No. 4 Eagles Return to Tight League Race Against No. 14 UMass Lowell

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – No. 4 Boston College hosts 14th-ranked UMass Lowell on Friday (Feb. 7) at 7 p.m. at Kelley Rink, looking to clinch the regular season series against the River Hawks with a win or tie. The Eagles came back from an early 2-0 deficit in Lowell on Jan. 17 for a 3-2 Hockey East victory, their first at Tsongas Center since 2012. Friday's game will air on CBS All-Access ($) with radio coverage on WEEI 850 AM and BCEagles.com.

TIGHT RACE
• Boston College is tied with UMass for first place in Hockey East with 20 points (and owns the tiebreaker), while UMass Lowell is two points back in a four-way tie for fourth in the league
• Only five points separate first from ninth place (UNH) with a month remaining in the regular season
• BC, UML, and Northeastern all have at least one game in hand on the other current playoff teams

SATISFACTION AT TSONGAS
• Logan Hutsko's team-high 11th goal at 3:42 of the third period three weeks ago gave the Eagles their first and only lead for the eventual game-winner in Lowell
• The victory snapped BC's seven-game winless streak at Tsongas Center (0-5-2)
• UMass Lowell struck twice in the first 71 seconds of the contest, but goals from Marc McLaughlin (3) and Alex Newhook (8) knotted the score in the second
• McLaughlin's tally came shorthanded, tying BC with Bentley for the NCAA lead in shorthanded goals with six, as the Eagles closed the night a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill
• Spencer Knight shut the door on Lowell for the final 58 minutes of regulation and finished the night with 34 saves

SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS
• No. 14 UMass Lowell enters the weekend at 13-7-5 overall and 7-4-4 in Hockey East but is just 1-3-1 in its last five games
• Lowell was idle last weekend after taking just one of four points from Boston University in a home-and-home series on Jan. 24-25
• The River Hawks' top three scorers this year are rookies
• Matt Brown has a team-high 15 assists and 21 points, while Carl Berglund leads the squad with 10 goals and ranks second with 19 points
• Senior Tyler Wall is 13-5-5 in net with a 2.06 goals against average, .934 save percentage and two shutouts
• UML is clicking at 19.3% on the power play and 81.6% a man down

SERIES HISTORY
• BC has a 67-43-10 advantage over UMass Lowell in the all-time series heading into the 121st meeting between the schools
• The River Hawks went undefeated against the Eagles at 2-0-1 in last year's three-game regular season series between the teams
• In 24 meetings since Norm Bazin arrived as head coach in Lowell, he is dead even at 10-10-4 going head-to-head with Jerry York
• The Eagles are just 3-6-1 in their last 10 overall against the River Hawks but are 3-2-1 in the last six meetings in Chestnut Hill

BEANPOT HEARTBREAKER
• Boston University came back from 3-1 down in the third period and Wilmer Skoog finished a loose puck near the right post at 7:20 of double overtime, lifting the Terriers over the Eagles 5-4 in the first round of the 68th Beanpot on Monday night at TD Garden
• The game officially ended in a tie for NCAA purposes as Boston College moved its record to 16-7-1
• It was the sixth overtime game in the last nine Beanpot meetings between the two rivals
• Senior captain David Cotton scored twice for the Eagles, including the game-tying goal during a 6-on-4 with a minute left in regulation to force overtime
• Rookie Alex Newhook had a goal and an assist in his Beanpot debut, while senior Julius Mattila collected a pair of assists

STRONG TO THE FINNISH
• Julius Mattila is one point away from becoming the 82nd 100-point scorer in BC history
• The senior sits second in the entire country in assists per game with 26 helpers in 24 games
• He ranks seventh nationally in scoring average (1.38) and is riding a seven-game point streak (2-10-12)
• Mattila has 14 assists in his last 10 games and is tied for the league lead with three game-winning goals

OH WHAT A KNIGHT
• Spencer Knight was named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week on Monday
• He is tied for second nationally in shutouts (5) behind only Dryden McKay (7) of Minnesota State
• Knight sits third overall in Hockey East in GAA (2.03) and fourth in SV% (.928)
• He was named Hockey East Rookie of the Month and National Rookie of the Month in November, then won the league's Goaltender of the Month Award for December

WALTER BROWN AWARD
• Senior David Cotton, junior Logan Hutsko and freshman Spencer Knight are among 23 semifinalists for the 68th Walter Brown Award, presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England
• Boston College's last winners of the annual award were Steven Whitney (2013) and Johnny Gaudreau (2014)
• Heffes Family Assistant Coach Mike Ayers earned the honor as a goaltender at UNH in 2003

GIONTA TO THE RAFTERS
• Brian Gionta '01 will have his jersey retired by the program at the first intermission during the Eagles' home game against Merrimack next Saturday, Feb. 15 at 4:30 p.m.
• Gionta was a three-time Hobey Baker finalist (1999, 2000, 2001) and captained the Eagles to the 2001 NCAA Championship, the program's first since 1949
• The three-time All-American graduated as the program's all-time leader in goals (123) and ranks second all-time in points (232)
• The Rochester native was inducted into the BC Varsity Club Athletic Hall of Fame last October and was also named to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in December

UP NEXT
• The Eagles face No. 17 Harvard in the Beanpot consolation game on Monday (Feb. 10) at 4:30 p.m.
• BC plays Merrimack in a home-and-home set beginning on Friday, Feb. 14 at Lawler Rink

No. 4 Eagles Return to Tight League Race Against No. 14 UMass Lowell

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Players Mentioned

David Cotton

Logan Hutsko

Spencer Knight

Julius Mattila

Marc McLaughlin

Alex Newhook