Eagles Face Off Against UMass in Home-and-Home

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Coming off a 4-2 victory over No. 5 Boston University in the Beanpot on Monday, Boston College faces UMass in a home-and-home Hockey East series this weekend. The Eagles host the Minutemen at Kelley Rink at 7 p.m. on Friday night before the series shifts to the Mullins Center in Amherst on Saturday at 7 p.m. Both games of the series will air live on ESPN+ and WEEI 850 AM.

SETTING THE SCENE
• BC has won seven of the last eight meetings between the schools, with the only UMass victory coming at Kelley Rink in overtime on Feb. 26, 2021
• Boston College leads UMass by two points for the No. 8 seed in the league standings
• The Eagles have just six games remaining in the regular season
• Four of the last six matchups in the series have been decided by a single goal

LAST TIME OUT
• Andre Gasseau answered Boston University's third period tying goal 27 seconds later with the eventual game-winner and Boston College earned a 4-2 victory on Monday in the Consolation Game of the 70th Beanpot at TD Garden
• It marked the first-ever meeting between the schools in the consolation game as the Eagles evened the season series with the Terriers at 2-2-0
• Gasseau (1-1-2), Eamon Powell (1-1-2) and Cutter Gauthier (0-2-2) finished with multi-point games in BC's final non-conference game of the season
• Nikita Nesterenko handed the Eagles a 1-0 lead just 1:52 into the contest and Trevor Kuntar sealed the win with an empty-netter in the closing seconds of regulation
• Boston College out-shot BU 27-23 and won the faceoff battle 31-17

SERIES HISTORY
• Boston College leads the series with UMass 71-17-3, including a 35-8-1 advantage dating back to 2008, heading into the 92nd all-time meeting in series history
• BC defeated Massachusetts by a 4-2 final at Fenway Park on Jan. 7, 2023 thanks to a pair of goals from graduate student Cam Burke
• That eight-game stretch includes a pair of one-goal Boston College wins last season in early March to sweep the regular season series in a home-and-home
• BC has won its last four visits to the Mullins Center by a combined score of 19-9

FROZEN FENWAY
• Graduate forward Cam Burke scored his first two goals in a BC sweater, powering the Eagles to a 4-2 non-league victory over No. 15 UMass on Jan. 7 at Fenway Park
• BC improved to 4-1-0 all-time at Fenway, including four consecutive wins
• Boston College moved to 7-1-0 in its last eight meetings with the Minutemen
• In his return from the World Junior Championship, Cutter Gauthier opened the scoring just 2:25 into the night and added an assist on Eamon Powell's empty-netter
• Graduate goaltender Mitch Benson posted 23 saves, including nine in the third period
• BC finished with a 37-25 advantage in shots on goal and won the faceoff battle 30-24

COOKING WITH GAS
• Andre Gasseau recorded his sixth multi-point performance of the year on Monday against BU in the Beanpot Consolation Game
• Four of those multi-point efforts have come over the last month
• Gasseau is riding career-high four-game assist and point streaks
• Since the Frozen Fenway meeting with UMass on Jan. 7, Gasseau has collected 13 points over his last 11 games with three goals and 10 assists
• The winger is tied for second on the team in assists (15) and fourth in points (21)

KUNTAR'S CONTRIBUTIONS
• Trevor Kuntar is riding a four-game point streak and has established a new career-high in goals (11) and points (22) after scoring in each of his last two games
• He has also tied his career-high in assists (11), which was set last year as a sophomore in 11 more games
• Kuntar ranks 17th in Hockey East in points per game (0.85)
• The Buffalo native has at least one point in 18 of his last 24 games overall
• The Boston Bruins draft pick leads the team with 106 shots on goal, which ranks third in Hockey East

A CUT ABOVE
• Riding a four-game point streak, Cutter Gauthier has been named to the Watch List for the Tim Taylor Award given to the National Rookie of the Year
• He ranks second in Hockey East and ninth nationally in goals per game (0.58)
• Among Hockey East skaters, Gauthier trails only Aidan McDonough (19) of Northeastern and Maine's Lynden Breen (16) in total goals
• He is fifth in the league and 20th in the country in points per game (1.12)
• The forward is third among league rookies and seventh overall with 27 points

NHL NOTES
• AHL All-Star goalie Joseph Woll (Toronto) was recalled by the Maple Leafs on Jan. 30 and made his NHL season debut on Feb. 11 against Columbus with 36 saves
• Woll became the 20th former Eagle to appear in the NHL this season
• Mike Matheson (Montreal) has four points and a +3 rating in his last four games
• Chris Kreider (NY Rangers) became the eighth player to reach 250 career goals in franchise history

UP NEXT
• Boston College travels to Orono for a two-game series with Maine next weekend on Feb. 24-25

Eagles Face Off Against UMass in Home-and-Home

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Players Mentioned

Mitch Benson

Cam Burke

Andre Gasseau

Cutter Gauthier

Trevor Kuntar

Nikita Nesterenko

Eamon Powell