Boston College Men’s Hockey vs. BU: Preview & Predictions

Happy Battle of Comm Ave! After taking down the Brown Bears with a decisive 5-2 win on Tuesday night, the Eagles travel up the street Friday night to take on the BU for the first of three games this season against the Terriers.

WHO:

Boston College Eagles (8-5-2) vs Boston University Terriers (6-9-2)

WHEN:

Friday, December 10 at 7:30 PM.

WHERE:

Agganis Arena

HOW TO WATCH:

The game will air on NESN.

FOLLOW ALONG:

@bcinterruption and @bchockey on Twitter

SO, WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH BU:

BU has not had a great start to the season, going 6-9-2 so far and splitting weekends with UConn, Sacred Heart, Merrimack, and getting swept by Northern Michigan and Lowell. The Terriers did, however, beat UMass in overtime once this season and have earned a tie against Northeastern. So, I’m not really sure what the deal is with BU — coming into the season, the preseason polls had them second in Hockey East behind UMass but at this point the Terriers sit at 6th place, one behind the Eagles. Hockey!

Junior forward Wilmer Skoog and junior defenseman Domenick Fensore lead BU scoring with 13 points in 17 games each. Starting goaltender Drew Commesso is 6-7-2 this season, and has a .900 save percentage. The Terriers are coming off a sweep of UNH heading into this game.

The last time the Eagles squared off against the Terriers, they split the weekend with a 4-3 OT win and then a 3-1 loss. In case you don’t remember Drew Helleson’s absolutely unreal OT winner from the first game, here you go:

KEY BC PLAYER TO WATCH:

Any of the leadership, really — Marc McLaughlin had himself a game against Brown, getting super close to a hat trick, Jack McBain was buzzing on Tuesday night and was robbed of his chances on net, and Patrick Giles continued his strong play, scoring a goal to take the lead after Brown had tied the game up and had two assists for a total of three points in the game.

PREDICTIONS:

First off all, shout out to the team for coming out fast against Brown after an 18-day layoff! In my last preview, I’d said that I thought the Eagles would have a bit of a sluggish start because it’s hard to get back up to speed immediately after so many days without playing a game. While the first two periods against Brown were a tad messy and rusty, BC was skating hard and fast which was awesome to see! Anyway, prediction time —

These games are so hard to predict because I feel like when both BC and BU aren’t having the best seasons the games are truly a toss up because hockey. Yes, BC has a better (and winning!) record this season, but BU always plays strong against the Eagles regardless of what’s on paper. However, the Eagles have had good games at Agganis. Give me a 3-1 BC win.

HOT BEVERAGE OF THE GAME:

I will be drinking hot chocolate again!

BONUS! PLACE TO EAT BEFORE THE GAME:

Agganis Arena is a short walk from a BCI favorite, the Taco Bell Cantina on Commonwealth Avenue (kidding).