weekend pair at Notre Dame.

TRACKING TWENTY

If Boston College wins two more games this season, it wil mark the sixth-consecutive year BC has won 20 or more games. It will match Jerry York’s streak of six-straight 20-win seasons starting in 2002-03 and concluding in 2007-08.

TOUCHDOWN

Boston College has scored six goals on three occasions this season. Including the Feb. 14 victory against Vermont (6-5), BC tallied six goals against RIT and Colorado College in back-to-back nights on Oct. 18 and Oct. 24, respectively.  

POINT - COUNTERPOINT

Boston College has now had a freshman score 25 points or more in a season for the last four seasons. Including Alex Tuch’s 25 points this year, Ryan Fitzgerald and Austin Cangelosi recorded 29 and 26 points last season, respectively. Michael Matheson reached 25 points in 2012-13. Johnny Gaudreau turned in 44 points as a rookie in 2011-12. 

A GRAND OL’ TIME

Jerry York’s countdown to 1,000-career victories is officially on. York reached his 981st-career triumph against Vermont on Feb. 14 and now has 19 wins left to reach 1,000.

TAG, YOU’RE IT

When Boston College scores first, the Eagles have mounted a 13-2-1 record.

WHERE THE OFFENSE STANDS

Through 30 games, Boston College is scoring at a rate of 3.70 goals per game, tying the Eagles for 13th in all of college hockey and third in Hockey East.

CAN’T TUCH THIS

Alex Tuch earned BC’s third Hockey East award of the season, earning Hockey East Rookie of the Week honors on Feb. 16. The Baldwinsville, N.Y., native scored a goal with 9.6 seconds left to force overtime against Vermont on Feb. 13 before scoring the game-winner and an assist in BC’s 6-5 win on Feb. 14. Tuch now leads the Eagles in points, having logged 12 goals and 13 assists. On the national landscape, Tuch is 10th amongst all rookies in college hockey with 0.86 points per game and is the fifth highest-scoring freshmen in Hockey East.

CANGE UNCAGED

Austin Cangelosi scored a power play goal in both games against Vermont on Feb. 13-14 and became the second Eagle this season with the distinction. Adam Gilmour scored power play goals on Jan. 2-3. Cangelosi strung together his first-career three-game goal scoring streak starting on Feb. 6.

DEFENSIVE POSITIONING

BC’s defense is currently tied for 13th, surrendering 2.25 goals per game. That mark 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 92 goals on the season with 17 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. 21, Teddy Doherty (6-14-20) and Michael Matheson (2-17-19) are fourth and sixth in team scoring, respectively.

McDOUBLE

Sophomore defensemen Ian McCoshen turned in his first-career two-goal game and fifth-career two-point performance against UVM on Feb. 14. The Faribault, Minn., native also scored his second power play goal of the season. McCoshen also scored his second-career game-winning goal and first of the season against Michigan on Dec. 13. McCoshen has scored a goal in each game against Michigan. 

TEDDY BALLGAME

Teddy Doherty registered his 50th-career point on Feb. 14 and is currently fourth on the team in scoring. Doherty is tied for sixth in scoring in the league, and tied for 17th amongst all defensemen. The Hopkinton, Mass., native capped a career-best four-game point streak (Dec. 6 - Jan. 3) and has most recently helped the Eagles clinch the Ledyard Classic trophy with the game-winning goal against Dartmouth on Jan. 3. For his three-point weekend at Dartmouth, Doherty was awarded the Tournament MVP. 

SAVAGE ASSISTER

Scott Savage notched his first multi-point outing with a pair of assists against Vermont on Feb. 14 this season. The San Clemente, Calif., native recorded three multi-assist performances as a freshman.

MATHESON MAKES IT 100

Captain Michael Matheson turned in his third-career playmaker (three assists) in the win against UMass on Oct. 25 with his last one taking place against Providence on Jan. 10, 2014. In his 100th-career game on Jan. 30, the Canadian captain logged his 50th-career assist. 

LAST LINE OF DEFENSE

Sophomore goaltender Thatcher Demko just started his 50th-career game on The Heights on Feb. 13, 2015. This season, Demko is 16-9-2 and currently ranks 28th in the NCAA in goals against average with a mark of 2.25. Demko’s save percentage of .923 is good for 27th in college hockey. Demko’s winning percentage of .630 has him ranked 20th in the country.

Boston College Athletics

Men's Hockey Hosts Lowell on Senior Night

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