Eagles Return to No. 7 Providence for Hockey East Quarterfinals

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – For the second straight weekend, Boston College travels to Schneider Arena to meet Providence College, this time in a best-of-three Hockey East Quarterfinal series with a trip to TD Garden on the line. Every game will air live on a pay-per-view basis on FloHockey, and radio coverage begins 15 minutes prior to faceoff on WEEI 850 AM and BCEagles.com.

Purchasing a FloHockey subscription ($29.99 per month) allows fans outside of New England to watch every game in the Hockey East tournament. Fans in New England will only have access to quarterfinal contests on FloHockey with the semifinals and finals televised live on NESNplus.

The Eagles took the regular season series with the Friars 2-1-0, winning twice in the span of eight days on home ice in January, but fell 3-1 at Schneider last Thursday in the regular season finale. BC is 7-3-0 against PC in 10 previous meetings in the Hockey East Tournament and has won six straight.

QUARTERFINAL SCHEDULE
No. 7 Boston College at No. 2 Providence
Game 1: Friday, March 15 • 7 p.m.
Game 2: Saturday, March 16 • 7 p.m.
Game 3: Sunday, March 17 • 5 p.m. (if necessary)

TOURNAMENT TIDBITS
• Boston College begins its quest for a league-record 12th Hockey East Championship and its first since 2012
• That year, BC defeated Providence in the Semifinal 4-2 before skating past Maine 4-1 for the title
• This is just the second time in Hockey East Tournament history that BC has been the No. 7 seed; the Eagles lost to Boston University as the 7-seed back in 1993
• BC is playing away from home in the quarterfinals for the first time since 2009 and only the second time in the last two decades; as the 6-seed in 2009, the Eagles swept No. 3 seed New Hampshire in Durham
• Boston College has advanced to TD Garden for the Semifinals in each of the last three seasons

GOT ANY QUARTERS?
• In 29 previous appearances in the Hockey East Quarterfinals, BC is 42-18-1 and has won five straight games
• The Eagles have swept their last two opponents at home: Vermont in 2017 and Merrimack in 2018
• The last team to knock off Boston College in the quarterfinal round was UVM in 2015
• BC's last road series in the quarterfinals brought the Eagles to the Whittemore Center 10 years ago where they upset UNH in two games 5-3 and 1-0
• Boston College hasn't lost on the road in the quarters since falling at Maine in 2002

THE REGULAR SEASON SERIES
Jan. 11: Boston College 4, Providence 2
• Julius Mattila's one-timer off a feed from his twin brother Jesper early in the third period proved to be the game-winner in a 4-2 victory, snapping the Friars' eight-game unbeaten streak
• BC's penalty kill was 5-for-5, including a full two-minute 5-on-3 in the second period, and senior Michael Kim netted a shorthanded goal to tie the game at two early in the middle frame
• David Cotton (1 G, 1 A) and Mattila (1 G, 1 A) finished with multi-point nights on the Eagles' top line, while Christopher Brown sealed the points with an empty-netter in the final 90 seconds

Jan. 19: Boston College 4, Providence 1
• Christopher Brown scored a pair of goals, including a penalty shot in the third period, leading Boston College to a 4-1 Hockey East victory at Kelley Rink to clinch the regular season series
• David Cotton netted his team-leading 14th goal of the season during a shorthanded situation in the first period, and Chris Grando collected his first of the year to provide insurance in the third
• In the closing seconds of the kill, Brown was sprung on a partial breakaway before being hooked by Ben Mirageas from behind for a penalty shot, which the senior buried on a backhand deke

Mar. 7: Providence 3, Boston College 1
• Providence snapped a scoreless tie on a 3-on-2 just 45 seconds into the third period and held off Boston College late for a 3-1 Hockey East victory to close the regular season last Thursday night
• At the 3:21 mark Thompson found Josh Wilkins open for a back door power play one-timer in the right circle, and Kasper Björkqvist finished a low one-timer off a centering feed from Jack Dugan on the power play at 11:15
• JD Dudek scored the lone BC goal of the night off a Ron Greco forecheck with 3:35 left on the clock

SCOUTING THE FRIARS
• Since falling 4-1 at Kelley Rink back on Jan. 19, Providence has only lost twice and has posted an 8-2-2 record during that 12-game span
• The Friars are ranked seventh in this week's USCHO.com Poll and sit in a tie for ninth in the PairWise Rankings for the NCAA Tournament
• PC extended its unbeaten streak to six games (5-0-1) last Thursday with its victory over Boston College to close the regular season
• Josh Wilkins leads the team with 36 points and is tied with rookie Jack Dugan in assists (22); captain Kasper Björkqvist has scored a team-best 15 goals
• Senior Hayden Hawkey has started 35 of the Friars' 36 games with a 21-9-5 record, 1.77 goals against average, .923 save percentage and seven shutouts

SERIES HISTORY
• The Eagles have a significant lead in the all-time series with Providence at 115-51-14 overall and a 63-27-12 advantage in Hockey East play
• Friday marks the 11th all-time meeting between the teams in the Hockey East Tournament; the last meeting was a 4-2 Eagles win in the 2012 HEA Semifinal at the Garden
• BC and PC have faced one another three previous times in a best-of-three HEA Quarterfinal series with the Eagles holding a 4-2-0 lead in those games
• The Friars have not hosted Boston College in a playoff series since 1996
• Overall, the Eagles are 6-3-1 in their last 10 meetings against Providence

UP NEXT
The winner of the best-of-three series earns a trip to TD Garden next Friday, March 22 for the Hockey East Semifinal.

Eagles Return to No. 7 Providence for Hockey East Quarterfinals

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Players Mentioned

Christopher Brown

David Cotton

JD Dudek

Ron Greco

Michael Kim

Julius Mattila