Eagles and Wildcats Clash in Hockey East Opening Round

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – No. 8 seed Boston College hosts No. 9 seed New Hampshire in the Hockey East Opening Round on Wednesday night at Kelley Rink on NESN at 7 p.m. Live video is also available for free at Collegesportslive.com with no geographic restrictions. Radio coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on WEEI 850 AM and BCEagles.com.

TICKET INFO
• All tickets for the Hockey East Opening Round are $10 for general admission
• Fans attending tomorrow night are encouraged to park in the Beacon Street garage
• Gate B will be the only spectator entrance and exit

SETTING THE SCENE
• The schools are meeting on the Heights in the postseason for the second straight season
• Winners of three straight, the Eagles are the 8-seed for just the second time in tournament history and the first time since facing UMass in the opening round of the 1995 tournament
• No 8-seed has ever reached the Hockey East Championship Game and no 8-seed since 2014 has reached the semifinal round at TD Garden

SERIES HISTORY
• The schools will face off for the 162nd meeting in the all-time series on Wednesday
• Boston College leads the all-time series 78-67-16
• Only three of the last 12 meetings between the schools have been decided by more than a goal
• UNH swept Boston College in a home-and-home weekend series on Jan. 14-15, 2022, pulling out a 3-2 victory in Durham before posting a 5-2 road win at Kelley Rink
• Jan. 8, 2021 of last season was BC's first home loss to New Hampshire in more than nine years (Nov. 5, 2010), snapping an 11-game home unbeaten streak (9-0-2) against the Wildcats

WHEN IT COUNTS
• Wednesday marks the 13th meeting between the teams in the Hockey East Tournament
• The Eagles are 9-3-0 in 12 previous tournament matchups against New Hampshire
• Prior to last year, BC and UNH hadn't met in the Hockey East Tournament since 2009, which was a two-game quarterfinal sweep by the Eagles as the No. 6 seed in Durham
• UNH hasn't beaten BC in the Hockey East Tournament since a 4-0 win in the 1997 semifinal

LAST YEAR'S QUARTERFINAL
• Top seed Boston College held off a comeback attempt from 9-seed New Hampshire for a 3-2 win in last year's single game Hockey East Quarterfinal at Kelley Rink
• BC stormed out to a 3-0 first period lead, scoring three times in less than three minutes from Alex Newhook, Mike Hardman and Nikita Nesterenko
• UNH battled back with a pair of goals in the second period, but Goaltender of the Year Spencer Knight helped clinch the win with 13 saves in the final frame

BC IN THE TOURNEY
• Boston College is 74-35-2 in 36 all-time appearances in the Hockey East Tournament
• The Eagles have won 11 tournament titles (last winning in 2012) with seven runner-ups
• Jerry York has the most wins all-time in the Hockey East Tournament with 64, pulling ahead of Jack Parker (62) with BC's upset of No. 1 seed UMass in the 2019 semifinal
• York is 64-24-1 (.725) in 89 career Hockey East Tournament games with nine championships
• This is only the second time that York's squad has been featured in the Opening Round

UMASS SWEEP
• Boston College played spoiler for Massachusetts' chance at the Hockey East Regular Season Title last weekend, sweeping the Minutemen in a home-and-home series
• UMass needed just one point in the two games to clinch the No. 1 overall seed
• On Senior Night on Friday, Jack McBain tipped a left-wing one-timer from Jack St. Ivany on the power play just 28 seconds into the third period and BC held on for a 2-1 victory
• On Saturday afternoon at the Mullins Center, Patrick Giles fired a shot high glove side with 3:22 left in regulation for the game-winner in a 4-3 win in the regular season finale
• Giles had two goals and an assist for a three-point night, while sophomore Nikita Nesterenko registered a goal and an assist

EVERLASTING DOP STOPPER
• Eric Dop won the Hockey East Goaltender of the Week Award in the final regular season awards
• The graduate student helped BC sweep No. 9 and first-place UMass in a home-and-home series over the weekend, stopping 67 of the 71 Minuteman shots he faced
• He registered 25 saves in a 2-1 home win on Friday, including a key right pad stop with under 10 seconds remaining, then matched his season-high with 42 saves on Saturday in Amherst
• Dop has led the Eagles to a three-game winning streak entering the playoffs with a .956 save percentage in those three victories
• He has accumulated 145 total saves in his last four starts (36.3 per game)

SENIOR CLASS
• Boston College's five-member senior class has accounted for 38% of the team's total points
• The seniors have combined for 62 goals through 36 games, 57% of the squad's goal output
• All three players who wear letters Marc McLaughlin (2nd), Jack McBain (3rd) and Patrick Giles (T-7th) rank top-10 in Hockey East in goals scored with 52 goals combined
• BC is the only Hockey East school with three players ranked among the top-10
• The Battle of Comm Ave on Feb. 25 at Agganis Arena was the first time that Boston College has had all five of its senior skaters active at the same time since New Year's Eve

CAN'T STOP, WON'T STOP
• Despite missing 14 consecutive games due to injury and his selection to Team Canada for the Olympic Games, Jack McBain ranks third overall in Hockey East with 18 goals
• The senior assistant captain is currently riding a career-best six-game goal scoring streak and has already tripled his previous career-high in goals (6)
• McBain has five goals in four games since returning from Beijing and nine goals in his last six games dating back to Dartmouth's Ledyard Classic, of which he was named the MVP
• He has taken over the Hockey East lead in points per game (1.32) with 29 in 22 contests
• The Toronto native has a point in 18 of his 22 games this season with nine multi-point games

UP NEXT
• The winner advances to the Hockey East Quarterfinal, which is a single game this Saturday (March 12) against the No. 1, 2 or 3 seed

Eagles and Wildcats Clash in Hockey East Opening Round

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Players Mentioned

Eric Dop

Patrick Giles

Mike Hardman

Spencer Knight

Jack McBain

Marc McLaughlin

Nikita Nesterenko

Alex Newhook

Jack St. Ivany