Eagles Visit No. 8 Providence Thursday to Close Regular Season

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Boston College closes the Hockey East regular season on Thursday night (March 7) with a trip to Schneider Arena to face the eighth-ranked Providence Friars at 7 p.m. The Eagles downed the Friars twice in a span of eight days at Kelley Rink back in January by 4-2 and 4-1 finals to clinch the regular season series between the schools. The game will air live on NBC Sports Boston and WEEI 850 AM.

PLAYOFF PICTURE
• Heading into the final game of the Hockey East regular season, BC sits in seventh place at 10-10-3
• The Eagles can finish anywhere from sixth to eighth in the league but are guaranteed to be playing on the road in the Hockey East Quarterfinals for only the second time since 2002
• BC can lock up at least the No. 7 seed with a win over Providence on Thursday; a win and a Maine loss to Boston University on Saturday night in Orono would give Boston College the 6-seed
• Eighth-place UNH is only one point behind BC and owns the tiebreaker with a 1-0-1 head-to-head record
• The Wildcats visit No. 9 Northeastern on Friday night and would jump BC for seventh place with either a tie or victory (if Boston College loses or ties on Thursday in Providence)

FIRST TWO MEETINGS
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
• Joseph Woll made 28 saves between the pipes to collect his 40th career NCAA victory
• Boston College posted a dominant performance (42-21) in the faceoff circle

Jan. 19: Boston College 4, Providence 1
• 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
• Cotton netted his team-leading 14th goal of the season during a shorthanded situation in the first period, and Christopher Grando collected his first of the year to provide insurance in the third
• Following Grando's goal, The Eagles were forced to kill off 1:45 of 5-on-3 power play time for Providence
• 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
• BC is now 11-2-0 in its last 13 home meetings with Providence

NORTHEASTERN RECAP
• Boston College split a home-and-home series with ninth-ranked Northeastern last weekend
• On Friday, rookie Marc McLaughlin buried a rebound six minutes into the third period and David Cotton added an empty-netter as Boston College earned a 3-1 victory on Senior Night to snap a six-game skid
• Joseph Woll stopped 21 shots in net, while senior Casey Fitzgerald netted the first of three straight BC goals
• The Huskies rebounded on Saturday night at Matthews Arena, stretching a slim 1-0 40-minute lead to 4-0 in the third period before a late pair from Boston College resulted in a 4-2 final
• BC fired a season-high 43 shots on goal to the Huskies' 22, but NU sophomore Cayden Primeau stopped 41
• Cotton netted his league-leading 20th goal to put BC on the board late and end Primeau's shutout bid, while Aapeli Räsänen buried a rebound with 45 seconds remaining during a 6-on-5
• The Eagles out-shot Northeastern by 32 for the weekend and closed the series 6-for-6 on the penalty kill

SCOUTING THE FRIARS
• Since falling 4-1 at Kelley Rink back on Jan. 19, Providence has only lost twice and has posted a 7-2-2 record during that 11-game span
• The Friars are ranked eighth in both national polls this week and sit in a tie for ninth in the PairWise Rankings for the NCAA Tournament
• PC extended its unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1) last Thursday night with a 1-1 tie at Schneider Arena against Boston University
• Josh Wilkins leads the team with 34 points and is tied with rookie Jack Dugan in assists (21); captain Kasper Björkqvist has scored a team-best 14 goals
• Senior Hayden Hawkey has started 34 of the Friars' 35 games with a 20-9-5 record, 1.79 goals against average, .921 save percentage and seven shutouts
• PC is clicking at 19.6% on the power play and 86.7% a man down

SERIES HISTORY
• The Eagles have a significant lead in the all-time series with Providence at 115-50-14 overall and a 63-26-12 advantage in Hockey East play
• Last season, the Friars went 2-1-0 against the Eagles, winning the final two meetings to snap their five-game winless streak against Boston College
• Boston College split a pair of meetings at Schneider Arena in October of last season, winning in overtime 4-3 before falling 2-1
• Overall, the Eagles are 6-2-1 in their last nine meetings against PC

UP NEXT
• The Eagles will begin the Hockey East Quarterfinals on the road next week as either the No. 6, 7 or 8 seed
• BC's potential opponents in a best-of-three are UMass, Providence, Northeastern, UMass Lowell, and Boston University
• An eighth-place finish would send Boston College to Amherst to face regular season champion UMass

Eagles Visit No. 8 Providence Thursday to Close Regular Season

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Players Mentioned

Christopher Brown

David Cotton

Casey Fitzgerald

Chris Grando

Michael Kim

Julius Mattila

Marc McLaughlin

Joseph Woll