Home-Ice Up for Grabs Wednesday Against Merrimack

No. 6 Boston College (18-3-2, 14-2-2 HEA) vs. Merrimack (8-16-3, 4-13-0 HEA)
Wednesday, January 25, 2017 | 7 p.m.
Kelley Rink at Conte Forum | Chestnut Hill, Mass.

UNBEATEN RUN NOW THE NATION'S LONGEST

Boston College enters Wednesday's game on a 13-game unbeaten run, going 11-0-2 in its last 13 games
The Eagles' 13-game run is now the longest active unbeaten streak in the nation
This current 13-game run is the fourth-longest unbeaten run in program history ... BC has prior unbeaten streaks of 40 (2015-16), 28 (2014-15) and 18 (2012-13) games
BC has now posted unbeaten runs of at least 10 games in each of the last five seasons

CROWLEY COMING UP ON HOCKEY EAST CAREER WINS MARK

Katie Crowley is approaching the Hockey East coaching career wins mark (league games)
Former UNH head coach Mark McCloskey holds the record, but three current coaches are not far behind:
- Coach, School (HEA years at school) - victories
1. Brian McCloskey, UNH (2002-13) - 153 wins
2. Bob Deraney, Providence (2002-present) - 151 wins
3. Katie Crowley, BC (2007-present) - 150 wins
4. Bob Durocher, BU (2005-present) - 148 wins

AGAINST MERRIMACK

Overall: 5-0-0
Home: 2-0-0
Away: 3-0-0
Neutral: 0-0-0
Hockey East: 5-0-0
HEA Tournament: 0-0-0
SERIES NOTES
- Wednesday's game will be the final of three regular-season meetings between the teams, which occured in the span of 13 days ... BC claimed a 1-0 win at Kelley Rink on Jan. 13 before taking a 3-1 win at Lawler Rink on Jan. 14
- BC is 5-0-0 against Merrimack, which is in its second year of Division I play after entering the league in 2015-16
- BC is 2-0-0 at Kelley Rink and 3-0-0 in North Andover, Mass.
- In five games, BC has shut out the Warriors three times ... last season, BC posted back-to-back shutouts of the Warriors to open the series, winning 2-0 at Merrimack on Jan. 15 and 6-0 in Chestnut Hill on Jan. 16 ... on Jan. 13 of this year, BC claimed the one-goal win
- In four meetings, BC has averaged 45.6 shots per game while holding Merrimack to an average of 14.2 per game
- Merrimack has averaged just 0.40 goals against per game against the Eagles
- Katie Crowley is 5-0-0 all-time against Merrimack
PLAYER NOTES
- Makenna Newkirk (3-2-6) leads the Eagles in scoring against Merrimack and is also tied with Alex Carpenter (1g, 5a) for the career scoring lead against the Warriors
- Newkirk has picked up points in four of the teams' five meetings ... she had a two-goal game at Lawler Rink on Jan. 15, 2016 and followed it with a 1-goal, 1-assist performance in the second road game on Jan. 26 ... this year, she set up Andie Anastos' game-winner on Jan. 13, then assisted on Anastos' goal the next night at Lawler Rink on Jan. 14
- Andie Anastos (2g, 3a=5pts) netted the game-winning goal on Jan. 13 in the 1-0 win and tallied one goal and one assist on Jan. 14 in the 3-1 win ... last year, she had assists in each of the two games at Lawler Rink
- Megan Keller (1-3-4) recorded a point in all three 2015-16 meetings against Merrimack ... her goal in the teams' first-ever meeting was the insurance tally in the 2-0 win at Merrimack ... after she picked up an assist the next day at Kelley Rink, she added two assists in the return game at Lawler Rink on Jan. 26
- Kenzie Kent (1g, 2a) picked up one point in each meeting against the Warriors last year: an assist each on Jan. 15 and 16 and her first-ever goal against the Warriors on Jan. 26 ... she is point-less so far this season
- Delaney Belinskas collected three assists in the first two meetings between the teams this season: one on Jan. 13 and two at Lawler Rink on Jan. 14
- Kristyn Capizzano had points in back-to-back games against Merrimack last year, recording an assist at home on Jan. 16, before scoring a goal at Lawler Rink on Jan. 26
- Katie Burt has made four starts against Merrimack ... she is 3-0-0 at Lawler Rink and 1-0-0 at Kelley Rink ... she has allowed just two goals in four starts, while posting two shutouts, a .968 save percentage and an 0.50 GAA ... Burt had 25 saves on Jan. 14 at Lawler Rink
- Gabri Switaj recorded her first career shutout in her start against Merrimack at Kelley Rink on Jan. 16, 2016 ... she made eight saves in the win

HOCKEY EAST HOME ICE IN THE CROSSHAIRS ...

The Eagles need two points - or 32 points total - to formally claim one of the four home-ice berths in the Hockey East quarterfinals
Boston College enters the week with a six-point lead in the league, and two games in hand on second-place Northeastern
BC has 30 points with 18 games played, while Northeastern has 22 points with 20 games played
Although the fourth and fifth place teams - UNH and Vermont, respectively - can reach 33 points if they win out, because of overlaps in their remaining schedules and the Eagles' head-to-head tiebreaker wins against both teams, BC just needs 32 points to lock in home-ice for the best-of-three quarterfinals series

... AND HOCKEY EAST REGULAR-SEASON CROWN IS ALSO IN RANGE

BC is also close to claiming its fourth-straight regular-season title
The Eagles need just four points - reaching 34 points - to secure the title outright ... 33 points will claim at least a share of it
BC has won the last three Hockey East regular-season crowns: 2013-14 with a 18-2-1 record, 2014-15 with a 20-0-1 mark and 2015-16 with a 24-0-0 record
UNH holds the league's record for consecutive regular-season titles: six from 2003-04 through 2008-09

KELLER CAPTURES PAIR OF HOCKEY EAST RECORDS ... AND PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS

Entering last weekend just shy of a pair of Hockey East defenseman scoring records, Megan Keller wasted no time in getting those out of the way
On Friday, she assisted on the Eagles' first goal at UVM and captured the Hockey East career assists record for defensemen ... it was the 49th of her career in league play
Later in the game, her game-tying goal with 46 seconds left gave her the 60th point in her career in league play and the Hockey East career points record for a defenseman
Both records were formally held by former BC alum Emily Pfalzer '15, who played in 82 league games to Keller's 57
On Monday, for both her two-way play in the weekend road sweep at the league's third-place team and the two records, Keller earned her first Hockey East weekly nod of the year, copping defensive player of the week honors

BURT SETS SCHOOL WINS MARK

With a sweep in goal last weekend, junior Katie Burt set a new benchmark in victories for BC women's hockey
She entered the weekend one back of record holder Molly Schaus '14, who had 80 victories from 2006-11
Burt's win in net on Friday put her level with Schaus at 80, and her win on Saturday claimed the record as her own at 81
Schaus had 20-, 14-, 22- and 24-win seasons at The Heights to set the record at the end of her career in 2010-11
So far in her two-plus year career, Burt has 30- and 35-win seasons and 16 wins so far this year

BURT'S WINS ADDING UP TO RECORD MARKS

Katie Burt is moving up a host of goaltender career wins charts as she enters the week with 81 career wins and the BC career wins mark already in hand
Burt is in 11th place on the NCAA career wins chart ... her 83rd win will move her into a tie for 10th ... as a junior, she's the second-winningest active goaltender in the NCAA, behind Wisconsin's Ann-Renee Desbiens (88), who is a senior
Burt is also four wins back of the Hockey East career wins record (52), held by UNH's Melissa Bourdon '07 ... she comes into the week with 48 league wins, sitting in third place and two back of tying BU's Kerrin Sperry '14 in second place (50 wins)

BURT SHUTTING OUT MORE RECORDS, TOO

Katie Burt's 12-save shutout of Merrimack on Jan. 13 was the 27th shutout of her career overall, and her 19th shutout in Hockey East play ... that passed Melissa Bourdon who had 18 at UNH (2003-07) and held the HEA record
Burt now holds the Hockey East career shutout record (in league games) with 20
Overall, Burt's 28 career shutouts rank eighth in NCAA history ... she is just one back of seventh place (Erica Howe/Clarkson '14) at 29 and two back of a fifth-place tie with Bourdon and Alex Rigsby/Wisconsin '14 (30)

HOT STREAK CONTINUES INTO 2017

After starting the season with a 3-2-2 record, Boston College has gone 15-1-2 in its last 18 games dating back to Oct. 22 on top of its 13-game unbeaten run (11-0-2)
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 after entering the third period down 2-0
During this run, the Eagles have played 11 road games, going 9-1-1 in those games, plus its 5-0-1 mark at Kelley Rink and a 1-0-0 mark in a neutral game at Fenway Park
BC's six wins in 2017 are most in the country, while the Eagles are one of four teams overall (Wisconsin at 5-0-0, Princeton at 4-0-1 and Minnesota Duluth at 3-0-1) who are undefeated in the new year

ROAD WARRIORS SO FAR, BUT HOME COOKING IS COMING

Boston College has eight regular-season games remaining, with five of those coming at home, one away and two at a neutral site (OR one neutral, one home depending on outcomes in the Beanpot)
The Eagles have played 15 away games this season to just nine home games and one neutral-site contest
BC will play 14 home games this year and at least 16 road games, possibly 17 if the Eagles meet Northeastern in the Beanpot second round ... plus 2-3 neutral games

WINNING WAYS ON THE ROAD

In an odd scheduling quirk, BC so far has more road wins (10) than it has played home games this season despite being undefeated at home (7-0-2)
BC's 10 road wins are tied for second-most nationally (with Quinnipiac) and behind Wisconsin's 12
Despite being one of two undefeated teams at home this year - along with Minnesota (11-0-1) - BC's seven home wins only rank 10th nationally

TOP 10 SCHEDULING COMPARISONS

Boston College's 15 road games are tied for most in the country so far and most among this week's Top 10 teams (tied with No. 10 Quinnipiac's 15)
The other nine teams ranked in the Top 10 this week have played at least 10 home games, with six playing at least 12 ... Clarkson leads all with 15 home games so far
Additionally, BC's nine home games are the second-fewest among any team nationally (trailing only Harvard and Dartmouth's eight apiece)

NOT MUCH LEFT OF THE SCHEDULE

BC faces Merrimack again on Wednesday before meeting Boston University in a non-conference game in the first round of the Beanpot on Jan. 31
After that, the Eagles will host UConn and could face another non-conference Hockey East opponent in the second round of the Beanpot depending on the outcome of the Northeastern (HEA) - Harvard (ECAC) first-round game
After the Beanpot, Boston College closes the year with single games against Northeastern and Vermont, as well as a two-game series against Providence before heading into the Hockey East Tournament

LOOKING AT ADDING TO THE HOME UNBEATEN RUN

When BC returns to Kelley Rink against Merrimack on Jan. 25, the Eagles will look to continue their NCAA-record home unbeaten run ... the team's undefeated mark currently sits at 61 games (58-0-3), which began on Oct. 19, 2013
The streak is now in its fifth-straight calendar year: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 & 2017
Since the start of the Eagles' undefeated home run in 2013, BC has out-scored its opponents 314-80, averaging 5.15 goals per game while allowing 1.31 goals against
Boston College's NCAA-record 48-game home winning streak was snapped with the 0-0 tie with No. 3 Quinnipiac on Oct. 21
The last time BC lost at Kelley Rink was Oct. 16, 2013, a 3-1 loss to New Hampshire

NEWKIRK STEAMROLLING INTO THE LAST PART OF THE SCHEDULE

Sophomore Makenna Newkirk just became the 28th player in program history to record at least 75 points, doing so on Jan. 20 at Vermont
She reached that mark in 65 games
Newkirk comes into Wednesday's game with a five-game point streak intact during which she's collected six points
Newkirk has at least one point in 15 of the team's last 17 games dating back to Oct. 22
When she scores a goal, BC is 5-1-0 ... the Eagles are 13-1-0 when she tallies an assist
She and Andie Anastos are tied for the team's scoring lead with 28 points apiece

Home-Ice Up for Grabs Wednesday Against Merrimack

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Andie Anastos

Delaney Belinskas

Katie Burt

Kristyn Capizzano

Alex Carpenter

Megan Keller

Kenzie Kent

Makenna Newkirk

Gabri Switaj

Home-Ice Up for Grabs Wednesday Against Merrimack

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Andie Anastos

Delaney Belinskas

Katie Burt

Kristyn Capizzano

Alex Carpenter

Megan Keller

Kenzie Kent

Makenna Newkirk

Gabri Switaj

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