Harvard Heads to The Heights over the Holiday

BOSTON COLLEGE vs. HARVARD
The red-hot Eagles welcome in cross-town foe and Beanpot companion Harvard to a post-Thanksgiving affair Friday afternoon. It marks the second-consecutive meeting between the two programs outside of the Beanpot as the Crimson came away with a 5-2 triumph in Cambridge at the Bright-Landry Center. Last time Crimson come to The Heights was on Nov. 11, 2014 as Harvard also won that contest, 6-3, but Boston College has had the upperhand in home games against Harvard, amassing a 6-3 mark, all-time, at Kelley Rink. BC and Harvard will skate against one another for the 126th time on Friday, but the last second to last time they met, it marked the first in NCAA postseason. The Eagles knocked Harvard out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the DCU Center two seasons ago on March 25, 2016, 4-1. When playing in the Beanpot Tournament, BC owns a 28-13 record over Harvard in Boston's mid-winter tradition. Boston College and Harvard have collided 83 other times outside of the Beanpot as BC owns an overall advantage of 74-46-5 against the Cambridge residents. In recent history, Boston College has dominated Harvard, winning 12 of the last 14 meetings by a combined score of 58-32. Jerry York is 26-7-2 all-time against Harvard behind the Eagles' bench.

THE CATALOG ON THE CRIMSON
Harvard skates onto The Heights looking for a victory as the Crimson have lost their last four outings, including getting swept at Minnesota and losing on back-to-back nights at Colgate and Cornell. Despite all three of those teams being ranked, Harvard is 2-5 coming into Friday's Beantown-based matchup. Interestingly enough, both of Harvard's wins have come in shutout fashion as Harvard's stingy defense is a top-10 unit (tied for ninth) in college hockey, surrendering 2.29 goals per game. The offense is averaging the same output, though, as Ryan Donato, son of head coach Ted Donato, leads Harvard with 1.29 points per game (4-5-9), good to be tied for 18th in the NCAA. Sophomore defenseman Adam Fox is Harvard's primary playmaker, tied for fourth, nationally amongst all defensemen in points per game (1.00 ppg) an is tied for fifth in the NCAA with seven assists, averaging one a game. Senior goaltender Merrick Madsen has recorded both shutouts and is one of 17 goaltenders in the nation with that claim. The offense is tied for 52nd, nationally, while the power play is operating at a conversion rate of 16.7 percent (5-for-30).

ALL WE DO IS WIN WIN WIN (...WIN WIN WIN WIN...)
Boston College has strung together its first seven-game winning streak since rattling off 11 in a row from October 16 to November 28, 2015. It marks the longest unbeaten spell since BC went 9-0-1 from October 16 to November 13, 2016. Heading into the Harvard contest, Boston College is tied with Notre Dame for the longest winning streak in the nation as both clubs have won their last seven-straight outings.

ROAD BIRDS
In addition to its seven-game winning stretch, Boston College has also won four true road games in a row (UVM, UVM, UNH, NU). It marks the first time the Eagles have won four-straight road games since the 2009-10 season when BC defeated UMass (3-1 – Dec. 4, 2009), BU (4-1 – Dec. 5, 2009), Harvard (3-2 – Dec. 9, 2009) and Providence (3-1, Dec. 12, 2009).

DA DAH DA - DA DAH DA.
On the night of November 17, Joseph Woll's sprawling save to preserve a 3-2 lead at New Hampshire was awarded the No. 2 play on SportsCenter as part of the nightly show's #SCTop10 feature.

DEFENSIVE DECORATIONS
On November 20, Joseph Woll was awarded Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honors, after racking up 50 saves, a pair of victories and turning in the save of the season thus far.

NOVEMBER NICE
In recent years, the month of November has been very kind to head coach Jerry York's teams. Believe it or not, this is the second time in three seasons BC has won its first seven outings in the month of November as BC turned the trick in the 2016-17 season. If you include the 2013-14 season, where the Eagles went 6-0-1, Boston College is unbeaten in the first seven games of November in three of the last five seasons. In all under York, BC has gone unbeaten four times in the first seven games of November as the 2003-04 club went 5-0-2 to start the month.

COMEBACK KIDS
Boston College has now come from behind twice to win games this year as the Eagles rallied back from two one-goal deficits to defeat New Hampshire on Nov. 17. BC also came back from a three-goal deficit at Providence in 4-3 overtime win on October 15.

KIM KAN
Junior captain Michael Kim scored his first-career multi-goal game in his 77th game in the maroon and gold after netting the game-tying goal midway through the second period and the game-winning strike midway through the third at UNH on Nov. 17. The defenseman's game-tying goal at 9:31 of the second period stood as his second power play goal of the season and third as an Eagle. His game winner at 8:21 of the third is also his second of the season (UConn – Nov. 7) and third of his career. Two of Kim's three goals this season have come via the power play. Kim's performance marks Boston College's fifth two-goal showing of the season.

GAME-WINNING GRAHAM
On November 18 at Northeastern, Graham McPhee netted his second power play goal of the season at the 9:16 mark of the third period. For McPhee, it was his sixth goal as an Eagle but stands as his first-career game-winning goal. McPhee is tied for second on the team with four goals this season.

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. Dudek also assisted at New Hampshire on Nov. 17, marking the first time the hometown product of Auburn, N.H. has registered assists in back-to-back outings.

FIGHT TO THE FINNISH
Over the weekend of the Nov. 17-18 games, Boston College's Finnish triumvirate of Julius and Jesper Mattila and Aapeli Räsänen combined for seven points (2-5-7). Jesper Mattila recorded his first-career three-point performance with a goal and a pair of assists at Northeastern while twin brother, Julius, logged his first multi-point performance on Nov. 18 with a goal and assist. Combined, the three Finns finished a combined +6 over the weekend.

HUTS-KO
Hutsko currently leads the Eagle offense in points scored with 11 (3-8-11). The Tampa, Fla. native is ranked second amongst all rookies in Hockey East in points scored, averaging 0.79 per game, and is tied for 17th nationally. Hutsko's 0.57 assists per game is tied for ninth in Hockey East.

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 18 assists (10-18-28) and are a combined +23 on the season. They have skated together 13 times this year as the Eagles have gone 8-5-0 since they've joined forces.

OFFENSIVE AWAKENING
It's no secret the Eagles' offense early on, but over the course of their last four outings, BC has accounted for five goals once, four goals twice and a three-goal showing to boost the offense up to 2.33 goals per game. In three of those four outings, Boston College's power play found the back of the net. BC's power play is operating at a rate of 15.4 percent (8-of-52).

DEFENDING THE NEST
Boston College's defense continues to limit the Eagles' lamp being lit as BC is now limiting its opponents to 2.50 goals per game. That number is tied for 16th, nationally, and is tied for second in the conference. Over the course of the last seven games, Boston College has only given up three goals on occassion.

KILLIN' IT
Boston College's penalty kill is staving off oppnents' power plays at a rate of 84.1 percent (53-of-63) and is currently 16th in the nation and fourth in Hockey East. BC has kept its opponents off the board on the power eight of 14 times this season.

THE BRICK WOLL
Sophomore backstopper Joseph Woll has stopped 269-of-296 shots faced in his first nine outings for a .991 save percentage which is currently tied for 42nd in all of college hockey while his 2.45 goals against average ranks 27th in the game. Woll has stopped 1,181 - of - 1,295 shots faced (.912 save percentage) with a career mark of 2.59 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.

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.

Harvard Heads to The Heights over the Holiday

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Players Mentioned

JD Dudek

Ryan Edquist

Michael Kim

Jesper Mattila

Graham McPhee

Joseph Woll