Eagles Travel to Merrimack Saturday for Hockey East Quarterfinal

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – No. 8 seed Boston College meets No. 2 seed and 14th-ranked Merrimack in the Hockey East Quarterfinal on Saturday night at Lawler Rink live on NESN and ESPN+ at 7:30 p.m. Radio coverage begins at 7:15 p.m. on WEEI 850 AM and BCEagles.com. The winner advances to the Hockey East Semifinal next Friday night at TD Garden.

SETTING THE SCENE
• The schools are meeting for the 14th time in Hockey East Tournament history and the first time since a Boston College sweep in the 2018 best-of-three quarterfinals
• BC is 5-3-0 in its last eight games and has scored exactly five goals in three straight
• Merrimack has won five games in a row with sweeps of Boston University and UMass Lowell along with a 4-1 win over Vermont in the regular season finale on March 4

OPENING ROUND RECAP
• Boston College's top line of Nikita Nesterenko, Cutter Gauthier and Andre Gasseau combined for nine points and a plus-11 rating in a 5-2 victory over UMass in the Hockey East Opening Round on Wednesday night at Kelley Rink
• BC improved to 10-1-0 all-time against UMass in the Hockey East Tournament
• The Eagles have won six straight in the overall series, including all four meetings this season, and are 10-1-0 in their last 11 matchups with the Minutemen
• BC out-shot UMass 42-18 as Mitch Benson picked up the win, needing only 16 saves
• Nesterenko (2-1-3), Gasseau (1-2-3) and Gauthier (0-3-3) all had three-point performances; Marshall Warren also had a multi-point night with a goal and an assist

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Boston College owns a 12-1 advantage in Hockey East Tournament action against the Warriors, including a 10-1 mark in quarterfinal matchups
• Saturday marks the sixth quarterfinal matchup between the schools as BC swept the Warriors in 2018 (1-0 & 4-3), 2003 (4-1 & 2-1), 2001 (1-0 & 5-1) and 1997 (7-6 & 4-3) and went three games against MC in 1990 (3-1, 3-6 & 8-5)
• Boston College has outscored Merrimack 52-27 all-time in the quarterfinal round
• The teams also met in the 2011 Hockey East Championship Game, which the top-seeded Eagles won 5-3 over the fourth-seeded Warriors for their 10th league title

SERIES HISTORY
• Saturday marks the 110th matchup of the all-time series and Boston College holds a 76-26-7 lead against the Warriors
• BC had a seven-game winning streak against Merrimack snapped in November of 2021 at Kelley Rink, and since then the Warriors have won the last three meetings
• MC swept a home-and-home series in early November of 2022, winning 3-1 in North Andover before beating the Eagles 5-2 at Kelley Rink two days later
• The Eagles have still won seven of the last 10 meetings overall and are 11-4-0 in their last 15 games against the Warriors over the last six years
• Boston College had a three-game winning streak at Lawler Arena snapped on Nov. 3

CUT IT OUT
• Cutter Gauthier extended his career-high point streak to six games on Wednesday
• He has at least one point in 10 of his last 11 games overall
• Gauthier was a unanimous selection to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team and was the Hockey East Rookie of the Month twice this season in February and November
• Gauthier finished the regular season ranked third in the league in goals per game (0.53) and second overall in power play goals (7)
• He ranks fourth in Hockey East and 14th nationally in points per game (1.19)
• Gauthier also has a career-high three-game assist streak with five assists in that span, including a career-best three-assist game against UMass in the Opening Round

NASTY NESTY
• Nikita Nesterenko ranks eighth in Hockey East in points per game (0.97)
• The winger has registered seven multi-point games this season, and his last three have all been at least three-point outings
• The Coney Island native has already established new career-highs in goals (13), assists (21) and points (34)
• He also has a career-high 106 shots on goal, which is tied 12th in Hockey East
• Nesterenko was named the Hockey East Player of the Week on Feb. 20 following his first career hat trick against UMass on Feb. 17
• The junior added an assist for a career-high four-point performance

COOKING WITH GAS
• Rookie Andre Gasseau is red hot with a point in nine of his last 11 games, ranking fourth in points among all Hockey East rookies with 29
• Since Jan. 14, he ranks seventh in Hockey East in points per game (1.18)
• Gasseau is tied with Gauthier for the team lead with eight multi-point performances during his freshman season, six of which have come since Jan. 14
• He has scored in three straight games and has a goal in four of his last five outings
• The winger has moved up into 20th in Hockey East in points per game
• Gasseau ranks tied for third on the team in scoring with a line of 10-19-29

FIRE AWAY
• Trevor Kuntar led Hockey East during the regular season with a career-high 128 shots on goal, 22 more than his entire total from last season
• Kuntar recently set a career-high with a seven-game point streak (5-4-9), which was snapped on Feb. 25 at Maine
• He has a point in nine of his last 11 games and 23 of his last 31 overall
• Kuntar has established career-highs in goals (13), assists (16) and points (29)
• The Boston Bruins draft pick sits 14th in the league in points per game

POWELL PRODUCING
• Eamon Powell ranks seventh among Hockey East defensemen in scoring with a line of 5-17-22 while skating in all 35 games
• Powell has tied his career-high with a four-game point streak
• He has set career-high's in all major offensive categories, including shots on goal with 57, and leads the team with a +7 rating
• Powell is averaging a point per game over his last eight contests

JUNIOR CLASS
• Boston College's junior class represents four of the team's top six scorers
• Nikita Nesterenko, Trevor Kuntar, Colby Ambrosio and Eamon Powell have combined for 106 points this season, which is 36.5% of the team's scoring
• Three of the four have already surpassed their career-highs in points
• Ambrosio is one point away from matching his career-high, but has surpassed his career-best in goals (10) after scoring last Saturday at UConn

Eagles Travel to Merrimack Saturday for Hockey East Quarterfinal

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Players Mentioned

Colby Ambrosio

Mitch Benson

Andre Gasseau

Cutter Gauthier

Trevor Kuntar

Nikita Nesterenko

Eamon Powell

Marshall Warren