Eagles Travel to No. 6 Notre Dame on New Year's Eve

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Boston College begins the second half on New Year's Eve against former Hockey East rival and sixth-ranked Notre Dame at the Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend at 5 p.m. The game will be televised on NBC Sports Chicago+, NBC Sports Philadelphia+ and SNY, as well as the NBC Sports app. Radio coverage begins at 4:45 p.m. on WEEI 850 AM and BCEagles.com. After starting the season with five straight defeats, the Eagles went 6-1-2 in their final nine games of the first semester to get back to .500 overall and earn a tie with UMass for first place in the league.

THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY
• Since the start of November, Boston College is 6-2-2 and undefeated in December, riding its second four-game unbeaten streak of the season into the second half (3-0-1)
• During those five weeks of play, the Eagles have posted a +12 goal differential, out-shot their opponents by a total of 33, and held teams to just 1.50 goals per game to lead Hockey East
• BC also has the league's third-best power play percentage in that span at 22.6% (7-for-31)
• Over the last four seasons, the Eagles are 24-4-2 in November

SCOUTING THE IRISH
• Notre Dame won its seventh straight game with a 5-4 win at Penn State on Dec. 7, but fell 9-1 the following night at PSU to close the first half
• The Fighting Irish are ranked No. 6 in both of the latest national polls
• Junior forward Cal Burke leads the Irish with nine goals and 19 points, while senior d-man Bobby Nardella has tallied a team-best 12 assists
• Junior netminder Cale Morris is 8-5-1 in his 14 starts with a 2.28 goals against average and a .928 save percentage in 1026 minutes
• Notre Dame clicks at 15.6% on the power play and 79.7% on the penalty kill
• The Irish are the third-lowest penalized team in the nation (8.3 PIM per game)
• Jeff Jackson is in his 14th season as head coach in South Bend and collected the 300th win of his tenure earlier this season on Nov. 3 vs. Ohio State
• Last year, the 28-win Irish beat Michigan 4-3 in the NCAA Semifinal in St. Paul but fell 2-1 to Minnesota Duluth in the national title game

SERIES HISTORY
• New Year's Eve will mark the 44th all-time meeting in the series with Boston College holding a slim 22-19-2 lead in the "Holy War"
• The teams are an even 8-8-0 in the last 16 matchups dating back to the 2008 NCAA Championship Game in Denver, won by BC 4-1
• Boston College is 2-3-0 all-time at the Compton Family Ice Arena with both victories coming via shutout, 4-0 in 2016 and 2-0 in 2015

LAST HOCKEY EAST MEETINGS
• The schools split their final league meetings two seasons ago
• In South Bend, David Cotton and Julius Mattila scored in the first to give BC a 2-0 lead, but Notre Dame answered with three in the second to win 3-2
• The Eagles closed the second meeting at Kelley Rink with four unanswered goals, including three in the third, to win 6-4 as Cotton posted three assists

BREAK OUT THE BROOMS
• In its final two games before the break (Dec. 6-7), BC swept UConn in a home-and-home set
• Julius Mattila recorded his first career hat trick and Joseph Woll posted his second straight shutout in a convincing 4-0 Hockey East win for Boston College on Dec. 6 at the XL Center
• Mattila added an assist for a four-point night, while David Cotton (two assists) and Logan Hutsko (goal) helped the Eagles' top line combine for seven points in the win
• The following night, BC scored three straight goals and held on late for a 3-2 Hockey East victory over UConn to clinch the regular season series and improve to 5-0-1 all-time at home against Connecticut
• Cotton (11) along with rookies Jack McBain (2) and Oliver Wahlstrom (4) accounted for the Eagle goals, while Woll picked up another win between the pipes with 28 saves, including 14 in the second period

A DOMINANT TRIO
• The Eagles' top offensive line of David Cotton, Julius Mattila, and Logan Hutsko has combined for nearly half of Boston College's total offense this season with 44 of the team's 91 points
• The line has combined for 40 points and a +24 rating since the start of November
• During that span, the only line in Division I college hockey that has produced more offense is Penn State's No. 1 unit of Alex Limoges, Evan Barratt, and Liam Folkes (25-36-61)
• The trio has accounted for 18 of the team's 27 goals over the last 10 contests, including five of the seven that the Eagles scored in the sweep of UConn on Dec. 6-7
• The three forwards have combined for 13 multi-point games this year
• All three rank among the top-25 scorers in Hockey East (Cotton - 1st, Mattila - 11th, Hutsko - 21st)

U-S-A, U-S-A
• Rookie forward Oliver Wahlstrom was selected to the 2019 U.S. National Junior Team to compete in the IIHF World Junior Championship in Vancouver and Victoria, B.C. and will miss the Notre Dame game
• Wahlstrom had three goals and an assist in Team USA's two pre-tournament games, and has followed with a goal in wins over Slovakia (2-1) and Kazakhstan (8-1) to begin the competition
• The 11th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft by the New York Islanders has four goals and an assist in 14 games in his freshman campaign and ranks second on the team with 45 shots on goal
• Wahlstrom spent last season with the U.S. Under-18 National Team, finishing with 48 goals and 46 assists in 62 games with the best plus-minus (+30) in the USHL
• He had seven goals at the 2018 Under-18 World Championships as Team USA won silver
• The U.S. enters the tournament having medaled in three straight World Junior Championships for the first time in team history after earning gold in 2017 and bronze in 2018 and 2016

UP NEXT
• The Eagles continue their winter break road trip with a two-game series out west against 15th-ranked Arizona State on Friday (Jan. 4) and Saturday (Jan. 5)
• Hockey East play resumes on Friday, Jan. 11 against No. 10 Providence at Kelley Rink

Eagles Travel to No. 6 Notre Dame on New Year's Eve

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Players Mentioned

David Cotton

Logan Hutsko

Julius Mattila

Jack McBain

Oliver Wahlstrom

Joseph Woll