No. 7 Eagles and No. 9 Irish Begin Home-and-Home Friday on the Heights

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – No. 7 Boston College opens a home-and-home series against ninth-ranked Notre Dame on Friday night (Dec. 6) at Kelley Rink in the 45th edition of the "Holy War" between the two schools. The series then shifts to South Bend on Sunday (Dec. 8) for a 5 p.m. faceoff at the Compton Family Ice Arena. Friday's game will air live on CBS All-Access ($) while Sunday's tilt will stream on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. Radio coverage begins 15 minutes prior to faceoff on WEEI 850 AM and BCEagles.TV.

LUCKY 7
• Boston College handed previously undefeated No. 6 Harvard its first loss of the year on Black Friday and extended its winning streak to seven with a 4-2 come-from-behind victory at a sold out Bright-Landry Hockey Center
• The Eagles trailed 2-0 late in the second period but scored four unanswered goals, including three in a span of just 1:52 to close the middle frame and take their first lead
• Aapeli Räsänen collected his fifth multi-point game of the season with a goal and an assist
• 10 other players posted a point in the win, including goals from Alex Newhook, David Cotton and Marc McLaughlin
• Spencer Knight stopped 27 of the 29 shots he faced to extend his personal winning streak to seven

ON A ROLL
• Boston College's current seven-game winning streak is tied with No. 1 Minnesota State for the third-longest unbeaten streak in the nation behind North Dakota (11) and Cornell (9)
• During those seven games, the Eagles have outscored their opponents by a total of 32-8
• The trio of Mike Hardman, Alex Newhook and Aapeli Räsänen has combined for a 14-16-30 scoring line
• The power play is 10-for-28 (35.7%) and the penalty kill is 23-for-28 (82.1%) during the win streak
• BC's shot totals have risen to an average of 34.0 per game with a +44 shot margin over the last seven
• Spencer Knight owns a 1.14 GAA and .959 SV% with two shutouts during his personal streak

SCOUTING THE IRISH
• Notre Dame (8-4-2, 4-2-2 BIG 10) has lost three straight games and is just 1-4-1 in its last six overall
• The Fighting Irish was swept by 16th-ranked Bowling Green 5-2 both nights in a home-and-home series with the Falcons last weekend
• The Irish is led offensively by three senior forwards: Mike O'Leary (7-9-16), Cal Burke (4-10-14) and Cam Morrison (3-10-13)
• Senior netminder Cale Morris is 5-3-2 in his 10 starts this season with a 2.63 goals against average and a .905 save percentage
• Notre Dame clicks at 25% on the power play and 79.5% on the penalty kill, but it's the second-lowest penalized squad in the nation (7.5 PIM per game)
• Jeff Jackson is in his 15th season as head coach in South Bend and recorded the 500th victory of his NCAA coaching career in last year's BIG 10 title game
• The Irish edged Penn State 3-2 for the 2019 BIG 10 Championship but fell 4-0 to UMass in the NCAA Northeast Regional Final in Manchester

SERIES HISTORY
• Friday night marks the 45th all-time meeting in the series with Boston College holding a slim 22-20-2 lead in the "Holy War" against the Fighting Irish
• Notre Dame holds a 9-8-0 advantage in the last 17 matchups dating back to the 2008 NCAA Championship Game in Denver, won by the Eagles 4-1
• BC defeated the Irish 6-4 in the last home meeting on Jan. 28, 2017 when the current seniors were freshmen
• The Eagles were down 4-2 late in the second period but scored four unanswered in the comeback victory

LAST MEETING
• Sixth-ranked Notre Dame skated past Boston College 4-0 on New Year's Eve at the Compton Family Ice Arena to begin the second half of last season
• Cale Morris stopped all 20 shots he faced for the shutout in the Irish net
• Notre Dame scored twice in the span of 34 seconds midway through the first period before adding an insurance goal and empty-netter in the third
• BC hit the post or crossbar four times on the night, including twice in the third period from Marc McLaughlin and Graham McPhee

RED HOT HUTSKO
• Logan Hutsko is currently riding a career-high nine-game point streak (6-4-10)
• Hutsko, who has lost four games to injury, has at least one point in every one of his games this season
• The junior is tied for second on the team in goals (6) despite missing those four contests
• Hutsko's unassisted power play goal in the third period on Nov. 26 vs. Yale made the SportsCenter Top 10

OH WHAT A KNIGHT
• In the month of November, Spencer Knight ranked second in the nation in both SV% (.959) and GAA (1.12)
• BC was tied for the number one scoring defense in the country during November with Minnesota State
• Knight was named the Hockey East Rookie of the Week on Nov. 18 following his 2-0-0 weekend in Vermont
• Overall, the rookie netminder ranks third in Hockey East in both SV% (.934) and GAA (1.92)
• He leads all NCAA rookie goaltenders in both wins (9) and shutouts (3) in just 13 starts

SCORING IN BUNCHES
• Boston College has already scored 5+ goals five times this season after doing so just twice last season
• A sixth game with at least five goals would tie the team's total from two years ago
• BC is 5-0-0 this year when scoring at least five times and 7-1-0 when scoring first
• The Eagles have risen to second in Hockey East and eighth in the NCAA with 3.54 goals per game

NOVEMBER RAIN
• Boston College posted a 7-1-0 record in November following a 2-3-0 mark in October
• Last month, BC led Hockey East in goals per game (4.0), goals against average (1.12), power play percentage (32.3%) and scoring margin (+23), which was a full 14 goals better than the next highest team
• Over the last five seasons, the Eagles are a sensational 31-5-2 in November for an .842 winning percentage
• BC went undefeated in November during both the 2015-16 and 2017-18 campaigns

FINK ON THE RINK
• Vermont native Ben Finkelstein collected his 50th NCAA point on Nov. 26 with a goal vs. Yale
• The senior is riding a three-game point streak (his longest as an Eagle) and leads the team with 19 blocks
• In his last five outings, Finkelstein has posted five points and a plus-4 rating

GO SHORTY
• Boston College leads Hockey East and is tied for second nationally with four shorthanded goals
• Classmates Patrick Giles and Marc McLaughlin have linked up on the last two shorties, with one setting up the other on the road against Vermont (Giles) and No. 6 Harvard (McLaughlin)
• Alex Newhook's first collegiate goal came shorthanded at No. 1 Denver on Oct. 19

UP NEXT
• The second half of the season begins on Saturday, Jan. 4 against Vermont inside Kelley Rink at 4:30 p.m. on NESN

No. 7 Eagles and No. 9 Irish Begin Home-and-Home Friday on the Heights

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Players Mentioned

David Cotton

Ben Finkelstein

Patrick Giles

Mike Hardman

Logan Hutsko

Spencer Knight

Marc McLaughlin

Graham McPhee

Alex Newhook

Aapeli Räsänen