Winning Streak on the Line Friday Night in Durham

Friday, November 17

Durham, N.H.

7:00 PM

Boston College

New Hampshire

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Winning Streak on the Line Friday Night in Durham

November 13, 2017 | Men's Hockey

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The Eagles put their five-game winning streak on the line against New Hampshire as the 150th battle between BC and UNH takes place Friday night

By: Athletic Communications

BOSTON COLLEGE vs. NEW HAMPSHIRE
First and third-place foes meet up for the first time this weekend as Boston College crosses into New Hampshire to take on the Wildcats at the Whittemore Center. In recent history, the Eagles have dominated the conversation as BC is winners of five straight and is unbeaten in its last nine (7-0-2) meetings against New Hampshire, including a 16-2-4 mark over the course of the last 22 fixtures. As a whole, the series has been somewhat of a closely contested one over the course of time as Friday night's battle marks the 150th contest between the two Hockey East staples as BC owns the narrow 73-63-14 mark over UNH. BC and UNH have some binding ties as well. Not only are York and UNH head coach Dick Umile two of the most celebrated coaches in the sport, they have combined for 1,631 victories and over 72 years of combined coaching experience. York is in his 46th season overall while Umile celebrates his 28th and final season in Durham. Additionally, BC assistant coach Mike Ayers was New Hampshire's goaltender from 2000-04. Ayers was voted second-team All-American in 2003.

WILDCAT WATCH
It's been a tale of two halves for New Hampshire to start the season as the Wildcats were one of college hockey's hottest clubs out of the chute. New Hampshire started with five-consecutive wins before going 1-3-1 in its last five outings. In all, New Hampshire is 6-3-1 and in third place in the Hockey East standings with a 3-2-1 mark, five points behind Boston College. The Wildcats boast three double-digit scorers already in Max Gildon (6-4-10), Michael McNicholas (2-8-10) and Benton Maass (1-9-10). Gildon's 0.60 goals per game is tied for 26th in the NCAA and tied for fifth in the NCAA. Three of Gildon's six tallies have come via the power play, tying him for 12th, nationally, in that category. Interestingly enough, both Gildon and Maass are UNH blueliners as the freshmen tandem is tied for fifth, nationally, in scoring amongst all defensemen, averaging one point per game. Wildcat goaltender Danny Tirone is 10th in save percentage with a .929 figure. Offensively, UNH is tied for 17th with 3.20 goals per game while the defense in ninth overall, limiting its opponents to 2.20 goals per game.

GRANDO THE GREAT
Freshman forward Christopher Grando had a breakout performance in BC's weekend sweep at Vermont on Nov. 10-11 and was heralded as the Hockey East Player of the Week. The Islip, N.Y. native accounted for five points (2-3-5), including a big showing on Nov. 11. Grando started off the weekend in Friday's 4-3 victory at Gutterson Fieldhouse with his first-career multi-point performance in the maroon and gold, doling out a pair primary assists and a +3 rating. He followed that with his first-career two-goal game, including the short-handed game-winning goal. Grando is Hockey East's first freshman to be named outright Hockey East Player of the Week since New Hampshire's Patrick Grasso on Oct. 31, 2016.

THAT'S WHAT WE CALL A W-W-W-W-W-INNING STREAK
Boston College is now on a five-game winning streak, its longest stretch since last season when the Eagles rattled off six-straight wins from October 28 to November 13. It also marks Boston College's first true road sweep after taking out Maine on back-to-back nights on Nov. 4-5, 2016. BC is tied with North Dakota and Notre Dame for the fourth-longest unbeaten stretch in college hockey. Grando leads BC with five goals and is tied for eighth in the league and 87th, nationally, with 0.42 goals per game.

IT'S ALMOST LIKE GAUDREAU - ARNOLD - HAYES ARE OUT THERE
The Eagles have been on a tear lately and much of the credit can go to the Grando - Räsänen - Hutsko as this triumvirate has been crushing it. Christopher Grando, Aapeli Räsänen and Logan Hutsko are BC's leading line, combining for 10 goals and 15 assists (10-15-25) and are a combined +19 on the season. They have skated together 11 times this year as the Eagles have gone 6-5-0 since they've joined forces.

OFFENSIVE AWAKENING
It's no secret the Eagles' offense has been a bit more stagnant than in years past, but on Nov. 10-11 at Vermont, Boston College combined for nine goals and boosted the offense up to 2.33 goals per game. The nine goals are the most in a weekend for BC thus far.

WE'RE GOIN' STREAKING
Freshman Logan Hutsko is currently on a four-game point streak after assisting on Christopher Grando's second goal at UVM on Nov. 11, the longest of any Eagle this season. During that tear, the Tampa, Fla. native has accounted for six points (2-4-6) over the course of the last four games. Casey Fitzgerald (0-2-2), Aapeli Rasanen (2-1-3) and Grando (2-3-5) have also registered points in consecutive games.

HUSTK-WHOA.
Hutsko currently leads the Eagle offense in points scored with 10 (3-7-10). The Tampa, Fla. native is tied for second amongst all rookies in Hockey East in points scored, averaging 0.83 per game, and is tied for 16th nationally.

DEFENDING THE NEST
Boston College's defense continues to limit the Eagles' lamp being lit as BC is now limiting its opponents to 2.67 goals per game. That number is tied for 20th, nationally, and is fourth in Hockey East heading into UNH / NU.

TRADING IN THE WINGTIP HELMET FOR A SET OF EAGLE WINGS
Graduate transfer student Kevin Lohan recorded his first point in the maroon and gold with the assist on Grando's short-handed, game-winning marker. It marks Lohan's first point since assisting in a 10-6 win over Ohio State when he was at Michigan on Jan. 16, 2015.

KILLIN' IT
Boston College's penalty kill is staving off opponents' power plays at a rate of 83.1 percent (49-of-59) and is currently 21st in the nation and fourth in Hockey East. BC has kept its opponents off the board on the power six times this season.

EDDIE THE EAGLE
Sophomore goaltender Ryan Edquist earned his second win of the 2017-18 season after stopping 23 shots in a 5-1 victory at Vermont. It marked his third start of the season as Edquist defeated UConn on Nov. 7 and stopped a career-best 42 shots at St. Cloud on Oct. 20. The Lakeville, Minn. native also came in with 1.6 seconds left at Merrimack and made a game-tying save to preserve an Eagle victory.

THE BRICK WOLL
Sophomore backstopper Joseph Woll has stopped 219-of-243 shots faced in his first nine outings for a .901 save percentage which is currently tied for 53rd in all of college hockey while his 2.66 goals against average ranks 36th in the game. Woll has stopped 1,131 - of - 1,242 shots faced (.911 save percentage) with a career mark of 2.64 goals against average. Woll was also one of 20 goalies named to the watch list for the 2018 Mike Richter Award, which annually honors the most outstanding goaltender in NCAA Division I men's hockey.

TWO FOR DU
Junior JD Dudek skated in his 86th game as an Eagle on Nov. 11 at UVM and had previously recorded an assist in 14 separate outings. That game marked his first-career multi-assist showing as he helped out on a pair of BC goals.

GIVING GOALIES
In addition to sophomore Ryan Edquist's second victory of the season, the Lakeville, Minn. native also recorded his first-career assist, making the save and swatting it out to Kevin Lohan in the slot. It marks the first assists for a Boston College goaltender since Thatcher Demko tallied one against UMass Lowell on Feb. 22, 2016.

SHORTY SZN
Christophher Grando and Julius Mattila both have tallied short-handed goals this season. They are two of 36 skaters in the NCAA with at least one short-handed goal in 2017-18.

ATOP THE LEADERBOARD
Boston College might have had a slow start in the non-conference slate, but the Eagles have responded rather thunderously in conference play. Winning their last five games (Merrimack (2) , UConn, Vermont (2)) and an OT win over Providence, the Eagles are all alone in first place in the Hockey East standings by four points over Northeastern, having accrued 12 points with a 6-1 record to the early goings of the conference slate.

IN THE COLD OCTOBER RAIN
It's no secret Boston College has skated off to a 1-5-1 start in Novrmbrt, but the Eagles, by far, had the toughest non-conference schedule in the country. In October, combined, BC's opponents went 23-6-3 and are currently ranked No. 1 (Denver), No. 2 (St. Cloud State), No. 6 (Providence), No. 7 (Wisconsin) and No. 11 (Quinnipiac), respectively. The Eagles look to turn the page on October and turn things around in conference play. The Eagles have turned things around in November, sweeping Merrimack on Nov. 3-4 to start 2-0 on the season.

FITZ ON THE FRITZ
Junior defenseman Casey Fitzgerald notched his second-career two-goal game (at Holy Cross – Oct. 22, 2016), including the overtime winner 69 seconds into the extra session to give the Eagles their first win of the season at Providence on Oct. 15. Fitzgerald's game-winning goal stands as the third of his career as the North Reading, Mass. native accounted for a pair last season. For his big showing, the captain was named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 16.