Eagles Host Black Bears to Start Second Half

CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. – The Boston College women's hockey team will return to action this weekend, opening up 2023 by hosting two Hockey East games against Maine at Kelley Rink.

The Eagles and Black Bears are scheduled for a 6 p.m. puck drop on Thursday, Jan. 5 and Friday, Jan. 6.

Thursday's conference clash will air live on NESN. Additionally, both games will stream live on ESPN+.

GAME 20 | RV Maine at RV Boston College
Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023 | 6:00 P.M.
Kelley Rink | Chestnut Hill, Mass. | NESN

GAME 21 | RV Maine at RV Boston College
Friday, Jan. 6, 2023 | 6:00 P.M.
Kelley Rink | Chestnut Hill, Mass. | ESPN+

WHAT'S ON TAP
• Boston College and Maine will meet for two games this week, facing off on Thursday and Friday at Kelley Rink.
• This marks the first meeting between BC and Maine this season — and the first since the Black Bears topped the Eagles, 2-1, in the Hockey East Tournament quarterfinal round to end BC's 2022 season.
• BC entered the break on a five-game winning streak and is 6-4-0 in its last 10 games while Maine closed out its first semester with three straight wins.

A WIN ON THURSDAY WOULD . . .
• Move BC to 12-7-1 overall and 10-5-0 in Hockey East play.
• Bump BC to 48-18-7 in the all-time series against Maine.
• Extend the Eagles' winning streak to six games.

ABOUT BOSTON COLLEGE
• Boston College closed out the first semester of play Dec. 2-3 with a pair of wins over Holy Cross, 2-1 in overtime on the road and 4-2 at home.
• BC sits at 11-7-1 overall with a mark of 9-5-0 in Hockey East play.
• Hannah Bilka leads the Eagles in points (24), assists (15) and shots on goal (76) ... Bilka's 24 points rank tied for seventh in Hockey East ... her 1.33 points per game average is tied for fourth in the league.
• Abby Newhook (10-9-19) is second on the team in scoring and first in goals while Sidney Fess sits third with eight points on eight assists.
• Seventeen Eagles have found the scoresheet, including 11 with at least five points.
• Abigail Levy is 9-5-1 with a .943 save percentage, 1.85 goals against average and two shutouts while Grace Campbell is 2-2-0 with a .899 save percentage and 2.79 goals against average ... Levy's .943 save percentage is good for fourth in the country.
• BC's penalty kill-rate of 90.2 ranks third in Hockey East and fifth in the nation.

ABOUT MAINE
• Maine brings an overall record of 11-10-0 and a Hockey East mark of 8-6-0 into Thursday night's contest.
• Maine, which last played on Dec. 3, 2022, brings a winning streak of three games into 2023 … the Black Bears are 3-2-0 in the last five and 5-5-0 in the last 10.
• Luisa Welcke leads Maine in scoring with 14 points off of five goals and nine assists … three players have put up 13 points each in Mira Seregely (6-7-13), Grace Heiting (7-6-13) and Lilli Welcke (4-9-13).
• Lilli Welcke was named the Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month for November.
• Brooklyn Oakes has gone 5-5-0 between the pipes, sporting a .911 save percentage, 2.53 goals against average and three shutouts … Jorden Mattison is 5-4-0 with a .915 save percentage, 2.53 goals against average and two shutouts.
• Maine's power-play is converting at a 19 percent clip, good for fourth in Hockey East, while it's 81.6 percent kill-rate is sixth.

SERIES HISTORY VS MAINE
• Boston College holds a 47-18-7 advantage in the all-time series, including a 23-8-4 mark in away games and 24-10-3 at Kelley Rink.
• Boston College took the 2021-22 regular season series ... in the first meeting at Kelley Rink the Eagles picked up a 5-2 win ... in the second and third meetings at Alfond Arena, BC earned 4-3 and 2-1 overtime wins ... Maine then ended BC's season in the Hockey East quarterfinal round by way of a 2-1 road win at Kelley Rink.
• The Eagles' 2-1 win on Feb. 14, 2019 marked the 300th career win for head coach Katie Crowley.
• Maine's win on Oct. 15, 2016 snapped BC's 19-game winning streak in the series, which dated back to the 2011-12 season ... the Black Bears' win that year also snapped BC's 63-game undefeated streak and 27-game winning streak - in Hockey East action ... the 19-game winning streak is the longest by a team in the all-time series ... Maine's longest in the series is five.
• The teams also met twice in 1994-95 - BC's first varsity season - before Maine elevated to varsity status ... in fact, Maine was the Eagles' first-ever opponent as a varsity team, playing its first-ever D1 game on Oct. 30, 1994.
• Hannah Bilka and Kelly Browne are the active scoring leaders against Maine with 10 points each.
• Bilka has 10 points on seven goals and three assists ... she has a trio of two-goal games against the Black Bears, doing it on Oct. 26, 2019 as part of a three-point game (2-1-3) and then on Oct. 23, 2021 and Dec. 3, 2021.
• Browne has her 10 points off of four goals and six assists, with two of her goals going for game-winners.
• Goaltender Abigail Levy has one career assist against Maine, doing it in a 5-2 in on Oct. 23, 2021.
• Twelve Eagles on the roster have at least one career point against Maine.
• Gaby Roy's father, Jean-Yves Roy, played three seasons at Maine (1989-92) and holds the career program records for goals (108) and game-winning goals (19) and fifth all-time in career scoring (203) ... Roy scored her first career short-handed goal against Maine on Oct. 23, 2021.

FAMILIAR FACES
• Maine assistant coach Gen Richardson '03 was a four-year member of the Boston College hockey team ... Richardson also played two years of soccer for the Eagles.
• Maine's head coach, Molly Engstrom, is a former national team teammate of both head coach Katie Crowley and associate head coach Courtney Kennedy ... Engstrom, Crowley and Kennedy were all members of the bronze-medal winning U.S. team at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin.

Eagles Host Black Bears to Start Second Half

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Players Mentioned

Hannah Bilka

Kelly Browne

Grace Campbell

Sidney Fess

Abigail Levy

Abby Newhook

Gaby Roy