Happy hockey season! The beautiful sounds of skates on ice will be back at Conte Forum on Saturday for a day/night hockey doubleheader: the women open their regular season against Syracuse at 2, and the men host Canadian powerhouse University of New Brunswick in what could be a stiff exhibition test at 7.
This will be our first look at an entirely new-look Boston College team, right on down to the brand new jerseys they'll be sporting on the ice. With three highly-touted freshmen joining the ranks and a talented sophomore class being expected to step up and contribute, it will be interesting to see how things come together.
Standing in their way is a UNB team that is 3-0 in their own preseason and has high hopes of making a run at their 5th CIS University Cup in 9 years. They're a skilled, experienced team, with a number of players with some minor pro hockey background. This will likely not be the walkover we are used to in these exhibition games.
BC Roster Notes
I imagine that, as tends to be the case in exhibition games, every player will get a run out, so there will be a lot of lineup fluidity. Brendan Silk is out with a minor injury and is not expected to play on Saturday. The projected lineup below is based on what The BC Hockey Blog reported from practice.
Projected Lines
Alex Tuch - Adam Gilmour - Chris Calnan
Zach Sanford - Ryan Fitzgerald - Austin Cangelosi
Cam Spiro - Matt Gaudreau - Danny Linell
Quinn Smith - Michael Sit - Destry Straight
Extra Forward: Peter McMullen
Defensive pairs
Michael Matheson - Scott Savage
Ian McCoshen - Ted Doherty
Noah Hanifin - Steve Santini
Extra D:
Travis Jeke
In goal:
Thatcher Demko
Brian Billett
Brad Barone
The thing that stands out to me here is that the six most highly-touted forwards are all slotted in to those top two lines, rather than spreading some of them across three lines. There has been talk of the team largely rolling three lines this year with the fourth line used sparingly. If that is to be the case, I doubt we'll get much wind of that from the exhibition.
Ryan Fitzgerald indeed moves to center, and we'll see how that works out for him; he remains united with Austin Cangelosi from last year. Also, while this may be due to Silk's absence, it's Spiro time for all you Spiromaniacs out there.
GAME FACTS
Game Time: 7:00
TV: Haha. BCEagles.com will likely stream it
Radio: Nope
Record:
BC 0-0-0
U. of New Brunswick 3-0-0
Goal Differentials:
BC: n/a
UNB: n/a
Last Time Out: This will be BC's first time on the ice since being knocked out of the NCAA tournament by Union at the Frozen Four. The V-Reds are coming off a 2-1 win over Moncton last week.
Common Foes: Last year, UNB faced one Hockey East team, Maine, taking them to OT in Orono before losing in the extra session.
Players to watch: I'll let David Kilfoil, UNB broadcaster, answer this one:
UNB's top line is power forward Tyler Carroll and the two Phils. Carroll is a left winger who has been moved to centre this year, and Halley and Maillet are both smaller, quick players who work really well together.
On the back end, both Matt Petgrave and transfer Alex Wall love to jump into the rush, and aren't afraid to go end to end. Adrian Robertson and Jordan Murray both have good point shots.
Fun Fact: BC's 2005 exhibition against St. Thomas of New Brunswick was canceled due to a fog-out. Remember when that used to happen?
Last Three Meetings:
10/6/2012 - BC 6, U. of New Brunswick 0
1/3/2009 - BC 4 @ U. of New Brunswick 2
1/2/2009 - U. of New Brunswick 5, BC 3
Blast from the Not-Too-Distant Past
Here's UNB scoring a shootout-winning goal to defeat BC in an exhibition up in Canada in 2009:
The Pre-Game Watering Hole
It's pre-season. No need to go all out. Maybe spring for a Cheesesteak at Lower. Or honor our Canadian friends by buying frozen fish from an outdoor farmer's market.
Scoreboard Watching: Out-Of-Town Notes
Believe it or not, not only is there a "real game" this weekend, there's a pretty big game: Ferris State taking on Michigan in a battle of top 10 teams. Outside of that, it's a full exhibition slate, with 11 of 12 Hockey East teams in action (everyone but Providence). The Varsity Reds travel to Orono on Sunday to play Maine after facing BC. At 4pm on Saturday, St. Thomas of New Brunswick faces BU in the first look at Jesus ChrEichel in a BU jersey.
Predictions - BCI PICK 4
We've got a new format for our prediction game this year that should lead to a more fun contest, I think. I'm going to pick four games or series happening and you have to pick the winner of each. As a tiebreaker, predict how many goals the BC (men) will score in the weekend as a whole.
For this week, the Pick 4 games are:
Boston College vs. University of New Brunswick, Saturday, 7 PM
Boston College (women) vs. Syracuse, Saturday, 2 PM
U. Maine vs. University of New Brunswick, Sunday, 4 PM
Ferris State vs. Michigan, Saturday, 7:37 PM
Joe Gravellese:
BC vs. NB - BC
Michigan at Ferris State - Ferris
BC squids vs. Syracuse - BC
Maine vs. New Brunswick - UNB
Tiebreaker - total goals by BC men: 4
I predict BC-UNB will start as a tight game, but BC will finish strong and wear the V-Reds down, Heismandre Williams style. Call it 4-1 BC with two late goals and two power play goals. I also see Ferris beating Michigan in the first real game of the year, because we live in a brave new world where that sort of thing happens and it isn't weird.
Dan Rubin:
Tiebreaker - left blank
Grant Salzano:
BC vs. NB - New Brunswick
Michigan at Ferris State - Ferrett State
BC squids vs. Cuse - EAGLE DESTRUCTION
Maine vs. New Brunswick - Maine
Tiebreaker - BC scores 2
A.J Black:
Michigan at Ferris State - Ferris
BC squids vs. Syracuse - BC
Maine vs. New Brunswick - UNB
I dunno, that UNB guy sold me on their program. I don't know how the Hockey East stacks up against them, but two teams battling for a National championship in their respective countries sounds like a good game to me.
Tiebreaker - left blank
BCI Prediction Standings
n/a
Excited for hockey to be back? Ready to make some predictions? Have thoughts on BC's new line combinations? Leave your thoughts below.