Boston College
Penn State
Eagles Set to Begin Season at Penn State
September 29, 2021 | Women's Hockey
The No. 7/8 women’s hockey team is set to open the season with two games at Penn State.
Â
The puck drop of both games is scheduled for 7 p.m. with both also streaming live on the Big Ten Network's streaming service, B1G+ (subscription required).
Â
GAME 1 | No. 7/8 Boston College at RV/RV Penn StateÂ
Thursday, Sept. 29, 2021 | 7 p.m.
Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa. | B1G+
Â
GAME 2 | No. 7/8 Boston College at RV/RV Penn StateÂ
Friday, Oct. 1, 2021 | 7 p.m.
Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa. | B1G+
Â
WHAT'S ON TAP
• No. 7/8 Boston College will open up the 2021-22 season with a two-game series at RV/RV Penn State on Thursday, Sept. 30 and Friday, Oct. 1.
• The Eagles are 15-11-1 all-time in the first game of the season with a mark of 9-4-1 under head coach Katie Crowley ... BC is 3-1-1 in the last five season-openers.
• This marks the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
Â
ABOUT BOSTON COLLEGE
• In 2020-21, the BC went 14-6-0 overall and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament ... the sixth-seeded Eagles faced third-seeded Ohio State in the quarterfinal round, falling 3-1.
• BC finished the year ranked seventh in both national polls.
• BC went 14-4-0 in Hockey East play to finish second in the standings and host a Hockey East playoff for the ninth consecutive year.
• Kelly Browne (7-14-21) returns after tying for the team lead in points last year, with her 14 assists leading the Eagles, ranking fourth in Hockey East and tying for 10th in the nation ... the two-year captain was a Hockey East First Team All-Star.
• In all, the Eagles return three of the top five and seven of the top 10 scorers from last year ... Third Team All-Star Hannah Bilka (7-9-16) and All-Rookie honoree Gaby Roy (5-3-8) return after earning league honors during the 2020-21 season.
• In goal, Abigail Levy is back after going 6-4-0 with a 1.77 goals against average, .944 save percentage and two shutouts ... Levy along with Maddy McArthur (5-1-0, 2.55, .921) and Kelly Pickreign (3-1-0, 1.76, .927) made BC one of just two teams in the country to have three goaltenders with multiple wins.
Â
ABOUT PENN STATE
• Penn State opened up its 2021-22 season last week, hosting ECAC Hockey foe St. Lawrence for two games ... PSU dropped the opener, 1-0, before battling back for a 2-2 overtime tie in the second game of the series.
• College Hockey America Preseason Player of the Year Kiara Zanon is back after leading Penn State with 30 points off of 10 goals and 20 assists as a freshman last year ... Zanon scored four game-winning goals and one short-handed goal ... she also ranked third on the team with 26 blocked shots.
• The Nittany Lions return 19 of 21 student-athletes from its 2020-21 roster ... that team went 16-3-2 overall and earned the CHA Regular Season title ... the team's top seven scorers from last year are back.
• Jeff Kampersal, the 2020-21 CHA and AHCA National Coach of the Year, is in his sixth season at the helm of the Penn State program.
Â
SERIES NOTES
• This is the first-ever meeting between Penn State and Boston College.
• The Eagles have a record of 13-19-2 all-time against College Hockey America schools.
• Head coach Katie Crowley has an overall record of 2-1-3 when coaching against Jeff Kampersal (all six meetings were between Boston College and Princeton).
Â
EAGLES IN THE OPENER
• Boston College is 15-11-1 all-time in season openers and 9-4-1 under head coach Katie Crowley.
• The Eagles are 3-1-1 in the last five season openers and 6-3-1 in the last 10.
• This is the fourth consecutive season that Boston College will open up the year on the road.
Â
A WIN ON THURSDAY WOULD . . .
• Bump BC's record in season-openers to 16-11-1 all-time and 10-4-1 under head coach Katie Crowley.
• Give BC an overall record of 1-0-0 in the series with Penn State and a mark of 15-19-2 against the CHA.
• Move BC's all-time program record to 480-356-80.
• Give head coach Katie Crowley an overall record of 335-119-51.
Â
IT'S WORTH NOTING . . .
• The Eagles return three of the top five and seven of the top 10 scorers from last year
• Kelly Browne has led Hockey East each of the last two seasons in face-off wins, winning 451 as a sophomore and 250 as a junior.
• With the start of the 2021-22 season, Boston College will embark on the 28th season of varsity play.
• Kelly Browne will serve as the captain of the Eagles during the 2021-22 season while Willow Corson and Olivia Finocchiaro will serve as the alternates.
• Of Jillian Fey's 10 career goals, six of them have gone for game-winning goals ... she recorded career-highs in points (11), goals (7), assists (4), game-winning goals (4) and shots on goal (40) in 2020-21.
• Hannah Bilka has registered at least one shot on goal in all 52 contests that she has played for BC, putting multiple shots on goal in 46 of them ... BC is 15-0-1 all-time when she scores a goal.
Â
WHAT'S BACK
• BC returns 64 percent of its goal scoring from the 2020-21 season (37/58) ... Hannah Bilka, Jillian Fey and Kelly Browne are the returning leading goal scorers after they each potted seven goals last year.
• The Eagles have 67 percent of last year's assists back on the roster (60/89), led by Browne's 14.
• Overall, 68 percent of BC's production from the 2020-21 season (100/147) returns this year … Browne tied for the team lead in points in 2020-21 with 21.
• The Eagles return 100 percent of its wins, minutes and saves in goal as all three goaltenders are back this season in Abigail Levy, Maddy McArthur and Kelly Pickreign.
CAPTAIN KELLY
• Kelly Browne enters her fourth year as an Eagle with 83 points on 31 goals and 52 assists.
• As a junior in 2020-21, Browne tied for the team lead in scoring with 21 points off of seven goals and 14 assists and was named a Hockey East First Team All-Star.
• Her 14 assists led the team, ranked fourth in Hockey East and tied for 10th in the nation while her 11 primary assists tied for second most in Hockey East and fifth in the country.
• The two-year captain led the team and finished seventh in the nation with 250 face-off wins and also had a .598 winning percentage at the dot, third-best in the nation among players taking at least 400 draws.
• The Burlington, Mass. native has skated in all 95 of BC's contests over the last three seasons.
• In a 17 face-off win performance against Providence on Feb. 12, 2021 Browne reached 1,000 for her career making her the first player to reach 1,000 career face-off wins as a junior since Alex Carpenter '16 did it during her 2014-15 junior season.
• Browne's single-game career high for wins is 21, coming in a 3-3 tie with Maine on Oct. 26, 2019.
GOALIE WORLD
• Abigail Levy finished 2020-21 with a record of 6-4-0 and a 1.77 goals against average, .944 save percentage and two shutouts.
• Levy's save percentage was good for sixth in the nation while her goals against average ranked 11th … among goaltenders who made at least 25 saves per game, Levy ranked fourth in save percentage and fifth in goals against average.
• Meanwhile Maddy McArthur (5-1-0) and Kelly Pickreign (3-1-0) also registered wins between the pipes to make one of two teams in the country to have three goaltenders with multiple wins ... with McArthur and Levy, BC was the only team in the country to have two goaltenders with five wins each.
• Both McArthur (Dec. 7) and Levy (Feb. 15) earned Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honors.
