Eagles Prepare for Home-and-Home with No. 13 Northeastern

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Boston College returns to Hockey East play on Friday night when it begins a home-and-home series against 13th-ranked Northeastern at Matthews Arena on NESNplus at 7 p.m. The teams close the series on Saturday night at Kelley Rink at 7 p.m. Radio coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. each night on WEEI 850 AM and BCEagles.com.

SETTING THE SCENE
• The schools are meeting for the third time overall this season after a 5-3 BC win in the Hockey East opener on Oct. 15 and a 3-1 NU victory in the semifinal of the 69th Beanpot on Feb. 7
• The Eagles posted a 3-3 tie against Harvard in the Beanpot consolation game on Monday, while the Huskies fell 1-0 to Boston University in the championship game
• BC has six games remaining in the regular season, including home-and-home weekends with Northeastern, Boston University and UMass
• The Eagles are currently ninth in the league standings, two points behind UNH for eighth with a game in hand
• If the season ended today, the two would face one another in the opening round of the playoffs

SERIES HISTORY
• Friday will mark the 245th all-time meeting in series history with BC leading 172-56-16
• Prior to a 3-1 loss to Northeastern in the Beanpot last Monday, the Eagles had won five straight in the series and out-scored the Huskies 28-10 in those five games
• Northeastern has now won the last five Beanpot matchups between the schools
• Boston College has won five of the last six matchups at Matthews Arena
• In the first regular season meeting, BC scored three straight goals and rallied from 2-1 down to beat NU 5-3 on Oct. 15, 2021 in front of 7,288 fans at Kelley Rink in the Hockey East opener
• Playing in his 100th career game, senior captain Marc McLaughlin scored twice for the Eagles

THE LAST MEETING
• TJ Semptimphelter stopped 41 of the 42 BC shots he faced and the Eagles' third period surge fell short in a 3-1 loss to No. 15 Northeastern a week ago Monday in the 69th Beanpot at TD Garden
• Patrick Giles scored the lone BC goal in the third period, his third career Beanpot goal
• Down 2-0 entering the third, Giles took a beautiful feed from Nikita Nesterenko in the right circle and beat Semptimphelter high glove side to pull the Eagles within one
• Boston College pulled Eric Dop (26 saves) in the closing minutes for an extra skater, but the Huskies sealed the win with 14 seconds left on a power play rebound from Justin Hryckowian
• BC finished with a 42-29 advantage in shots on goal, including an 18-9 edge in the third period

HARVARD RECAP
• Junior Liam Izyk scored twice for the second straight game, but Harvard battled back from 3-1 down in the third period to earn a 3-3 tie in the consolation game Beanpot on Monday
• Sophomore Colby Ambrosio also scored a goal for the Eagles, while graduate student Brandon Kruse collected a pair of assists
• Matthew Coronato located a rebound with five minutes remaining to force overtime
• Eric Dop had 32 saves, including four in overtime as BC killed off a 4-on-3 Crimson power play
• It was the first official tie in the 69-year history of the Beanpot

ALL EYES ON IZYK
• Liam Izyk hadn't scored a goal in a Boston College sweater prior to last Friday's game against UConn, which was a span of 18 games in two seasons
• The Alabama Huntsville transfer netted a pair of goals against the Huskies, then added two more on Monday in the Beanpot against Harvard
• Izyk has more goals in the last two games than he scored during his freshman year in Huntsville when he posted a 3-8-11 scoring line to rank fifth on the team

OLYMPIANS
• Seniors Marc McLaughlin and Jack McBain and junior Drew Helleson were all selected to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing
• McLaughlin and Helleson represented the 26th and 27th U.S. Olympians in program history, while McBain became the first-ever BC skater to represent Canada in ice hockey
• Team USA won Group A with three straight victories over China, Canada and Germany, but fell 3-2 in a shootout to Slovakia in the quarterfinal round
• Canada lost 2-0 to Sweden in the quarterfinals, ending its tournament
• McBain (1-1-2) and Helleson (0-1-1) each registered points during the Olympics
• The trio is expected to return to the Heights prior to the BU series next weekend on Feb. 25-26

UP NEXT
• Boston College hosts Boston University next Friday in the Battle of Comm Ave at Kelley Rink to open a home-and-home set

Eagles Prepare for Home-and-Home with No. 13 Northeastern

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Players Mentioned

Colby Ambrosio

Eric Dop

Patrick Giles

Drew Helleson

Liam Izyk

Brandon Kruse

Jack McBain

Marc McLaughlin

Nikita Nesterenko