No. 8 BC Closes Fall Semester with Home-and-Home Series with No. 9 BU

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The No. 8 Boston College women's hockey team will close out the fall semester this weekend against No. 9 Boston University with a home-and-home series. Friday's meeting is set for a 7 p.m. puck drop at Walter Brown Arena while Saturday's contest to cap the regular season series will begin at 1:30 pm. Both games will air live on NESNplus. Saturday will mark BC's fourth consecutive contest against a rank opponent.

GAME 18
No. 8/8 Boston College (11-4-2, 10-3-1 HEA) at No. 9/9 Boston University (10-4-1, 5-4-1 HEA)
Walter Brown Arena | Boston
Friday, Dec. 6, 2019 | 7 p.m.

GAME 19
No. 8/8 Boston College (11-4-2, 10-3-1 HEA) at No. 9/9 Boston University (10-4-1, 5-4-1 HEA)*
Kelley Rink at Conte Forum | Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019 | 1:30 p.m.
*records do not include Friday night's results.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
• No. 8 Boston College and No. 9 Boston University will close out the first semester and the #BattleOfCommAve regular season series this weekend with a home-and-home set ... the Terriers and Eagles will face off at Walter Brown Arena on Friday night before the finale on Saturday afternoon at Kelley Rink.
• Boston College is 31-19-7 all-time against BU with a mark of 14-8-2 in road games and 12-8-4 in home games ... Friday marks the 58th meeting between the two Hockey East schools as varsity teams.
• Six of the last 10 meetings between the Comm Ave rivals have been decided by one goal or less ... 22 of the 57 meetings in the series have been decided by one goal or less.
• BC was picked to finish third in the Hockey East Preseason Coaches Poll while BU was tabbed second.
• Kelly Browne enters Friday with a four-game point streak while Savannah Norcross has scored a goal in three out of the last four games.
• BC teams are 4-0-0 this year against BU, with women's hockey, women's soccer, field hockey and men's soccer picking up wins.

BOSTON COLLEGE IN BRIEF
• The Eagles are coming off two games last weekend at the Country Classic in Nashville, battling then No. 1 Minnesota to a 2-2 tie before falling to then No. 2 Wisconsin, 5-3 ... BC is 1-3-1 in the last five games.
• Maddy McArthur is 9-3-2 in goal with a .923 save percentage, 2.05 goals against average and two shutouts while Kelly Pickreign is 2-1-0 with a shutout and a 1.34 goals against average and .958 save percentage.
• Kelly Browne (7-16-23) and Hannah Bilka (11-12-23) are tied for the team lead in scoring while eight players total have at least 10 points for the Eagles.
• BC scoring an average of 3.41 goals per game, the sixth best mark in the country, and scoring 3.50 goals in Hockey East contests, the second-best mark in the conference.
• The Eagles are giving up an average of 2.00 goals per game, which ties for 10th in the nation.
• BC opened up the year with seven consecutive wins and a 10-game unbeaten streak overall ... BC's 7-0-0 start marked the second-ever such start for the program (40-0-0 in 2015-16).

ABOUT BOSTON UNIVERSITY
• The ninth-ranked Terriers are coming off a bye week, having last played Nov. 23-24 at Vermont ... BU earned a 3-2 overtime win and a 5-1 win to improve to 10-4-1 overall and 5-4-1 in conference play.
• Sammy Davis has a team-high 17 points on five goals and 12 assists ... Julia Nearis has a team-leading eight goals, with five coming on the power play.
• Jessie Compher has six games under her belt after missing the first nine due to injury and has registered six goals and three helpers ... Compher was a Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award top-10 finalist last year after recording 61 points on 44 assists and 17 goals.
• Brian Durocher is in his 15th season as head coach of the Terriers
• The Terriers were picked to finish second in the Hockey East Preseason Coaches Poll.

SERIES NOTES
• BC maintains the overall lead in the all-time series at 31-19-7 ... Friday marks the 58th meeting in varsity games ... the Eagles have a mark of 12-8-4 against the Terriers at Conte Forum and 14-8-2 at Walter Brown Arena ... BC has the edge at neutral sites, 5-3-1.
• The Eagles took the first meeting of the season back on Nov. 15, earning a 4-2 win on the road at Walter Brown Arena ... BC scored three goals in the third period to complete a 4-2 comeback.
• BU won the 2018-19 regular season series at 2-1-0 but the Eagles topped the Terriers, 5-1, in the Hockey East Tournament semifinal game to give each team two wins apiece last season.
• BC and BU met in three straight Hockey East Tournament championship games (2014-16), with the Eagles snapping the Terriers two-tournament winning streak in 2016.
• Six of the last 10 meetings have been decided by one goal or less ... 22 of the 57 meetings in the series have been decided by one goal or less.
• Katie Crowley has a 26-18-6 career mark against Boston University.

THE LAST #BATTLEOFCOMMAVE
• Boston College and Boston University met back on Nov. 15 at Walter Brown Arena, with the Eagles scoring three third-period goals to complete a 4-2 comeback win.
• BU opened the scoring five minutes into the game but Hannah Bilka tallied last in the first for a 1-1 tie at the first intermission.
• The Terriers added a goal midway through the second but Alexie Guay's power-play strike five minutes into the third and Delaney Belinskas buried the game-winner less than three minutes later ... Cayla Barnes earned an empty-net goal with 39 seconds to play.
• Maddy McArthur made 21 saves for the Eagles ... BC went 2-for-4 on the power play while holding BU to 1-for-5.
• The Eagles remain the only team this season to score more than two goals against BU goaltender Corinne Schroeder.

COUNTRY CLASSIC RECAP
• Boston College played in the inaugural Country Classic in Nashville, Tenn. over Thanksgiving, taking on then No. 1 Minnesota and No. 2 Wisconsin.
• On Nov. 29, the Eagles battled the Gophers to a 2-2 overtime tie ... BC jumped out to a 1-0 lead thanks to a short-handed goal from Delaney Belinskas and then used another short-handed goal from Kelly Browne to take a 2-1 lead into the third period ... Minnesota would tie the game and neither team found the back of the net in overtime.
• Maddy McArthur finished with 41 saves for BC ... BC's two short-handed goals marked the first time a team has ever scored multiple short-handed goals in a game against the Gophers.
• On Nov. 30, the Badgers jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period but Savannah Norcross and Caroline DiFiore brought the Eagle within one by the end of the second period ... Wisconsin took another two-goal lead midway through the third and Cayla Barnes scored on the power play with six minutes to play, but the Badgers held off several late looks before finding the empty net.
• McArthur made a career-high 43 saves, topping her previous best set the day before against Minnesota.
• Harvard fell to Wisconsin, 5-1, and Minnesota, 4-0, in the Country Classic's other contests.

SHORT HANDED? NOT A PROBLEM
• Boston College has scored a nation-leading six short-handed goals this season.
• Delaney Belinskas has potted three short-handed goals, which ties for tops in the country.
• A nation-leading four different players have scored short-handed goals for BC this year in Belinskas, Lindsay Agnew, Hannah Bilka and Kelly Browne.
• Twice this season the Eagles have scored two short-handed goals in a game, doing it at Holy Cross on Oct. 3, 2019 and against Minnesota on Nov. 29, 2019.
• BC is the only team to ever score multiple short-handed goals in a single game against Minnesota.
• Agnew has five career short-handed goals, tied with Emily Field for seventh in program history.

SECOND PERIOD SCORING SURGES
• Boston College leads the country in second period scoring, putting in 68 points on 26 goals and 42 assists.
• The Eagles have also scored a nation-leading four short-handed goals in the second frame and also added four game-winning goals in the second, which ties for seventh in the nation.
• The Eagles scored four goals in the first 9:06 of the second period against Holy Cross on Oct. 3, with Hannah Bilka recording a hat trick in exactly seven minutes ... against Providence on Nov. 2, BC scored four goals in the first 10:12 of the middle frame.
• BC also put in five goals in the second period of an 8-0 win over Merrimack on Oct. 18.

BALANCED SCORING
• Through the first 17 games of the season, Boston College has had 12 different players score at least one goal and 16 players total register at least one point.
• BC has eight players with at least 10 points each, the third most in the country behind Minnesota and Wisconsin who both have nine apiece.
• The Eagles have 11 players with at least five points.
• Seven different players have scored game-winning goals for the Eagles this season.

No. 8 BC Closes Fall Semester with Home-and-Home Series with No. 9 BU

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Players Mentioned

Lindsay Agnew

Cayla Barnes

Delaney Belinskas

Hannah Bilka

Kelly Browne

Caroline DiFiore

Alexie Guay

Maddy McArthur

Savannah Norcross

Kelly Pickreign