Eagles Seek Fourth Ice Breaker Title to Kickoff 2016-17

Friday, October 7

Denver, CO

6:30 PM

Boston College

Air Force Academy

Eagles Seek Fourth Ice Breaker Title to Kickoff 2016-17

October 05, 2016 | Men's Hockey

Boston College plays in its fifth Ice Breaker Tournament, officially opening the college hockey season against Air Force at 4:30 (EST) and will take on either Ohio State or Denver the following night

WHEN: Friday, Oct. 7, 2016 (4:30 pm - EST) / Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016 (TBA)
WHERE: 2016 Ice Breaker Tournament / Magness Arena / Denver
HOW TO FOLLOW: Live Audio (internet only) / Live Stats (Coming soon)
GAME NOTES: PDF / WEB
MEDIA CENTER: P x P: Jon Rish / Color: Tom Grace (broadcast is internet only)

BOSTON COLLEGE vs. AIR FORCE
Boston College meets up with Air Force for the first time since the 2012 NCAA Tournament when the Eagles defeated the Falcons, 2-0, at the NCAA Northeast Regional at the DCU Center en route to BC's last national title. BC and Air Force have met six times previously as the Eagles have come away victoriously all six times prior, outscoring Air Force, 46-12.

AERIAL ATTACK
Air Force closed out the 2015-16 season with a 20-12-5 overall record. The Falcons tied for second in the Atlantic Hockey Conference with a 16-7-5 league record. Air Force was the No. 2 seed in the AHC playoffs and swept a quarterfinal series from Canisius at the Cadet Ice Arena. Air Force's season came to an end at the AHC Final Four in Rochester, N.Y., with a 2-1 overtime loss to RIT in the semifinals. Head coach Frank Serratore enters his 20th season at Air Force with a record of 329-310-71 record (710 games), who was tabbed 2016 AHC Coach of the Year last season. Air Force's offense ranked 22nd in the nation last season, averaging 2.97 goals per game while the defense tied for 13th, averaging 2.32 goals per game.

EAGLES IN THE ICE BREAKER TOURNAMENT
Boston College is fortunate enough to play in the 2016 Ice Breaker Tournament, marking the traditional start to the college hockey season. The Eagles return to the tournament for the fifth time since the start of the tournament in 1997. BC has won three of its four past showings, including 1998, 2003 and 2007. The last time Boston College won the national title, in 2012, it opened the season with an Ice Breaker championship in Grand Forks, N.D.

SCORING PRODUCTION RETURNS TO THE HEIGHTS
There is no denying that Boston College's roster looks much different than last year's with the addition of 13 new faces. Fourteen Eagles from last year's Frozen Four squad either graduated or joined the professional ranks. Despite almost half of last year's scoring (77 out of 156 goals - 49.4 percent) being absent in 2016-17, Boston College returns three of its top four point getters from last season, including second-team All- AmericanRyan Fitzgerald (24-23-47), Hockey East Rookie of the Year Colin White (19-24-43) and assistant captain Austin Cangelosi (20-17-37).

EAGLE OCTANE
Boston College finished last year with the fourth most potent offense in college hockey and the best in Hockey East. The Eagles lit the lamp at a rate of 3.83 goals per game last season and put away the sixth-most tallies (156 goals) in the NCAA in 2015-16.

WIDING THE GAP
Thanks to a stingy defense coupled with a high-powered offense, Boston College finished with the nation's fourth-best scoring margin last season. Scoring 156 goals and only surrendering 82, BC posted a +1.80 scoring margin, best in Hockey East.

NOW YOU'RE PLAYING WITH POWER
The Eagles were afforded 168 power play opportunities over the course of last season and cashed in on 36 of those opportunites. BC's 21.4 percent conversion rate on the power play slotted the Eagles in ninth place in all of college hockey and third best in Hockey East.

STINGY EAGLES
Boston College's defense was one of the stingiest in college hockey last season, allowing only 2.00 goals per game last season. BC's mark was seventh best in all of college hockey last season and third best in Hockey East.

PENALTY - KILL PROWESS
BC tied for being the fifth-most penalized teami in college hockey in 2015-16. Boston College averaged 14.2 penalty minutes per game, but thanks to a competent penalty kill, opponents scored on only 22-of-176 (87.5 percent) chances as BC finished with the fourth-best unit in NCAA hockey. BC even enjoyed taking to the offensive on the penalty-kill last season, scoring the second-most short-handed goals with 11 in 2015-16.

PIPES, GOALIE ... GOALIE, PIPES.
The Eagles were very used to seeing No. 3-0 in between the pipes last season as BC's 2015-16 goaltender Thatcher Demko won the 2016 Mike Richter Award for being the most outstanding goaltender in NCAA men's hockey, in addition to being a Hobey Baker finalist. This season, BC ushers in two new goaltenders in rookies Joe Woll and Ryan Edquist. Sophomore Ian Milosz, the second-tallest player in college hockey (6'7), played two games for the Eagles, defeating and tying Providence (1-0-1 / .899 SV% / 3.37 GAA) as the only Eagle netminder with playing experience in the maroon and gold.

SEVEN - MAN SQUAD
On BC's official roster, the Eagles have seven defensemen on the 25-man unit for 2016-17. Casey Fitzgerald leads the charge on the blue line as the second-year rear guard notched 27 points (4-23-27) to earn a spot on the Hockey East All-Rookie Team. The North Reading, Mass. native also lead BC with a +27 rating. Michael Campoli, Luke McInnis, Connor Moore and Jesper Mattila will be BC's newest blueliners in 2016-17.

EAGLETS
For the second time in three seasons, Boston College sports the youngest roster in NCAA hockey. As of Oct. 1, the average age of the Eagles roster is 20 years and 49 days. Boston University is second with a mean of 20 years and 108 days while Notre Dame is third at 20 years and 272 days. Boston College has five seniors and zero juniors, meaning the rest of the team is composed of a combined 20 freshmen and sophomores. Head coach Jerry York ushered in 13 new Eagles for 2016-17, easily his largest recruiting class in 23 seasons. It marks the second-largest incoming class behind Miami (14) this season.

ROAD WARRIORS
Boston College may forget what the inside of Conte Forum looks like by November as the Eagles take to the road for nine of their first 11 games of the season. Since Jerry York took over on The Heights in 1994-95, the Eagles have never been away from home this often in their first 11 games. The last time Boston College played four games away from Kelley Rink was the start of the 2010-11 season, when it went 3-1.

IF THE SKATE FITZ...
Senior assistant captain Ryan Fitzgerald returns to Boston College for his senior season as college hockey's leader with the most career goals (54) and fifth, overall, in career points scored (101). He is only two power play strikes behind Austin Ortega (Omaha - 17) for the most career power play goals in college hockey as well. In regards to career short-handed goals (5) and game-winning goals (11), he is tied for first and tied for second, respectively, amongst all returning skaters.

CANGE'S CIRCLE
Senior assistant captain Austin Cangelosi is not only one of BC's leading returning scorers, but he is college hockey's biggest threat in the faceoff circle after last year's numbers. The Estero, Fla., native led the nation in faceoffs won with 545 and highest faceoff win percentage (63.7 percent) amongst all centermen over 200 draws.

IRON EAGLES
Senior Scott Savage, Sophomore Christopher Brown and Cangelosi are the only three skaters to return that played in all 41 outings for Boston College last season. Cangelosi and R. Fitzgerald are amongst the most season skaters over the course of a career in college hockey. Each have dressed in 118 career games and only four other skaters in the game have played more career games than those two.

CALLING THE SHOTS
Freshman forward Graham McPhee and sophomore forward Chris Shero are both born from hockey wits as each of these Eagles' fathers are general managers in the National Hockey League. Father, George McPhee, played for Coach York at Bowling Green where he won the Hobey Baker Award in 1982 and is now the GM of the new Las Vegas franchise. Shero's father, Ray, is the general manager of the New Jersey Devils while Tom Fitzgerald, father of Ryan and Casey, is the assistant GM of the Devils.

BIG - TIME VENUES
Boston College plays a rather unique schedule in 2016-17, playing at venues such as CONSOL Energy Center, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins, for the College Hockey Classic and will shortly after combat Providence outdoors at Fenway Park for the fourth time in program history. The Eagles are also fortunate enough to play on one of the world's most famous stages, Madison Square Garden, against defending national champion North Dakota in the College Hockey Showdown, on December 3, 2016.

THE COLDEST PROGRAM OF 'EM ALL
When the Eagles took on Quinnipiac in last year's national semifinal contest, it marked Boston College's 25th Frozen Four appearance which is the most in college hockey history. BC looks to make it 26 this year in Chicago on April 6, 2017.

FAMILY TIES
The Eagles are a tight-knit group, but especially so do to the number of family ties within the BC hockey program. There are two sets of brothers, including senior Ryan and sophomore Casey Fitzgerald while twin brothers Jesper and Julius Mattila skated in all the way from Finland to play for Coach York. Luke McInnis, incoming defenseman for Boston College this season, is the son of Marty McInnis who is not only tied for 39th in most goals all-time on The Heights (58), but he is also entering his fourth season as an assistant coach. Associate head coach Greg Brown is the uncle of sophomore forward Christopher Brown.

JANNEY TO BE ENSHRINED
Former BC standout Craig Janney (1985-87) is part of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2016 and is the the sixth Eagle to earn the distinction, joining Bill Guerin (Class of 2013), Brian Leetch (Class of 2008), John Cuniff (Class of 2003), Len Ceglarski (Class of 1992) and John A. "Snooks" Kelley (Class of 1974) as former Eagles inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. At The Heights, Janney played in 71 games over the course of the 1985-86 and 1986-87 seasons, accruing 110 points (41-69-110) under head coach Len Ceglarski. While an Eagle, BC put together a record of 57-23-3, while winning the Hockey East Tournament in his freshman season. In his second season Janney garnered All-America first-team honors, along with being named All-Hockey East first-team, Hockey East Tournament-All-Tournament, All-New England and earned the John A. Tiernan Memorial Award.