#10 Eagles Host #7 Providence for Hockey East Opener Friday

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – 10th-ranked Boston College plays host to No. 7 Providence in its league opener on Friday night (Oct. 25) at Kelley Rink in a rematch of an epic three-game series in the 2019 Hockey East Quarterfinals. The schools met a total of six times last season with the Eagles going 4-2-0 against the Friars in those games. Friday's matchup will air live on NESNplus and the NESN app. Fans outside New England can watch online via CBS All-Access (subscriptions cost $5.99 per month). Radio coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on WEEI 850 AM and BCEagles.TV.

SCOUTING THE FRIARS
• Providence enters the weekend at 3-1-0 (1-0-0 HEA) and sits seventh in both national polls
• The Friars shut out Maine 7-0 on opening night (Oct. 5) and swept a trip to the North Country last weekend, beating St. Lawrence 6-0 and No. 9 Clarkson 4-2
• Jack Dugan leads the team with six assists and nine points, while Greg Printz has scored a team-best five goals in only four contests
• Harvard transfer Michael Lackey has started all four games in net with a 3-1-0 record, 1.23 GAA, .954 SV% and two shutouts
• PC is 5-for-19 (26.3%) on the power play and 13-for-15 (86.7%) on the kill
• Nate Leaman is in his ninth year as the head coach; he has led the program to 179 wins and led Providence to the 2015 NCAA Championship in Boston
• Last year, the Friars won 24 games and lost 4-1 to eventual national champion Minnesota Duluth in the NCAA East Regional Final in Providence

SERIES HISTORY
• The Eagles have a significant lead in the all-time series with Providence at 117-52-14 overall and a 63-27-12 advantage in Hockey East play
• Boston College won the six-game season series with the Friars 4-2-0 last year, which included two wins in the Hockey East Quarterfinals on the road
• BC won both home meetings by 4-2 and 4-1 scorelines in January, pushing its record to 11-2-0 vs. PC in the last 13 meetings at Conte Forum
• Boston College upset No. 2 seed Providence in the Hockey East Quarterfinals behind game-winning goals from Logan Hutsko in Game 2 and 3
• Hutsko convered a partial breakaway in overtime of Game 2 and found the net on a wrist shot with eight minutes left in the third period of Game 3
• Overall, the Eagles are 8-4-1 in their last 13 meetings against Providence

MILE HIGH CITY
• Denver freshman netminder Magnus Chrona stopped all 23 shots he faced and the top-ranked Pioneers held off No. 6 Boston College late with two empty-netters for a 3-0 shutout to open a non-conference series on Friday
• Spencer Knight allowed just one goal and finished the night with 28 saves, including 14 in the second period
• David Cotton and Alex Newhook each hit the post prior to the first Denver goal, which came early in the second
• The Eagles cut a 5-2 deficit to one late in the third period on Saturday, but the Pioneers responded with a power play goal at 18:04 to seal a 6-4 victory and sweep the weekend
• Mike Hardman (1-1-2), Aapeli Räsänen (1-1-2) and Jack McBain (0-2-2) all had multi-point nights for BC
• Boston College took 16 penalties in the two-game series as Denver went 4-for-12 on the power play

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
• Five of BC's six rookie skaters have already scored their first collegiate goals in the first four games
• Marshall Warren and Matt Boldy lit the lamp on opening night in the second period vs. No. 15 Wisconsin
• Alex Newhook, Mike Hardman and Drew Helleson all scored last Saturday in the series finale at No. 1 Denver in Colorado; Newhook and Helleson are both 2019 draft picks of the Colorado Avalanche
• Boston College ranks fourth in Hockey East with five goals from freshmen thus far

MILESTONE WATCH
• David Cotton posted his 50th career assist on Oct. 13 at Colgate and is five points away from 100
• Cotton has played in 120 career games with 44 collegiate goals
• Julius Mattila skated in his 100th collegiate game on opening night and marked it by scoring twice
• Luke McInnis played in his 100th game at Colgate and scored in the first period
• Ron Greco hit the century mark in the series opener last Friday in Denver for 100 career games
• Oct. 13 at Colgate marked the 75th career contest for juniors Logan Hutsko and Michael Karow

DOMINATING THE DOT
• BC ranks second in Hockey East with a 54.5% success rate on faceoffs through its first four games
• Matt Boldy ranks second among league rookies with a mark of 57.7% at the dot
• Julius Mattila sits fourth overall in faceoffs won (48) and owns a success rate of 57.8%
• Last year, Mattila ranked sixth overall in faceoff wins (316) despite missing five games to injury
• Boston College won 52.5% of its faceoffs during the 2018-19 regular season to rank second in Hockey East

UP NEXT
• Boston College visits Providence next Saturday night at Schneider Arena to complete the season series
• The Eagles are at the Whittemore Center to face New Hampshire the night before at 7 p.m. on NESN

#10 Eagles Host #7 Providence for Hockey East Opener Friday

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Players Mentioned

Matt Boldy

David Cotton

Ron Greco

Mike Hardman

Drew Helleson

Logan Hutsko

Michael Karow

Spencer Knight

Julius Mattila

Jack McBain

Luke McInnis

Alex Newhook

Aapeli Räsänen

Marshall Warren