Boston College
New Hampshire
Eagles Wrap Up Regular Season at UNH on Saturday
February 21, 2019 | Women's Hockey
BC will look to secure the second overall seed in the Hockey East playoffs with a win or a tie.
Boston College (23-10-0, 19-7-0 HEA) enters Saturday's contest with a four-game winning streak and victors in 10 of its last 11 games. The Eagles last played on Friday, Feb. 15, topping Maine, 5-2, to finish off the weekend sweep after a 2-1 win the night before. New Hampshire (13-15-5, 10-14-2 HEA) enters Saturday's tilt 1-3-1 in the last five contests. The Wildcats played a home-and-home series with Boston University last weekend, tying 3-3 on the road before falling 2-1 at the Whittemore Center the next day.
The Eagles will host a best-of-three Hockey East Tournament quarterfinal round series at Kelley Rink against a to-be-determined opponent next week. Game one of the series will be played on Friday, March 1 and game two will take place on Saturday, March 2, with both puck drops slated for 2 p.m. An if-necessary game three would take place on Sunday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m.
GAME 34
No. 7 Boston College (23-10-0, 19-7-0 HEA) at New Hampshire (13-15-5, 10-14-2 HEA)
Whittemore Center | Durham, N.H.
Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019 | 2 p.m.
ABOUT BOSTON COLLEGE
• The Eagles enter Saturday winners of four straight and 10 of the last 11 games after sweeping Maine, 2-1 and 5-2 ... the 2-1 win on Feb. 14 marked the 300th for head coach Katie Crowley.
• BC topped No. 3 Northeastern on Feb. 12, 4-1, in the Beanpot consolation game ... Daryl Watts scored twice while Maddy McArthur made a career-high 33 saves in the win.
• BC had suffered a 4-1 loss to Harvard in the Beanpot semifinal round Feb. 5, ending a six-game winning streak ... the Eagles got back in the win column on Feb. 8 with a 7-1 victory against UNH at Kelley Rink ... Megan Keller had four points and Kelly Pickreign made 18 saves for her first career win.
• Keller (18-23-41) leads the team in points while Watts (19-19-38) is second ... in total, seven Eagles have at least 20 points so far.
• McArthur (20-9-0, .915 save percentage, 1.97 goals against average, five shutouts) has played most of the minutes in goal, but both Molly Barrow and Pickreign have picked up wins for BC.
• The Eagles have played 13 games in 2019, going 10-3-0 in those contests ... BC is 4-1-0 in the last five and 9-1-0 in the last 10.
ABOUT NEW HAMPSHIRE
• The Wildcats enter Saturday's tilt 1-3-1 in the last five contests ... UNH played a home-and-home with BU last weekend, tying 3-3 on the road and falling 2-1 at home the next day.
• Taylor Wenczkowski leads the team in points (25) and goals (19), including five power-play goals and five game-winning goals ... her 153 shots on goal rank fifth in the conference.
• Kyra Smith is 12-10-3 in net for UNH with a .929 save percentage and a 2.08 goals against average.
• UNH's junior class has 48 percent of the team's points (89/184) and 67 percent of the squad's goals (48/72) amd 37 percent of assists (41/112)..
• Earlier this year, from Nov. 17 to Jan. 8, the Wildcats went unbeaten in nine games at 7-2-0 and then reeled off five consecutive wins Jan. 19-Feb. 3 before falling to the Eagles on Feb. 8 ... UNH is 1-3-1 since.
• The Wildcats were picked seventh in the Hockey East Preseason Coaches poll after finishing the 2017-18 season in fifth place.
IT'S WORTH NOTING
• BC earned its 20th win of the season on Feb. 8 against UNH, making it one of six teams in the country to hit that mark this season.
• The Eagles surrender 24.69 shots on goal per game, sixth fewest in the country.
• BC has seven players with at least 20 points ... that's tied for second most in the country behind Minnesota's nine players with 20-plus points.
• Kali Flanagan and Ryan Little have each played in 150 career games, tied for sixth in program history.
• Kelly Browne is second among conference rookies and fifth overall in face-off wins with 301.
• Megan Keller has registered at least one point in 26 of her 32 games played this season and has 11 multi-point outings.
• BC is the only Hockey East school that has three goaltenders on the roster with at least one win this season.
• Caitrin Lonergan's .611 face-off winning percentage is third in the league while Makenna Newkirk's .568 is eighth.
• Daryl Watts is third in Hockey East with an average of 4.88 shots on goal per game while Lonergan is sixth with an average of 4.42.
• Among forwards, Newkirk's 51 blocks leads all of Hockey East and is tied for seventh.
• BC started Hockey East play 5-0-0 for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
#KELLER4KAZ
• Megan Keller leads all defensemen nationally in scoring with 41 points on 18 goals and 23 assists.
• The senior leads all defenders in goals, assists, points, goals per game (0.56), points per game (1.28), and game-winning goals (5) and is tied for first in power-play goals (6).
• Princeton's Claire Thompson sits second with 27 points while the next-closest points per game average is Cornell's Jaime Bourbonnais at 1.09.
• Among all skaters in the country, Keller ranks in the top 15 in points (t-10th), goals (t-12th), assists (t-13th), power-play points (t-12th), game-winning goals (t-4th) and points per game (t-13th) and plus/minus (t-5th).
• The last defender to average at least 1.25 points per game for a season was Keller when she finished her sophomore 2015-16 season at 1.27 per game.
• Keller has 113 shots on goal and is averaging 3.53 shots on goal per game, with both of those numbers ranking third among blue liners.
• She has registered at least one point in 26 of her 32 games played and has 11 multi-point outings on the year.
• The Farmington Hills, Mich. native set a new Hockey East single-season points record for a defender on Jan. 25 against Providence and set the single-season goals record on Feb. 8 versus UNH.
• With the goal against the Wildcats, she became the sixth player in program history to reach 150 career points.
• She has a 16-21-37 scoring line in conference play, good for a tie for second overall.
• In the month of January, Keller was on the ice for 71 percent of BC's even-strength goals.
• She was named the Hockey East Player of the Month for January ... it was the first time a defenseman has been named Player of the Month since she took home the honor for February 2017.
TOP-10 FINALIST
• Megan Keller was named one of the Top-10 Finalists for the 2019 Patty Kazmaier Award on Feb. 21.
• This is the third time in her career that Keller is a finalist for the award, as she also earned Top-10 honors in 2016 and 2017.
• She becomes just the second defenseman to be a three-time finalist for the award, joining four-time finalist and 2004 winner Angela Ruggiero of Harvard.
• Keller is the only defender among this year's finalists, a group that also includes eight forwards and one goaltender.
NEWKIRK'S NOTE
• Makenna Newkirk has quietly put together another 30-plus point season for the Eagles, notching 10 goals and 23 assists for 33 points.
• The senior leads the team with nine power-play assists and is tied for the overall lead in helpers.
• She is third on the team in blocked shots with 51, tops among forwards ... it leads all forwards in the conference and is tied for seventh in the nation.
• While Newkirk has not scored a game-winning goal this season, she has assisted on seven of them ... she tallied a game-winning assist in four consecutive contests Oct. 11-20.
• The captain has registered at least one point in eight of the last 10 games ... she has 12 points over those eight games.
• She has had three different point streak of four-or-more games, including a stretch of nine Nov. 1-Dec. 1.
• Newkirk is the only active player in NCAA hockey that has finished in the top 25 in scoring in each of the last three seasons.
IT'S GETTING HOT IN HERE
• As the Eagles head towards the postseason, several players are heating up.
• Riding a 11-game point streak, Caitrin Lonergan has put up 15 points over that span ... the junior has three multi-point outings during that streak.
• Daryl Watts has picked up 12 points in the last seven games ... the sophomore has registered multiple points in three out of the last four and five out of the last seven.
• Captain Makenna Newkirk has registered at least one point in eight of the last 10 games ... she has 12 points over those eight games.
• Serena Sommerfield has registered at least one point in seven of the last 10 contests and assisted on two game-winning goals in that span.
• Freshman Kelly Browne has scored in four consecutive contests and five out of the last six ... in the last seven games, Browne has nine points.
DEFENSE CHIPPIN' IN
• The Eagles' defensive corps is first in the nation in points (103), points per game (3.12), goals (28), goals per game (0.85), assists (75). assists per game (2.27)shots on goal (371) and game-winning goals (8).
• BC blue liners are tied for first in power-play goals (10).
• Megan Keller (18-23-41) leads all blue liners in points while Cayla Barnes (4-16-20) is 15th and leads all rookie blue liners.
• The BC defense has chipped in on 25% of the squad's goals (28/112), 41% of the assists (78/192) and 35% of the overall points (106/304).
• Cayla Barnes' assist on Daryl Watts' goal against Northeastern on Feb. 12 marked the 100th point by the Eagles' defense this season ... BC is the only team to hit that mark.
BALANCED ATTACK
• The Eagles have 20 players with at least one point and 17 players have scored at least one goal.
• BC has 12 players with at least 10 points, which is tied for third in the country and seven players with at least 29 points, which ties for second in the nation.
• The Eagles have four players with at least 30 points, which ties for Clarkson for the most in the country.
• Nine different players have scored game-winning goals for BC … seven of those players have scored multiple game-winning goals.
• Seven players have scored at least five goals for the Eagles … 10 players have potted at least three goals.
