First Faceoff Against Friars Set for Saturday

No. 6 Boston College (10-3-3, 9-2-1 HEA) at Providence (8-9-1, 4-5-1 HEA)
Saturday, December 3, 2016 | 2 p.m.
Schneider Arena | Providence, R.I.

ALREADY HALFWAY THROUGH LEAGUE PLAY

BC enters Saturday's game already halfway through its 24-game Hockey East schedule
BC has played 12 games so far, posting a 9-2-1 record
After Saturday's game at Providence, the Eagles will go into the December break with 13 conference games played, leaving 11 left in January and February, as well as four non-conference games

2 ... 1 ... BREAK

BC has just two games left before the traditional winter hockey break: Saturday at Providence and next Wednesday at Dartmouth
The Eagles will then take four weeks off from competition before returning to the ice at home on Wednesday, Jan. 4 against Syracuse

SHORTHANDED SHENANIGANS

Boston College ranks fourth nationally on the penalty kill, clipping opponents at a 92.3 percent rate (72-for-78)
In addition to putting a vise on their opponents' potential scoring on the man advantage, the Eagles have also scored four shorthanded goals of their own this year
BC ranks third nationally in shorthanded goals - behind Northeastern's 7 and Providence's 5
Four different players have notched shorthanded goals this year: Andie Anastos, Kristyn Capizzano, Kenzie Kent and Caitrin Lonergan
Kent and Lonergan each recorded their first career SHGs this season, while Anastos' was her fourth and Capizzano's was her second

CAPIZZANO'S STREAK

Kristyn Capizzano enters Saturday's game with the second-longest point streak in her career: 7 games
It trails her longest streak of 9 games, which she collected Oct. 24 through Nov. 25, 2015 as a junior
In her current run, Capizzano has 9 points from five goals and four assists ... she has four goals in the last three games
Capizzano's streak is the team's second-longest this season and one game shy of Caitrin Lonergan's team-best eight-game streak (Oct. 22 through Nov. 20) that she just saw end last Saturday at Northeastern

LET'S NOT GET HOME SICK

Following their 7-1 win over New Hampshire on Nov. 12, the Eagles don't have another home game until after the new year: Jan. 4 to be exact, when they host Syracuse in their first game of 2017
BC scheduled four road games between home contests - a "road trip" spanning seven-and-a-half weeks between games at Kelley Rink
The Eagles are 1-0-1 on this current road bend, pushing their road record to 5-3-2 on the season
The Eagles are currently 5-0-1 at home

EAGLES STILL PACING HOCKEY EAST

Despite notching two league losses already - the team's most since 2013-14 when they had two in the 21-game season - Boston College is still pacing the league in almost every statistic, including the standings
After last Saturday's win, the Eagles now have a 9-2-1 record in league play and a conference-topping 19 points
In Hockey East games, BC is the conference's top scoring team (3.92 goals per game), has scored the most goals (47), is top defensive team (1.75 goals allowed per game), has the top power play (22.7 percent), best penalty kill (94.3 percent) and best net special teams (+13)
BC is also the only team in Hockey East ranked in every edition of both the USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls this season

CLOSING THE YEAR ON A HIGH NOTE?

Boston College has gone 7-1-1 in its last nine games and 3-0-1 in its last four games
The Eagles' lone loss in this recent stretch came at Boston University on Nov. 5 when the Terriers stormed back to claim a 5-3 win at Walter Brown Arena after entering the third period down 2-0
During this run, the Eagles have played six road games, going 4-1-1 in those games, plus a 3-0-0 mark at home

BALANCING MAROON & GOLD AND RED, WHITE & BLUE

Megan Keller has spent the majority of her collegiate career balancing both BC and USA Hockey responsibilities
A member of the full Women's National Team since her freshman year, she has missed extended periods of time during all three seasons at BC so far
Most recently, Keller was one of three collegians and the youngest player on the U.S.' gold-medal winning squad at the 2016 Four Nations Cup.
She missed two weeks of school and four BC games while playing in all four games at the tournament, collecting one goal and one assists
She was one of six Eagles on the 23-player roster that represented the U.S., joining Alex Carpenter '16, Emily Pfalzer '15, Haley Skarupa '16, Kelli Stack '11 and Dana Trivigno '16
The next opportunity for Keller and the Eagles to represent the U.S. comes in the newly-scheduled two-game U.S.-Canada series on Dec. 17 and 19 ... rosters for the pre-event training camp are expected to be announced soon

BELINSKAS IS THE EAGLES' GOLDEN GIRL

Boston College debuted new third sweaters this fall - gold jerseys with a circular shield on the chest featuring the Eagles' flying Eagle secondary logo ... and one player certainly enjoys wearing them
BC is undefeated (2-0-1) when wearing the new gold sweaters, and Delaney Belinskas has eight points (7-1-8) in those three game
On Oct. 9, the sweaters made their first-ever appearance and Belinskas scored four goals - the first BC freshman to do so in 21 years
On Nov. 14, the Eagles wore them again and Belinskas had a hat trick against UNH
On Nov. 20, she picked up an assist - just her second ever - on the Eagles' first goal at No. 10 Northeastern as the jerseys made their first-ever appearance on the road

CAITRIN MAKING HER CASE ON THE ICE

Freshman forward Caitrin Lonergan has already shown why she's a frontrunner for ACHA National Freshman of the Year
She has claimed Hockey East Rookie of the Month honors in each of the first two months of the season (October and November) on top of two rookie of the week awards
The forward from Roslindale, Mass., leads the Eagles in points (21) and assists (12), and ranks second in goals
She also leads all freshmen nationally in five categories (points, points per game, assists, assists per game and power-play assists) ... she is second in power-play points (10) and fourth in goals.
Her four power-play goals are tied for fifth overall and are tied for the third-highest total nationally
Lonergan has recorded at least one point in 13 of 16 games this year, with her best output coming at UNH on Nov. 12: one goal and a career-high three assists

CONNOLLY'S NEW-FOUND CENTERING SKILLS

Erin Connolly began her BC career as a defenseman, even redshirting as a freshman to learn the Eagles' system and gain strength
However, just seven games into the season, Katie Crowley converted her back to forward ahead of the Quinnipiac series
Connolly has since been centering the Eagles' third line, collecting all four of her points (2 goals, 2 assists) in that stretch
She is also part of both the power-play and penalty-kill units

BURT'S NEXT HEA SHUTOUT WILL TIE THE RECORD

Katie Burt's next Hockey East shutout will lift her into a tie for the conference's career shutout record
Currently, the mark is held by Melissa Bourdon (UNH '07) who had 18 in her career
Burt enters the weekend with 17 career league shutouts
BC's Molly Schaus '11 ranks third on the list with 14

First Faceoff Against Friars Set for Saturday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Andie Anastos

Delaney Belinskas

Katie Burt

Kristyn Capizzano

Alex Carpenter

Erin Connolly

Megan Keller

Kenzie Kent

Caitrin Lonergan

Haley Skarupa

Dana Trivigno

First Faceoff Against Friars Set for Saturday

Related News

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Andie Anastos

Delaney Belinskas

Katie Burt

Kristyn Capizzano

Alex Carpenter

Erin Connolly

Megan Keller

Kenzie Kent

Caitrin Lonergan

Haley Skarupa

Dana Trivigno

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