No. 1 Eagles Head to Orono for Top-15 Matchup with No. 13 Maine

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Top-ranked Boston College travels north for a two-game Hockey East series against No. 13 Maine this weekend in a top-15 matchup at Alfond Arena. Both games against the Black Bears will face off at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ and WEEI 850 AM from Orono.

SETTING THE SCENE
• The Eagles are 7-1-0 (2-0-0 HEA) and are riding a four-game winning streak following back-to-back sweeps of No. 7 Michigan State and UMass Lowell
• Maine is 5-1-0 and 2-0-0 in the league after sweeping Merrimack on the road in North Andover last weekend
• Boston College is searching for its first win at Alfond Arena since February of 2018

MAKE IT COUNT
• Aram Minnetian was named the Hockey East Defender of the Week on Monday
• Minnetian made his first collegiate goal count, scoring the eventual game-winner just 1:19 into the third period on Friday night to beat UMass Lowell 3-2 at Kelley Rink
• The rookie defenseman has a goal and two assists through his first eight games
• He ranks third on the team with 13 blocked shots and fifth with a +4 rating

YOUTH GONE WILD
• Boston College's freshman line of Gabe Perreault, Will Smith and Ryan Leonard has combined for nine goals, 21 assists and 30 points through eight games
• The trio is averaging 3.75 points per game, including 10 total points last weekend
• Smith (12) and Perreault (11) lead the team in scoring while Leonard (7) sits fifth
• As linemates last season for the U.S. Under-18 Team, Perreault (132), Smith (127) and Leonard (94) combined for 353 points while winning gold at the IIHF U18 World Championships
• Perreault and Smith registered the most and second-most points in a single season in USNTDP history, while Leonard scored the ninth-most goals (51) in a single season

CUT TO THE CHASE
• With eight goals in his first eight games, Cutter Gauthier leads Hockey East and ranks third in the nation in goals per game
• The sophomore also leads Hockey East with five power play goals and three game-winning goals, ranking top-3 nationally in each category
• The 2022 fifth overall pick of the Flyers leads the league in shots per game (5.4), including a career-high 11 shots in the home opener against Long Island
• Gauthier was a Hockey East Third Team All-Star last year with a 16-21-37 line in 32 games

AMONG THE NATION'S BEST
• Boston College leads Hockey East and ranks sixth nationally in scoring offense with 4.0 goals per game
• BC also leads the league and sits fifth nationally in scoring margin (+1.88)
• Both of the Eagles' special teams units rank top-10 in the nation, with the power play ninth at 25% and the penalty kill eighth at 91.7%
• Boston College's defense is seventh in the country with a 2.12 team GAA

FOWLER'S A WINNER
• Jacob Fowler has started all eight games in net this season and is 7-1-0
• He leads Hockey East and ranks fourth nationally with an .875 winning percentage
• Fowler stopped 55 of the 59 shots he faced against UMass Lowell for a .932 save percentage last weekend in his first two Hockey East starts
• His 2.12 GAA ranks seventh among NCAA goalies with at least five games played

GOING STREAKING
• Gabe Perreault is riding a six-game assist and point streak with all of his 1-10-11 scoring line coming during that span
• Perreault posted a career-high three assists last Saturday in Lowell
• Cutter Gauthier has scored a goal in four straight games, setting a new career-high
• Gauthier has also tied his career-high with a six-game point streak (7-2-9)

NOW THIS IS A STORY
• Freshman Will Smith leads the team with 12 points (5-7-12) after eight games
• He ranks third among all players in Hockey East in points per game
• Smith has multi-point efforts in five of his last six games, including two-point games in each of the Hockey East wins over UMass Lowell last weekend
• The fourth overall selection in the 2023 NHL Draft, Smith has a point in six of eight games

SERIES HISTORY
• The schools are squaring off for the 138th and 139th meetings in series history
• Boston College holds a 72-55-10 all-time advantage over Maine
• The Eagles have dropped their last five visits to Alfond Arena, scoring a single goal in four of those five defeats dating back to their last win on Feb. 17, 2018
• The Black Bears have taken each of the last four meetings following a four-game unbeaten streak in the series (3-0-1) for Boston College

BLOCK PARTY
• Boston College has double digit blocked shots in all but one game this season, including 25 total blocks in the sweep of UMass Lowell last weekend
• Jacob Bengtsson (18) and Aidan Hreschuk (16) rank fourth and tied for sixth respectively in blocks among Hockey East skaters; Aram Minnetian (13) is tied for 11th
• As a team, the Eagles have 105 blocks for an average of 13.1 blocks per game

HOME ICE ADVANTAGE
• BC leads Hockey East and ranks fourth nationally in average home attendance with over 40,000 fans through six games for an average of 6,780 per home date
• Conte Forum has seen three crowds of at least 7,300 fans this season, including a pair of sellouts (7,884) against Denver on Oct. 21 and Michigan State on Oct. 27
• Boston College is 5-1-0 through six home games, out-scoring its opponents 27-14

NHL NOTES
• Among goaltenders with at least five appearances this season, Thatcher Demko (Vancouver) ranks second in the NHL with a 1.61 GAA and a .948 SV%
• Joseph Woll (Toronto) is fifth in the NHL with his .930 SV% in seven appearances
• Chris Kreider (NY Rangers) moved into fourth place on Rangers' all-time goals list; he is six goals away from tying Adam Graves for third place (273)
• Kevin Hayes (St. Louis) recorded his first two goals for the Blues on Nov. 3 against New Jersey and added an assist for a three-point night
• Jack McBain (Arizona) had two goals and two assists for a four-point night on Oct. 30 while skating in his 100th NHL game against Chicago

UP NEXT
• Boston College faces UConn in a home-and-home series next weekend, starting at Kelley Rink on Friday at 7 p.m.

No. 1 Eagles Head to Orono for Top-15 Matchup with No. 13 Maine

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Players Mentioned

Jacob Bengtsson

Jacob Fowler

Cutter Gauthier

Aidan Hreschuk

Ryan Leonard

Aram Minnetian

Gabe Perreault

Will Smith