Boston College Athletics
Men's Hockey Heads to Merrimack Friday Night
February 05, 2015 | Men's Hockey
Feb. 5, 2015
GAME NOTES: PDF | ISSUU (web based)
WEBSTREAM: merrimackathletics.tv
RADIO: WEEI 850 AM (P x P: Jon Rish | Color: Andy Powers)
LIVE STATS
BOSTON COLLEGE vs. MERRIMACK
Boston College plays its requisite Hockey East contest in between the two Beanpot games when the Eagles travel to North Andover for their first trip to Lawler Arena since Jan. 21, 2014. Before skating away with a 4-1 win at Merrimack that night, the Warriors forced overtime in the Eagles last two trips there, winning one of them. Boston College possesses one of the longer streaks going in Hockey East and has not lost in 29 games within the confines of Conte Forum against Merrimack, mounting a 26-0-3 record, dating back to Oct. 31, 1997. All-time at Kelley Rink, BC is 36-6-3 against Merrimack since the start of Hockey East play. The narrative shifts a bit on the road as BC is 3-4-1 in its last eight outings at Merrimack and since the Eagles have been a member in Hockey East, BC owns just a 56.4 percent win percentage (21-16-2) at Lawler Arena. All-time, the Eagles possess a 63-21-5 overall. 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 28-4-3 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. In the first meeting of the season on Jan. 21, Chris Calnan scored his fourth game-winning goal of the season in a 2-1 win at Kelley Rink.
WARRIOR WATCH
When Boston College skated against Merrimack on Jan. 21, the Warriors were ranked higher (No. 14) than the Eagles (No. 19) in a matchup for the first time ever. Since losing to BC, Merrimack has slipped to No. 18 in the USCHO.com rankings and has gone 1-2-1 since. When Boston College hosted MC, that tilt was smack dab in the middle of a five-game tear over the course of 10 days (2-2-1). Following the BC loss, Merrimack tied and lost to last-place UMass, 4-4 and 4-1, before responding with a 2-1 win over No. 10 UMass Lowell on Jan. 21. The following night at Tsgonas Center, the River Hawks topped Merrimack, 4-1, on Jan. 21. Freshman sensation Brett Seney continues to lead the Warriors offense with 23 points (10-13-23) which is good for 64th nationally. Amongst all rookies, Seney is tied for fourth, nationally, with 0.92 points per game. Sophomore Hampus Gustafsson is one of eight Hockey East skaters with five or more power play goals thus far while rookie Jace Hennig has racked up four. Despite all that scoring, Merrimack’s offense ranks just 41st in the country and 11th in the league. The defensive corps is one of the stingiest in college hockey, surrendering only 2.15 goals per game. Veteran netminder Rasmus Tirronen can be credited with much of that effort, owning the 13th-best save percentage in college hockey (.929) and 23rd-best goals against average (2.12). Tirronen’s .647 winning percentage is fourth in the conference. Merrimack’s special teams’ units are opposite one another. The power play is 40th at 15. 3 percent (18-of-118) while the penalty kill ranks fourth in the country, denying opponents 89.5 percent (102-of-114) of the time.
BEANPOT BLUES
Both teams skate in to Tuesday’s semifinal red-hot as Northeastern sports a 5-1-3 mark in Boston College had its quest of six-consecutive Beanpot championships dashed on Tuesday, Feb. 3, when the Eagles lost to Northeastern in the second semifinal contest, 3-2. NU’s Dustin Darou broke a 2-2 tie with 1:34 left in regulation to win the chance to take on Boston University. The Eagles will play Harvard in the consolation game. BC was chasing the Terriers’ Beanpot Tournament record of six-straight Beanpot titles from 1995 to 2000.
BETWEEN THE BEAN
In most cases during the Beanpot, BC plays a league game the Friday night between the Beanpot. Since York’s arrival, Boston College has scripted a sterling record of Friday games in between Beanpot Mondays, posting a 12-3-2 mark. The Eagles have won every game of that nature since 2004 when BC tied Merrimack, 4-4, on Feb. 9, 2004. The last time BC lost a game in between the Beanpot was Feb. 9, 2001 (PC, 3-5).
KILLING ‘EM SOFTLY
Ryan Fitzgerald tallied a short-handed goal against Northeastern in the Beanpot Tournament. It marks his second tally of that variety and he is now just one of 21 skaters on all of college hockey with a pair short-handed goal on the season and just one of four in Hockey East (Michael Colantone – UMass Lowell | Danny O’Regan – Boston University | Blaine Byron – Maine).
CENTURIAN MEETS HIS MARK
Junior Michael Matheson played in his 100th-career game as an Eagle on Jan. 30 and doled out his 50th-career assist in that contest. The Pointe-Claire, Quebec, native leads the Eagles in career points with 63 (13-50-63).
PARSING THE PAIRWISE
Heading into the Beanpot, BC has jumped up to 12th in the Pairwise rankings with an RPI of .6296. The Eagles made a big move amongst Hockey East teams in the Pairwise and are now the third-highest ranked club behind Boston University (3rd) and Providence (10th).
HATS OFF FOR FITZY
Ryan Fitzgerald scored Boston College’s first hat trick of the season and within that trifecta was two power play goals and the game-winner against UConn on Jan. 24. He became the first Eagle to record a hat trick since Johnny Gaudreau turned the trick against Denver on March 29, 2014. Fitzgerald became the 38th skater in college hockey to record a hat trick this season. Alaska Anchorage’s Bret Cameron scored four goals in a game this year.
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 is an unblemished 10-0-0 when scoring at least one power play goal. When denied a power play goal, the Eagles are 5-9-2.
A GRAND OL’ TIME
Jerry York’s countdown to 1,000-career victories is officially on. York reached his 979th-career triumph against Providence on Jan. 30 and now has 21 wins left to reach 1,000.
WHERE THE OFFENSE STANDS
Through 26 games, Boston College is scoring at a rate of 2.96 goals per game, ranking them for 17th in all of college hockey and third in Hockey East.
FITZ-HERALDED
Not only did Ryan Fitzgerald score BC’s first hat trick of the season on Jan. 24 and first since Johnny Gaudreau’s on March 29, 2014, he became the second skater to log a pair of power play goals in a game (Adam Gilmour - Oct. 25). Fitzgerald scored all three goals in BC’s 3-2 win over UConn and posted his fourth game-winning tally of the season. The sophomore now leads the Eagles with 13 goals after becoming the 38th skater in college hockey to turn in a hat trick. He also scored his second short-handed goal of the season against Northeastern in the Beanpot on Feb. 3.
COMIN’ STRAIGHT AT YA
Destry Straight became the first active Eagle on the 2014-15 roster to score a goal in the Beanpot Tournament on Feb. 3 against Northeastern.
DEFENSIVE POSITIONING
BC’s defense is currently tied for 19th, surrendering 2.33 goals per game. That mark ranks fifth in Hockey East.
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