No. 2 Eagles and No. 12 Friars Face Off on NESN

Friday, December 4

Chestnut Hill, MA

6:00 p.m.

Boston College

Providence

Photo by: John Quackenbos

No. 2 Eagles and No. 12 Friars Face Off on NESN

December 03, 2020 | Men's Hockey

NESN Audio Live Stats Game Notes

Boston College meets Providence for the first time since cancelled quarterfinal series

By: Alastair Ingram

BOSTON – Second-ranked Boston College (2-0-0) faces No. 12 Providence in the opening game of a home-and-home series on Friday (Dec. 4) at Kelley Rink on NESN at 6 p.m. The schools close the series on Saturday (Dec. 5) at 7 p.m. from Schneider Arena, also on NESN.

The teams were scheduled to face one another in the 2020 Hockey East Quarterfinal in March before COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the postseason. BC was originally scheduled to face UMass Lowell this weekend, but that home-and-home series has been postponed to a future date.

UMASS SWEEP
Friday • BC 4, UMass 3
• Jack McBain posted his third career multi-goal game and Matt Boldy snapped a 3-3 tie early in the third as Boston College opened its 99th season of men's hockey with a 4-3 victory over No. 7 UMass
• Boldy added an assist for a multi-point night, while classmate Mike Hardman also lit the lamp
• Rookies Nikita Nesterenko and Colby Ambrosio each collected his first career assist in the win
• Fellow freshman Eamon Powell had a pair of assists in his collegiate debut on the blue line, as did senior assistant captain Logan Hutsko
• Spencer Knight made 30 saves in net for his 24th career win

Saturday • BC 6, UMass 3
• Captain Marc McLaughlin scored a pair of goals to lead Boston College past UMass 6-3 at the Mullins Center as BC improved to 5-1-0 in its last six meetings with Massachusetts
• Drew Helleson (1-1-2), Hardman (1-1-2), Boldy (0-2-2) and Patrick Giles (0-2-2) joined the senior with multi-point performances
• Ambrosio and Nesterenko each collected his first NCAA goal, while classmate Trevor Kuntar picked up his first collegiate assist
• Knight stopped 30 UMass shots once again, including 16 in the third period, and also earned a secondary assist on the Eagles' fifth goal for his first-ever point

DIFFERENT KIND OF SWEEP
• Boston College swept Hockey East's weekly awards on Monday morning
• Matt Boldy was named Player of the Week, Colby Ambrosio took home Rookie of the Week honors, and Drew Helleson was tabbed Defensive Player of the Week
• Boldy led the Eagles with four points on a goal and three assists over the opening weekend
• Ambrosio registered two points in his first two collegiate games, including his first NCAA goal, and paced the team with nine shots on goal
• Helleson had a goal and an assist in Saturday's 6-3 road win in Amherst, accounting for his first career multi-point game

SCOUTING THE FRIARS
• Providence will play its first games of the 2020-21 campaign this weekend
• PC closed last season at 16-12-6 overall (10-11-3 HEA) and entered last year's playoffs just 2-6-1 in its final nine games of the regular season
• Sophomore Jack Dugan led the nation with 42 assists and 52 points but signed with the Vegas Golden Knights after the season
• Classmate Tyce Thompson ranked seventh in the country in scoring with a 19-25-44 line last season and returns as a junior
• Harvard graduate transfer Michael Lackey started all 34 games between the pipes with a 16-12-6 record, 2.18 GAA and .922 SV% with two shutouts
• Providence paced Hockey East and ranked eighth nationally with a 25.6% clip on the power play
• Nate Leaman is in his 10th year as the head coach of the Friars and will serve as the head coach of the U.S. at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championships later this month in Alberta

SERIES HISTORY
• Boston College leads the all-time series with Providence 118-53-14 entering the 186th meeting in series history on Friday
• Four of the last five matchups have been decided by a single goal
• The teams split last year's regular season series during the first half and were set to meet in the 1 vs. 8 matchup of the league quarterfinals
• BC fell 6-2 to PC on Oct. 25, 2019 in its Hockey East opener, suffering just its third loss to the Friars in the last 14 meetings at Conte Forum
• The Eagles responded the following Saturday with a 3-2 road win as Alex Newhook, David Cotton and Julius Mattila all scored in the second period
• Overall, the Eagles are 9-5-1 in their last 15 meetings against Providence

STREAKY EAGS
• Going back to last season, Boston College is unbeaten in its last 11 games (10-0-1) and has out-scored its opponents 54-21 in that span
• Matt Boldy (8-11-19) has led the team in scoring over those 11 games
• Spencer Knight is now riding a personal 11-game unbeaten streak in net (10-0-1)

WORLD JUNIOR HOPEFULS
• While Alex Newhook competes for a spot on Team Canada, three Americans are hopefuls for the United States squad at the World Junior Championships
• Spencer Knight, Matt Boldy and Drew Helleson were named to the U.S. National Junior Team Preliminary Roster on Monday by USA Hockey
• The trio will compete in a training camp at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan starting next week for a spot on the final 25-man roster

UP NEXT
• Boston College is scheduled to face UConn in a home-and-home series next weekend to close the first semester, beginning on Friday (Dec. 11) at Kelley Rink at 7 p.m.
• The teams close the series on Saturday (Dec. 12) at 4 p.m. in Storrs