Tourney Time: First Round Preview vs. Denver

March 25, 2015

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POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

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BOSTON COLLEGE vs. DENVER

Boston College and Denver begins their quest for the 2015 NCAA Championship much like they did in 2014: facing off against one another in the first round. In last year's NCAA Tournament, the Eagles dumped Denver, 6-2, in Worcester, Mass., thanks to a hat trick from Johnny Gaudreau and a 13-point performance (6-7-13) from his line of Kevin Hayes and Bill Arnold. Saturday's contest marks the fourth time BC and DU have squared off in the postseason. Before the 2014 victory, Denver had won both matchups handily. The initial meeting between BC and DU started in the 1968 NCAA Tournament. Denver defeated the Eagles on both March 14, 1968 (4-1) and March 15, 1973 (10-4). A day short of a full calendar year, Boston College and Denver will have squared off four times when the puck drops in Providence. Along with last year's meeting in Worcester, BC took a trip out West to Magness Arena where the two teams split on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, 2014. Ryan Fitzgerald's two tallies powered the Eagles past the Pios in the opening tilt before Danton Heines netted the overtime winner the following evening. In that contests BC won, it counted as Jerry York's 500th victory as head coach on The Heights. Saturday marks the 29th meeting between BC and Denver as the Pioneers possess a 15-13 advantage over the Eagles. Since York's arrival, Boston College has posted an 8-6 mark against Denver. The Pioneers and Eagles boast the second and third-longest active NCAA Tournament appearance streaks, respectively, heading into the tournament. DU has earned a spot in the dance the last eight years while the Eagles have been in the last six entries. Combined, these two programs have hung 12 national championship banners (Denver - 7 | BC - 5).

PEEKIN' ON THE PIOS

Skating into its eighth-straight NCAA Tournament, Denver earned the No. 2 seed in the East Regional after stringing together a 23-13-2 record, including a 13-10-1 mark in the National College Hockey Conference (NCHC). The Pioneers finished third in their conference tournament and most recently took down North Dakota in the consolation game, 5-1. Since Denver hosted the Eagles for a pair, DU has won 19-of-32 (19-11-2) contests. Freshman forward Danton Heinen has posted a monster year thus far with 45 points, including 16 goals and 29 assists. His 1.18 goals per game ranks 15th in the country and is only one of three freshmen (Jack Eichel - 1.83 | Dylan Larkin - 1.34) to average over a point per game (1.18). Sophomore Trevor Moore is tied for 14th in the nation with 0.57 goals per game while his 1.14 point production each trip is tied for 18th. Behind the blue line, senior Joey LaLeggia is college hockey's second-leading scorer. LaLeggia has notched 1.09 points per game, including 13 goals and 25 helpers. Third-year defensemen Nolan Zajac is not far behind amongst defensemen, averaging 0.68 points per game for 12th place. With all over DU's firepower, the Pioneers' offense ranks ninth in college hockey and the top-firing unit in the NCHC with 3.29 goals per game. Defensively, Denver is surrendering 2.45 goals per game and is tied for 28th as sophomore goaltender Evan Cowley (9-6-2 | 2.16 | .924) and rookie Tanner Jaillet (14-7-0 | 2.38 | .917) have split the duties between the pipes. The power play is converting at a clip of 21.6 percent (30-for-139), good for eighth in the land while the penalty kill is 25th with a stoppage rate of 83.9 percent (104-for-124).

BOSTON COLLEGE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

The 2015 NCAA Tournament marks the 34th time the Eagles have earned a postseason berth. It is the team's 16th appearance in the last 18 years. Boston College sports a 47-40 all-time record in the national tournament. Head coaches John `Snooks' Kelley and Len Ceglarski both led BC to nine NCAA Tournament appearances, while Jerry York has led the Eagles to 16 NCAA Tournaments in the last 19 seasons. Boston College has skated in the last six-consecutive NCAA Tournaments, third most in college hockey.

Jerry York AND THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

Jerry York has led his teams to 22 NCAA Tournament berths - six at Bowling Green and 16 at Boston College (out of 21 seasons at BC). York has a 39-21-1 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament and owns a 34-11 mark at Boston College. York's 39 victories are the highest total in NCAA Division I history. Twelve York-led squads have advanced to the tournament's semifinal/championship round. York's 22 NCAA appearances is five clear of the next coach in this year's field, Minnesota's Don Lucia (17).

CURRENT EAGLES IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

Eighteen of the 25 current Eagles have skated in an NCAA Tournament game. Four of those members helped the Eagles capture their fifth national title in 2012 when Boston College knocked off Ferris State in the title game. Captain Michael Matheson is the Eagles' current points' leader in NCAA play with four assists while Ryan Fitzgerald is BC's leading goal scorer with two.

POSTSEASON PRODUCTION

Since the 1997-98 season, Boston College has won nine Hockey East Tournament titles (1998, '99, 2001, '05,'07, '08, '10, '11 and '12), has advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Frozen Four 11 times (1998, '99, 2000, '01, '04, '06, '07, '08, '10, '12, '14) and has captured four national titles (2001, 2008, 2010 and 2012). During this stretch run, Boston College is 85-24 (.780) in 109 playoff contests.

REDEMPTION SONG

Boston College was knocked out of the Hockey East playoffs in the quarterfinal round for the second-consecutive time this season. Vermont vanquished the Eagles in a three-game series while Notre Dame did the same in 2014. Before last season's exit, the Eagles made the trip to TD Garden for the Hockey East semifinals every season since 2004.

PHRESHMEN PHENOMS

BC touts the country's third-highest scoring freshmen class, despite it consisting of only three skaters. The Eagle trio of Alex Tuch (14-14-28), Zach Sanford (7-16-23) and Noah Hanifin (5-18-23) has combined for 74 points (26-48-74) and trail only BU and Nebraska Omaha.

DA DA DA...DA DA DA!

Despite the Eagles' game three loss to Vermont on March 15, Thatcher Demko made an amazing acrobatic, diving save that was deemed the bonus No. 1 play on SportsCenter that evening.

HOLLOWED ON THE HEIGHTS

Vermont's Brody Hoffman shut out the Eagles in game three of the Hockey East quarterfinals on March 15, 2015. That marked the first time Boston College had been held scoreless at home since Boston University blanked BC, 5-0, on Nov. 13, 2011.

ALL WE DO IS WIN - WIN - WIN

With a 21-13-3 mark heading into the playoffs, BC has locked up another winning season. In its 93 seasons of varsity hockey, BC had totaled 74 winning seasons for a winning percentage of 80 percent. It's the 18th-straight winning season under Jerry York. With the Feb. 27th victory at Notre Dame, the Eagles have won 20 games in six-consecutive seasons, tying Jerry York's streak of six-straight 20-win seasons starting in 2002-03 and concluding in 2007-08. Under York's guidance, the Eagles have already posted 20 wins on 15 occassions.

SHOOTING GALLERY

In the regular season finale at Notre Dame on Feb. 28, the Eagles logged 56 shots on net. That total marked the highest Eagle shot aggregate in almost seven years. Boston College has not posted that many shots on net since the 2008 Hockey East semifinals on March 21, 2008, when BC clipped New Hampshire, 5-4, in triple overtime. The Eagles posted 67 shots that game.

OVERTIME OH YEAH!

Ryan Fitzgerald's overtime game-winning goal against Harvard on Feb. 23 marked the first OT victory for BC in six tries. The last time BC won a game in overtime was Adam Gilmour's walk-off goal at Northeastern on Nov. 2, 2013.

FITZY ON THE SPOT

Ryan Fitzgerald's overtime winner against Harvard counts as his fifth game-winning marker of the season. That figure is tied with UConn's Spencer Naas for second-best in Hockey East and tied for ninth most in the NCAA.

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 a nearly unblemished 14-2-1 when scoring at least one power play goal. When denied a power play goal, the Eagles are 7-11-2.

BC: THE NHL's FIRST CHOICE

Not only did Boston College lead all of college hockey in 2014-15 by dispersing 22 Eagles across the National Hockey League, BC has placed 18 skaters on opening night rosters for the 2014-15 NHL season. That mark is tops in Hockey East. In regards to college hockey, seven first-round picks are among the nearly 200 NHL draft picks on college rosters, including at least one on 40 teams. Boston College is the only team in the country with two first-round draft picks, including junior captain Michael Matheson (Florida - 23rd) and Alex Tuch (Minnesota - 18th).

WHERE THE OFFENSE STANDS

Through 37 games, Boston College is scoring at a rate of 2.84 goals per game, ranking it 23rd in all of college hockey and sixth in Hockey East.

SANFORD SENDS `EM OFF

Zach Sanford notched his first-career two-goal performance against Vermont on March 13 and accounted for his second game-winning goal of the season. Sanford is tied for fourth in scoring for the Eagles and recorded his first-career game-winning goal against Providence on Jan. 30. Sanford is currently tied for 27th in points per game (0.62) amidst all first-year skaters in college hockey.

CAN'T TUCH THIS

Alex Tuch was honored by the conference and named a Hockey East honorable mention on March 18 and is currently leading the Eagles in scoring with 28 points (14-14-28). Tuch looks to become the first rookie to lead BC in scoring since Richie Smith did so in 1972-73. On the national landscape, Tuch is ninth amongst all rookies in college hockey with 0.78 points per game and is tied for fifth amongst all Hockey East freshmen.

QUINN CAN

Smith has already surpassed his goal total (2) from his junior season. Smith is BC's third-leading career goal scorer with 18. Heading into the NCAA Tournament, Smith has played in 147-consecutive games. That streak stands as the fifth longest in college hockey.

SAINTLY SIT

Michael Sit won Hockey East's Len Ceglarski Sportsmanship Award, given to a player who has consistently demonstrated superior conduct and sportsmanship on the ice.

DEFENSIVE POSITIONING

BC's defense is currently tied for 15th, surrendering 2.32 goals per game. That mark ranks fourth in Hockey East.

BLUE-LINE BOPPERS

The Eagles' defensive corps is not having a problem lighting the lamp itself. Boston College has scored 105 goals on the season with 20 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). Three of BC's top seven scorers are defensemen (Teddy Doherty, Noah Hanifin and Michael Matheson).

HANIFIN HYPE

Newcomer Noah Hanifin, a Hockey East Second-Team All-Star and unanimous All-Rookie selection, tallied his sixth multi-point performance of the season on March 13 (1-1-2) and secured an assist in four-straight outings from Feb 6-20. The highly-touted NHL prospect has scored at least one point in 12 of his last 18 games, including four multi-point showings over that timeline. The Hanover, Mass., native is tied for second amongst all skaters with a +15 rating.

QUASI-DIAPER DANDY

Heading into the NCAA Tournament, Thatcher Demko possesses the fifth-best career save percentage (.924) amongst all goaltenders in the bracket. He's also just one of four goaltenders to have played more than three NCAA Tournament games.

LAST LINE OF DEFENSE

Sophomore goaltender Thatcher Demko was tabbed a Hockey East Honorable Mention. This season, Demko is 19-12-3 and currently ranks 24th in the NCAA in goals against average with a mark of 2.14. Demko's save percentage of .927 is good for 16th in college hockey. Demko's winning percentage of .603 has him tied for 19th in the country. Following his freshman campaign, Demko was drafted by Vancouver, 36th overall, in last summer's NHL Entry Draft. As a freshman, Demko turned in in college hockey's sixth-best winning percentage (.729 - 16-5-3) with a 2.24 goals against average and a .919 save percentage.

Tourney Time: First Round Preview vs. Denver

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