Boston College Hockey vs. Brown/Dartmouth - Final Thoughts and Predictions

Welcome back! It's 2015 and the Eagles are set to begin their charge up the Pairwise rankings and into an NCAA tournament spot. The opening act won't be easy, as BC has to play two games without their World Junior contingent (Demko, Tuch, McCoshen, Hanifin) and without Steve Santini, who was ruled out of returning this weekend, though he may be back against Northeastern.

This is technically a tournament—the Ledyard Bank/Auld Lang Syne tournament, with Denver joining BC and Brown as guests at Dartmouth's Thompson Arena. But unlike a straight tournament format, the matchups are predetermined. Win or lose, BC will face Dartmouth tomorrow. No chance for a score-settler against Denver, unfortunately.

BC Roster Notes

The new line combinations last week seemed to find a little spark.

Projected Lines

Zach Sanford - Ryan Fitzgerald - Austin Cangelosi
Destry Straight - Adam Gilmour - Chris Calnan
Cam Spiro - Matt Gaudreau - Brendan Silk
Quinn Smith - Michael Sit - Peter McMullen

Defensive Pairs

Teddy Doherty - Michael Matheson
Scott Savage - Danny Linell
Travis Jeke

Goaltender:

Brian Billett
Brad Barone

GAME FACTS

Game Time: 4:00 PM Friday, 7:00 PM Saturday
TV: The Ivy League Digital Network
Radio: WEEI 850 AM, BCEagles.com

Record: Boston College 9-7-1 (4-4-1 HEA), Brown 3-8-0 (1-7-0 ECAC), Dartmouth 6-4-1 (3-4-1 ECAC)

Goal Differentials:
BC: 52 GF, 44 GA - +9 GD
Brown: 18 GF, 43 GA - -25 GD
Dartmouth: 33 GF, 23 GA - +10 GD

Team Rankings (Nationally):

Team Offense: BC #19 (3.06 G/GM)...Brown #56 (1.64 G/GM)...Dartmouth #20 (3.00 G/GM)
Team Defense: BC #29 (2.53 GA/GM), Brown. #55 (3.91 GA/GM)...Dartmouth #12 (2.09 GA/GM)
Shot Differential Per Game: BC #29 (+0.76 shots/gm), Brown #56 (-6.91 shots/gm)...Dartmouth #7 (+6.36 SOG/gm)
Power Play:BC #54 (6-for-69), Brown #57 (2-for-32), Dartmouth #45 (5-for-41)
Penalty Kill: BC #15 (65-for-74) Brown #59 (DFL) (29-for-43)...Dartmouth #16 (35-for-40)

Pairwise: BC #22...Brown #48...Dartmouth #19
KRACH: BC #22...Brown #47...Dartmouth #18

Last Time Out: Way back in December, Dartmouth beat Sacred Heart 8-3 on December 14. Dartmouth hasn't played since Dec. 5-6, losing on the Friday night to Quinnipiac before bouncing back and beating Princeton on the Saturday.

Common Foes: Dartmouth defeated Boston University earlier this season in their marquee victory. Brown has a 6-2 loss to Harvard to their name...though Brown did manage to beat UConn (womp womp).

Players to watch: Senior Tyler Sikura leads Dartmouth with 13 points in 11 games. Goalie James Kruger has backstopped the team to a 1.87 GAA in his 10 games. Brown's leading scorer, Matt Lorito, has 6 points, which, yeah.

Blast from the Not-Too-Distant Past

Last year, BC faced Brown at the Meehan Auditorium and played to a disappointing 3-3 tie. Let's hope to avoid a repeat of that.

The Pre-Game Watering Hole

Lou's Restaurant near Dartmouth is a classic diner in Hanover, NH, serving up diner favorites for breakfast and lunch. Worth a visit.

Scoreboard Watching: Out-Of-Town Notes

It's a busy weekend as hockey springs back to life. Look out to see how BU does without Eichel on Saturday against struggling Union at Agganis Arena.

Predictions

Joe Gravellese:

BC 4,  Brown 2 (ENG)
BC 2, Dartmouth 2

I feel pretty good about where BC is headed in the second half of the season, but Dartmouth @ Dartmouth is going to be a really tough matchup with BC missing five of its best players. The good news, I guess, is that Dartmouth is far more of a defensive power than an offensive one, so missing a lot of blueliners might not hurt as much as it would against a more high-powered offensive team. Still, the Big Green are a solid hockey team and it's hard not to peg them as favorites at home. I'm optimistically picking a draw.

As for Brown, they are abjectly terrible, and anything short of a win—even while heavily shorthanded—would not only be extremely disappointing, but also an absolute killer in the pairwise. Brown is one of the very few teams worse than BC on the power play. They're also dead-effing-last in the nation on the penalty kill. If BC can't score on the power play today, then it's time to start praying to the deity of your choice for spiritual guidance.

Brian Favat:

BC 4, Brown 2
BC 4, Dartmouth 2

Time to get back on track.

New "Dan Rubin" Guy:

Grant Salzano:

BC 4 Brown 0

I also have BC and Darty in a tie but I'll go 3-3

AJ Black:

BC 3 Brown 1
Dartmouth 4 BC 2

BCI Prediction Standings

For picking BC to beat Michigan 4-2, Brian won the last round (actual result was 5-1 BC).

STANDINGS

AJ 3
Brian 2
New Guy 1
Grant 1
BCJacket5 1
Joe Grav 0.83
Airforce987 0.5
Enzo 0.33
Beerfart 0.33

Is there a trophy for this Ledyard Bank Classic Thing? Will BC win it? How will the defense fare without three of its best players? Discuss all of these topics and more below...