Boston College
New Hampshire
Eagles Welcome Wildcats to Kelley Rink for Conference Clash
February 07, 2019 | Women's Hockey
BC, UNH will meet for the second time this season and for the first time in Chestnut Hill.
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Boston College (19-10-0, 16-7-0 HEA) is coming off a loss to Harvard in the Beanpot Tournament semifinal on Tuesday night. The 4-1 defeat ended a six-game winning streak for the Eagles, with the last loss for the squad coming in another 3-1 game at No. 3 Northeastern on Jan. 11. The Wildcats remain the only Hockey East team that BC has yet to earn a win against this season.
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New Hampshire (13-12-4, 10-11-1 HEA) is riding a five-game winning streak after conference sweeps of Maine and Holy Cross as well as a win over Providence. It's the longest winning streak for the Wildcats since the 2010-11 season.
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The teams faced off back on Jan. 5 at the Whittemore Center, with UNH scoring two third period goals for the come-from-behind, 3-2 win.
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Boston College will return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at Harvard's Bright-Landry Hockey Center with the Beanpot Tournament consolation game against No. 3 Northeastern.
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GAME 30Â
No. 7/7 Boston College (19-10-0, 16-8-0 HEA) vs. New Hampshire (13-12-4, 10-11-1 HEA)
Kelley Rink at Conte Forum | Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Friday, Feb. 8, 2019 | 6 p.m.
ABOUT BOSTON COLLEGE
• Boston College had its six-game unbeaten streak snapped on Tuesday night with a 4-1 loss to Harvard in the Beanpot semifinal round ... Makenna Newkirk scored the lone goal for the Eagles while Caitrin Lonergan tallied an assist to move her point streak to seven games.
• Last weekend, the Eagles had six different goal scorers and three players with three points each in a 6-0 home win over Holy Cross... Maddy McArthur made 16 saves for her fifth shutout of the year.
• Kelly Browne (1-2-3) set a career-high while Kali (0-3-3) Flanagan and Serena Sommerfield (1-2-3) both tied a career-high in points with three each.
• The win over the Crusaders came after a sweep of a home-and-home series with Providence on Jan. 25-26.
• BC scored early on in both contests with the Friars and then held off some Providence comeback bids for a pair of 4-2 wins ... McArthur earned both wins.
• Megan Keller (14-20-34) leads the team in points while Daryl Watts (15-16-31) is second in points and tops in goals.
• BC has played 23 conference contests and is currently second in the standings with 32 points ... Northeastern is first with 38 through 22 games played and BU is third with 29 points in 22 games.
ABOUT NEW HAMPSHIRE
• The Wildcats bring a winning streak of five games into Friday's tilt after earning wins over Providence (5-0), Holy Cross (4-1, 3-1) and Maine (5-2, 3-2).
• The Wildcats were picked seventh in the Hockey East Preseason Coaches poll after fining the 2017-18 season in fifth place.Â
• Taylor Wenczkowski leads the team in points (21) and goals (16), including four power-play goals and five game-winning goals.Â
• Kyra Smith is 12-7-2 in net for UNH with a .938 save percentage and a 1.81 goals against average.Â
• UNH's junior class has 48 percent of the team's points and 64 percent of the squad's goals.
• Earlier this year, from Nov. 17 to Jan. 8, the Wildcats went unbeaten in nine games at 7-2-0.
KELLER MAKES THE CASEÂ
• Megan Keller leads all defensemen nationally in scoring with 34 points on 14 goals and 20 assists.
• The senior leads all defenders or is tied for first in goals, assists, points, goals per game (0.50), points per game (1.21), power-play goals (5) and game-winning goals (4).
• Ohio State's Jincy Dunne sits second with 23 points while the next-closest points per game average is Cornell's Jaime Bourbonnais at 1.11.Â
• Among all skaters in the country, Keller ranks in the top 25 in points, goals, assists, power-play points , game-winning goals and points per game.
• 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 95 shots on goal and is averaging 3.39 shots on goal per game, with both of those numbers ranking third among blue liners.
• She has 36 blocks and a plus-29 rating.
• The Farmington Hills, Mich. native set a new Hockey East single-season points record for a defender on Jan. 25 against Providence and has a 13-18-31 scoring line in conference play, good a tie for second.Â
• Her 13 goals in Hockey East play are tied for a single-season high by a blue liner.
• Her nine career game-winning goals sit tied for 12th in program history.
• In the month of January, Keller was on the ice for 71 percent of BC's even-strength goals and on the season...she's been on the ice for 56 percent of all BC's even-strength goals.Â
• 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 Keller took home the honor for February 2017.
NEWKIRK'S NOTE
• Makenna Newkirk has quietly put together another 25-plus point season for the Eagles, notching 10 goals and 17 assists.
• The senior has a team-high six assists on the power play.
• She is third on the team in blocked shots with 39 ... that leads all forwards in the conference and is 12th in the country.
• While Newkirk has not scored a game-winning goal this season, she has assisted on six of them ... she tallied a game-winning assist in four consecutive contests Oct. 11-20.
• She has had three different point streak of four-or-more games, including a stretch of nine Nov. 1-Dec. 1.Â
• 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.
DEFENSE CHIPPIN' IN
• The Eagles' defensive corps is first in the nation in points (90), points per game (3.21), goals (23) and assists (67).
• Megan Keller (14-20-34) leads all blue liners in points while Cayla Barnes (3-12-15) is tied for 13th and leads all rookie blue liners.
• BC defensemen have scored a nation-leading seven game-winning goals and sit second in power-play goals with eight.Â
• The BC defense has chipped in on 25% of the squad's goals (23/93), 43% of the assists (58/160) and 35% of the overall points (91/263).
BALANCED ATTACK
• BC has 11 players in double-digit points and seven players with at least 15 points.
• Nine different players have scored game-winning goals for BC … six of those players have scored multiple game-winning goals.
• The Eagles have 20 players with at least one point and 17 players have scored at least one goal.
• Seven players have scored at least five goals for the Eagles … 10 players have potted at least three goals.
SHOTS, SHOTS AND MORE SHOTS
• BC's average of 37.00 shots on goal per game is tops in the conference and third in the country behind Wisconsin (39.18) and Minnesota (37.83).
• The Eagles have out-shot the opponent in 18 consecutive contests.
• In back-to-back games against Holy Cross (Nov. 24) and Northeastern (Nov. 27), BC had 50 shots on goal.
• It was the first time since Jan. 15-16, 2016 that the Eagles recorded 50+ shot attempts in back-to-back games.
• The Eagles have recorded 50+ shots on goal in five games this season, the most since doing it 10 times in that 2015-16 season.
