No. 1 Boston College and No. 9 UMass Clash Friday on the Heights

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – No. 1 Boston College and ninth-ranked UMass face off in a single Hockey East game on Friday (Feb. 26) at 7 p.m. at Kelley Rink in Chestnut Hill on NESNplus. Fans outside New England can watch the game via SportsLive. Coverage on WEEI 850 AM and BCEagles.com begins at 6:45 p.m.

Boston College is 15-3-1 overall with a 10-1-1 record in its last 12 games, while the Minutemen sit at 12-5-3 following a dominant 8-1 victory at Providence on Tuesday. BC has won four in a row overall and four straight in the series against Massachusetts. The Eagles have a slim lead over BU for first place in the league standings according to the Hockey East Power Index (HEPI), while UMass is currently third.

HONOR FOR THE CAPTAIN
• Marc McLaughlin was named the Hockey East Player of the Week on Monday, becoming the third Eagle to receive the honor this season and the seventh to win a weekly league award
• Boston College's captain had a goal and three assists for four points in the weekend sweep of Maine at Kelley Rink, posting his seventh and eighth multi-point games of the season
• The junior is tied for second in Hockey East in points per game with a career-high 22 points
• McLaughlin ranks third in the league in both total goals with nine and plus-minus rating at +17
• The forward leads the country in both game-winning goals (5) and shorthanded goals (3)

MAINE RECAP
• Boston College snapped a five-game losing streak against Maine last weekend, sweeping the Black Bears in a two-game series at Conte Forum by a combined score of 7-2
• Matt Boldy scored a pair of goals on Friday and led all players with six shots on goal, while Alex Newhook's power play tally midway through the third period proved to be the game-winner
• On Saturday, the Eagles fired a season-high 59 shots on goal and Spencer Knight posted his eighth career shutout in a 3-0 victory to sweep the series

SCOUTING THE MINUTEMEN
• UMass (12-5-3) dominated Providence 8-1 on Tuesday at Schneider Arena in its first back back from pause since Jan. 30
• The Minutemen have won three in a row and are unbeaten in their last five
• Junior Bobby Trivigno leads the team with 16 assists and 23 points
• Sophomore defenseman Matthew Kessel and Zac Jones each have 17 points
• St. Lawrence transfer Carson Gicewicz leads the team with 11 goals
• Junior Matt Murray (13 GS, 9-4-0, 2.01, .913) and sophomore Filip Lindberg (7 GS, 3-1-3, 1.39, .947) have split time between the pipes
• UMass leads the nation in combined special teams at 25.6% on the power play and 91.9% on the penalty kill, each of which rank top-5 in the nation
• Greg Carvel is in his fifth season as the head coach in Amherst

SERIES HISTORY
• Boston College leads the all-time series with UMass 68-16-3 with a 32-7-1 head-to-head advantage dating back to 2008
• Friday marks the 88th all-time meeting in series history
• The Eagles have won each of the last four meetings, scoring 19 total goals in those four games, and five of the last six overall
• Boston College beat Massachusetts 4-3 on opening night in late November and followed with a 6-3 victory at the Mullins Center the next night

SCORING IN BUNCHES
• Boston College leads the country in scoring offense with 4.0 goals per game after netting 18 goals during its current four-game winning streak
• BC has eight different players with a total of nine multi-goal games this season
• The Eagles are 12-0-0 this season when they score at least four goals in a game
• BC's balanced attack features 11 different players who have scored at least four goals

POWER UP
• Boston College is 8-for-25 on the power play in its last six games, a success rate of 32%, and has at least one PPG in five of its last six contests
• Prior to that, the Eagles' power play was clicking at just 8.3% (4-for-48) on the year
• Alex Newhook has four goals in his last four games, all coming with the man advantage
• Despite playing in only seven games this season, Newhook's four power play goals put him in a tie for fourth among all Hockey East skaters

GO SHORTY
• After leading the nation with 11 shorthanded goals last season, Boston College once again leads the country with seven shorthanded goals this year in 19 games
• Marc McLaughlin leads college hockey with three shorthanded goals and has five since the start of his sophomore campaign
• The Eagles are 13-for-14 on the penalty kill over their last four games, including a five-minute major and full two minute 5-on-3 last Saturday against Maine
• BC has a rate of 84.6% on the kill, which is third in Hockey East and 13th nationally

ALL I DO IS WIN
• Spencer Knight owns a record of 22-1-2 in his last 25 starts dating back to last season, which included a personal unbeaten streak of 20 games
• Knight has won four starts in a row, improving to 14-1-1 between the pipes this season
• The sophomore ranks second nationally in winning percentage (.906) behind only Dryden McKay of Minnesota State, who is 14-1-0 overall (.933)
• Knight will make his 50th NCAA start on Friday night against UMass
• He is 37-9-3 for a .786 winning percentage in 49 career starts
• Knight ranks fourth nationally in SV% (.938) and eighth in GAA (1.92) this year

EIGHT DONUTS
• With his eighth career shutout last Saturday, Knight moved into a tie with Jack Fitzgerald '25 and Matti Kaltiainen '05 for fifth place on the program's all-time shutout list
• Knight is four shutouts behind John Muse, who had 12 clean sheets from 2007-11
• Cory Schneider is the school's all-time shutout leader with 15 from 2004-07
• Knight is tied for seventh in the nation with three shutouts this season
• He also had three shutouts at the 2021 World Junior Championships, a U.S. record

No. 1 Boston College and No. 9 UMass Clash Friday on the Heights

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Players Mentioned

Matt Boldy

Spencer Knight

Marc McLaughlin

Alex Newhook