No. 4 Eagles Look to Extend Winning Streak Thursday Against Merrimack

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Fourth-ranked Boston College hosts Merrimack on Thursday (Feb. 27) at 7 p.m. at Kelley Rink, facing the Warriors for the third time in a span of 14 days. The game will air live on NESN with radio coverage on WEEI 850 AM and BCEagles.com.

The Eagles have won five straight games, moving into sole possession of first place in Hockey East with 28 points. With four points in its final four regular season games, Boston College can clinch its 17th Hockey East Regular Season Championship in program history. BC has moved up into a tie for fourth in the Pairwise rankings with Minnesota Duluth and Denver.

PLAYOFF PICTURE
• The Eagles have a two-point lead on UMass for first place in Hockey East with the tiebreaker
• Among teams currently second through sixth in the league standings, Boston College has one game in hand on Massachusetts, UMass Lowell, UConn and Boston University, and two games in hand on Maine
• A win on Thursday and a UMass loss at UConn on Friday would clinch at least a share of the regular season title
• Only five points separate second from eighth place in the conference with two weekends remaining

NORTHEASTERN SWEEP
Last Thursday: BC 3, NU 2
• Julius Mattila scored a pair of goals to lead Boston College past No. 10 Northeastern 3-2 at Matthews Arena
• Junior Logan Hutsko had a pair of assists in the victory, including the 50th of his NCAA career
• He also fired a game-high seven shots on goal and was plus-2 along with Mattila
• Marshall Warren had the other BC tally, becoming the third rookie defenseman in Hockey East to net five goals
• Classmate Spencer Knight (27 saves) made an important left pad save with nine minutes left point blank on Matt Demelis to preserve his 19th win in net
• Boston College improved to 6-1-1 in its last eight visits to Matthews Arena

Last Friday: BC 10, NU 1
• BC exploded for 10 goals to sweep the home-and-home series with a convincing nine-goal victory at Kelley Rink
• Boston College received goals from eight different players in the victory, lighting the lamp 10 times for the first time since an 11-0 shutout of Army at Conte Forum on Nov. 10, 2013
• The Eagles led 1-0 after 20 minutes but erupted for six goals in the second period to blow the game wide open
• Underclassmen Marc McLaughlin and Matt Boldy led the way with two goals and an assist apiece, while rookie Alex Newhook had a goal and two assists to extend his point streak to eight games
• Senior Luke McInnis tied a career-high with three assists and classmate David Cotton posted a pair of helpers
• Knight stopped 18 of the 19 shots he faced for the 20th win of his rookie season

SCOUTING THE WARRIORS
• Merrimack is coming off a home-and-home sweep of No. 15 Providence last weekend
• The Warriors shut out the Friars 2-0 on the road at Schneider Arena on Friday before coming back to beat PC 3-2 at Lawler Rink on Saturday
• Senior Tyler Irvine leads the team with 27 points on 13 goals and 14 assists
• Rookie defenseman Declan Carlile has a team-leading 18 assists
• Freshmen Jere Huhtamaa (15-12-2, 3.47, .864) and Troy Kobryn (4-8-1, 3.11, .897) have split time between the pipes this season
• Kobryn was named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week on Monday

SERIES HISTORY
• Thursday marks the 103rd matchup of the all-time series between the teams
• Boston College has won five in a row over Merrimack at Conte Forum
• The Eagles are 7-1-0 in their last eight against the Warriors with just two losses in their last 17 overall in the series (13-2-2)
• BC swept MC in a home-and-home series two weeks ago, winning 3-2 on Valentine's Day at Lawler Rink before earning a 6-2 victory on the Heights on Feb. 15
• Boston College's all freshman line of Hardman-Newhook-Boldy combined for four goals, 10 points, and a plus-11 rating in the home win at Conte

GOALS GALORE
• Following its 10-goal eruption last Friday, BC now leads the nation in scoring offense at 4.03 goals per game
• Boston College became the fourth Division I team and first in Hockey East to score at least 10 goals in a single game this season along with AIC (12), Wisconsin (11) and Minnesota State (10)
• The Eagles are third nationally in scoring margin with a +56 goal differential
• BC has produced at least five goals 11 different times this season and is undefeated (11-0-0) in those games

AWARD SEASON
• Alex Newhook won another Hockey East weekly award on Monday as the league's Rookie of the Week
• It marked his third time earning the honor this season and Boston College's sixth time as a team
• The freshman registered a team-high four points in a home-and-home sweep of No. 10 Northeastern
• Newhook extended his career-high point streak to eight games with an 8-9-17 scoring line during that span
• The Newfoundland native ranks second among all NCAA rookies in goals (17) and points (36)

BOLD MOVE
• Since New Year's, Matt Boldy ranks second among Hockey East freshmen in scoring behind only Newhook
• Boldy had just one point in his first 11 NCAA games but has 18 in 15 contests since the turn of the calendar
• The Millis native has a trio of three-point performances in his last five games, including the first two multi-goal efforts of his career (the first of those came vs. Merrimack on Feb. 15)
• Boldy is tied with linemate and classmate Mike Hardman for eighth in scoring among league freshmen

HUNDRED FOR HUTSKO
• Logan Hutsko will skate in his 100th collegiate game on Thursday night
• Hutsko is fifth in the nation in goals per game with 18 tallies in 26 contests
• He is also tied for sixth nationally with four game-winning goals
• Hutsko posted his 50th career assist last Thursday night in the win at Northeastern

MAGIC NUMBERS
• Boston College is 21-2-1 this season when scoring at least three goals and 0-6-0 when held to two or less
• BC is 19-0-0 when leading after two periods and 12-2-0 when going perfect on the penalty kill
• The Eagles have a 10-1-1 record when posting between 30-39 shots on goal
• Jerry York's club is 16-3-1 following a win

UP NEXT
• BC travels to face rival Boston University on Saturday (Feb. 29) at 7 p.m. on NESN from Agganis Arena

No. 4 Eagles Look to Extend Winning Streak Thursday Against Merrimack

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Players Mentioned

Matt Boldy

David Cotton

Mike Hardman

Logan Hutsko

Spencer Knight

Julius Mattila

Luke McInnis

Marc McLaughlin

Alex Newhook

Marshall Warren