No. 4 Eagles Begin Second Half Against Vermont on Saturday

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Playing its first game in nearly a month, No. 4/5 Boston College opens the second half of the season on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 4) with a 4:30 p.m. faceoff against Vermont at Kelley Rink. The game will air live on NESN with radio coverage on WEEI 850 AM and BCEagles.com. Boston College enters the second half riding a nine-game winning streak, the longest active win streak in college hockey.

STREAKY EAGLES
• Boston College's current nine-game winning streak is the second-longest unbeaten streak in the country behind North Dakota (12-0-1); the Eagles have outscored opponents 42-9 for a +33 goal margin in the streak
• The power play is 13-for-34 (38.2%) with at least one power play goal in all nine games during the streak, while the penalty kill is 30-for-35 (85.7%) with four shorthanded goals
• Spencer Knight owns a 1.00 goals against average and .964 save percentage with three shutouts during his personal nine-game win streak
• The trio of Mike Hardman, Alex Newhook and Aapeli Räsänen has combined for a 15-18-33 scoring line

SCOUTING THE CATAMOUNTS
• Vermont enters the weekend at 3-11-2 overall and 0-8-1 in Hockey East play
• UVM won its annual Catamount Cup tournament this past weekend with a pair of 2-0 shutouts of Union and Lake Superior State at Gutterson Fieldhouse
• The victory over Union snapped the Catamounts' 12-game winless streak
• Junior Ace Cowans and freshman Jacques Bouquot are tied for the team lead with nine points; Cowans has netted five goals, while Bouquot has seven assists
• Senior Stefanos Lekkas, who was an All-American last year, has played every minute in net with a 2.50 goals against average, .919 save percentage and three shutouts
• UVM is clicking at 10.8% on the power play and 81.0% on the penalty kill

SERIES HISTORY
• The two schools are meeting for the 73rd time in the all-time series with BC one win away from its 50th over UVM, holding a 49-16-7 overall advantage
• Boston College is riding an 11-game unbeaten streak (9-0-2) against Vermont
• The Eagles' last loss to UVM came on March 12, 2016 in Game 2 of the Hockey East Quarterfinals at Kelley Rink by a 4-2 final
• During its eight-game winning streak in the series, Boston College has scored 38 total goals for an average of 4.8 goals per contest
• The schools met in three straight Hockey East Quarterfinals from 2015-17

SWEEP AT THE GUT
• The Eagles swept the Catamounts in Hockey East play at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Nov. 15-16 with 5-1 and 3-0 victories to clinch the regular season series
• David Cotton notched his 100th career point in the series opener at the Gut
• Rookies Alex Newhook and Mike Hardman each had a goal and an assist, while Julius Mattila registered a pair of assists
• Cotton had two more assists on night two and Spencer Knight picked up a 34-save shutout, stopping 17 Catamount shots in the first period
• Boston College has now won nine straight games in Burlington

DECADE OF DOMINANCE
• Boston College collected the second-most wins in college hockey last decade with 247
• North Dakota (254) led all teams in wins between 2010-20, while Denver sat third with 246
• The Eagles won a pair of national titles to begin the decade in 2010 and 2012

OH WHAT A KNIGHT
• For the month of November, Spencer Knight was tabbed the Hockey East Rookie of the Month and the National Rookie of the Month by the Hockey Commissioners' Association (HCA)
• Knight ranked second in the country in both SV% (.959) and GAA (1.12) in November
• In just 15 starts, the rookie is tied for second nationally in shutouts (4) behind Dryden McKay of Minnesota State
• Knight will miss the Vermont game due to his selection to Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic

RED HOT HUTSKO
• Logan Hutsko is currently riding a career-high 11-game point streak with an 8-5-13 scoring line
• Hutsko, who lost four games to injury in the first half, has at least one point in every one of his games this season
• The junior is tied for the team lead in goals (8) despite missing those four contests
• He has a +11 rating on the year and was +5 in the home-and-home sweep of Notre Dame last month
• Hutsko's unassisted power play goal in the third period on Nov. 26 vs. Yale made the SportsCenter Top 10

SWEEP OF THE IRISH
• Boston College out-scored No. 9 Notre Dame 10-1 in a home-and-home sweep to close the first half on Dec. 6-8
• Spencer Knight stopped all 26 Irish shots he faced for his fourth shutout as the Eagles opened the series with a 4-0 win at Kelley Rink in front of nearly 7,300 fans
• The Eagles broke away from the Irish with three second period goals, including a power play goal from Julius Mattila and a shorthanded tally from Patrick Giles
• As the series shifted to South Bend on a Sunday night, Jack McBain posted his first career multi-goal game as BC picked up a dominant 6-1 win at the Compton Family Ice Arena
• David Cotton led four Eagles with multi-point performances as the senior captain became the 54th member of BC's 50-goal club; his linemate Julius Mattila collected his second three-assist game of the season

WE'RE THE THREE BEST FRIENDS
• Boston College's all upperclass top line of David Cotton, Julius Mattila and Logan Hutsko has combined for 49 points with a plus-30 rating in 11 games as a three-man unit this season
• The line combined for 12 points in the home-and-home sweep of Notre Dame on Dec. 6-8
• The trio has produced seven points on three different occasions this season, including each of the team's first two wins over Wisconsin and Colgate in October

SCORING IN BUNCHES
• Boston College has already scored 5+ goals six times this season after doing so just twice last season
• Six games with at least five goals has already tied the team's total from two years ago
• BC is 6-0-0 this year when scoring at least five times and 9-1-0 when scoring first
• The Eagles now lead Hockey East and sit sixth in the NCAA with 3.73 goals per game

NOT SO FAST
• Boston College has only allowed six first period goals all season, which is tied for third nationally
• Since the start of November, BC is tied for first in the NCAA with only two first period goals against
• Yale's first period goal on Nov. 26 was the first allowed by Boston College in over a month
• The Eagles went nearly 135 consecutive minutes of first period action without conceding a goal

UP NEXT
• The fourth-ranked Eagles face No. 9 UMass in a home-and-home series next weekend, beginning on Friday (Jan. 10) at 7 p.m. in Chestnut Hill on NESN

No. 4 Eagles Begin Second Half Against Vermont on Saturday

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Players Mentioned

David Cotton

Patrick Giles

Mike Hardman

Logan Hutsko

Spencer Knight

Julius Mattila

Jack McBain

Alex Newhook

Aapeli Räsänen