Eagles Clash with No. 2 UMass in Home-and-Home Series

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Boston College begins a home-and-home series with second-ranked UMass on Friday night (Feb. 15) at the Mullins Center at 7 p.m. on NESN. The series moves to Conte Forum on Saturday (Feb. 16) for a 8 p.m. faceoff on the Heights. Pre-game radio coverage begins 15 minutes prior to faceoff each night on WEEI 850 AM and BCEagles.com.

The Eagles enter the weekend with an eight-game winning streak and 10-game unbeaten run against the Minutemen. UMass sits atop the Hockey East standings at 13-4-0, five points ahead of third-place BC (9-5-3 HEA). Boston College is coming off a 4-2 defeat to No. 14 Northeastern in the title game of the Beanpot on Monday, while Massachusetts split last weekend.

BEANPOT RECAP
• Boston College's comeback from 3-0 down in the third period fell one goal short in the Championship Game of the 67th Beanpot as Northeastern defended its title with a 4-2 victory at TD Garden
• David Cotton led the way offensively with a goal and an assist for his eighth multi-point game of the season, while Joseph Woll stopped 31 shots in net
• Lincoln Griffin's backhander early in the third period gave the Huskies a commanding 3-0 cushion, but Cotton's team-high 16th of the season at 4:09 put BC on the board
• Cotton was the catalyst with just under eight minutes remaining, creating a turnover behind the NU net before finding senior JD Dudek wide open in front for his sixth tally
• The Eagles pulled Woll for an extra skater with roughly 90 seconds left on the clock and won multiple offensive zone draws, but Zach Solow's empty-netter sealed the NU win in the dying seconds

YORK SIGNS EXTENSION
• Jerry York, college hockey's all-time winningest coach with 1,063 victories, signed a multi-year extension on Monday to remain BC's head coach through at least the 2021-22 season
• York is just four wins away from 600 during 24+ seasons at his alma mater Boston College
• He would become just the fourth Division I coach ever to win 600 games at the same school
• York has led Boston College to 12 NCAA Frozen Fours with four national titles, nine Beanpot trophies, and nine Hockey East Tournament titles during his tenure
• In addition to the success of his players at the collegiate level, Boston College is tied for the most alumni currently playing in the NHL with 21
• York has seen 15 different players selected in the first round of the NHL Draft, and his former players have combined to win nine Stanley Cups

TO THE RAFTERS
• Boston College will raise the jerseys of former Eagle greats Tim Sheehy '70 and Tom Mellor '73 to the rafters at Kelley Rink on Saturday when BC concludes the series with UMass at 8 p.m.
• A two-time All-America selection in 1969 and 1970, Sheehy was named the ECAC Player of the Year in 1969-70
• He tallied 185 points (74 goals, 111 assists) in his 80-game career, leading the Eagles in scoring three straight seasons; he is also the second all-time leading scorer in Beanpot history despite playing just three seasons
• A 1973 All-American and ECAC Player of the Year, Mellor established a school scoring record for defenseman, tallying 135 points (37 goals, 98 assists) from 1969-71 and 1972-73
• His 45 assists as a senior still ranks third all-time in Boston College history for a single season
• Sheehy and Mellor were teammates on the 1972 U.S. Olympic Team that won a silver medal in Sapporo, Japan

SCOUTING THE MINUTEMEN
• UMass enters the weekend series with 21 wins and sits atop the Hockey East standings at 13-4-0 with 26 points
• Massachusetts is ranked second in the USA Today/USA Hockey poll
• The Minutemen have leveled off slightly, going 3-3-0 in their last six games; last weekend, they beat BU at home 4-2 before falling 2-0 at UMass Lowell
• St. Lawrence transfer Jacob Pritchard leads the team with 34 points
• Avalanche first round pick Cale Makar has tallied 22 assists and 31 points from the blueline while Mitchell Chaffee is second in the league behind Cotton with 15 goals
• Between the pipes, sophomore Matt Murray has started 20 games and owns a 16-4-0 record, 1.98 GAA and .926 SV%
• UMass has the best combined special teams in the nation, clicking at nearly 30% on the power play and 85.6% on the kill
• Greg Carvel is in his third season as the head coach in Amherst

SERIES HISTORY
• BC enters the weekend riding an eight-game winning streak against UMass, outscoring the Minutemen 44-12 during that span
• Boston College, which hasn't lost at the Mullins Center in more than seven years, leads the overall series 63-13-3 entering the 80th all-time meeting
• Last year, BC won 5-2 in Amherst thanks to a four-goal third period
• The Eagles haven't been defeated by Massachusetts since Jan. 18, 2013 and will carry a 10-game unbeaten streak (9-0-1) into the home-and-home series
• In the last 15 meetings, BC owns a 13-1-1 mark against UMass; dating back to 2008, the Eagles holds a 27-4-1 advantage
• Friday marks the fifth meeting between BC head coach Jerry York and UMass skipper Greg Carvel since he arrived in Amherst; York is 4-0 thus far
• He earned his 1,000th career victory at the Mullins Center on Jan. 22, 2016

A BUNCH OF COTTON
• David Cotton posted his team-leading eighth multi-point game of the season on Monday in the Beanpot title game with a goal and an assist in the third period
• The junior is tied for third in Hockey East with his eight multi-point games
• Cotton leads Hockey East with 16 total goals, which ranks sixth in the nation
• The Texan is two points away from tying his career-high of 28, set last year as a sophomore (9-19-28)
• The winger ranks eighth in the league in points per game and fifth in shots on goal per game

WE WERE MERELY FRESHMEN
• Since the start of December, rookies Oliver Wahlstrom and Jack McBain have combined for 19 points and both rank top-10 among league freshmen during that span
• In 10 games since returning from the IIHF World Junior Championships, Wahlstrom has collected more than half of his total points with three goals and six assists, including three multi-point outings
• Wahlstrom is seventh in Hockey East in goal scoring among rookies (7) and 12th in points (14)
• McBain ranks 16th in points among league freshmen with 11, seven of which have come in his last nine games

UP NEXT
• Next weekend, BC travels to Maine for a pair of league contests with the Black Bears in Orono

Eagles Clash with No. 2 UMass in Home-and-Home Series

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Players Mentioned

David Cotton

JD Dudek

Jack McBain

Oliver Wahlstrom

Joseph Woll