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

Last weekend was…interesting, wasn’t it? After a 7-0 drubbing at home against Providence last Friday night, the Eagles were able to salvage a 1-1 tie on Saturday before losing in the shootout and being unable to secure the extra league point. If there’s any video to sum up the past few weeks of BC MIH, this might be it:

As we said in our weekend thoughts column, sometimes you just have to laugh.

Anyway! The Eagles head up to Orono on Friday to take on the Maine Black Bears in a single game this weekend to wrap up January play.

WHO:

Boston College Eagles (10-10-4) vs. Maine Black Bears (3-14-4)

WHEN:

Friday, January 28 at 7:30PM.

WHERE:

Alfond Arena
Orono, ME

FOLLOW ALONG:

@bcinterruption and @bchockey on Twitter

SO, WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH MAINE:

Maine currently has a record of 3-14-4 and is last in the Hockey East standings. They’re coming off a 4-3 loss to Lowell, a game that saw them almost come back from a 3-0 deficit after the first period. This season, they’ve won games against Merrimack, Union, and Alaska.

The Black Bears are led on offense by sophomore Lynden Breen, who has 13 points in 21 games. In goal, Victor Ostman and Matthew Thiessen seem to still be splitting time — Ostman has a .896 save percentage and Thiessen has a .882.

The Eagles and Black Bears have already played each other twice this season; BC handily won the first game 6-2 off a hat trick from Jack McBain before a 2-2 tie in the second game.

KEY BC PLAYER(S) TO WATCH:

The Olympians! Since the Winter Olympics start next week, it’s likely that this is the last game that Marc McLaughlin, Drew Helleson, and Jack McBain (if he’s not still injured!) will play until the end of February or beginning of March. :’)

LAST TIME OUT:

One bright spot of the Providence series from last week was that the Eagles were able to somewhat bounce back from a lackluster performance in Friday night’s game. Sure, it was a tie on Saturday, but the Eagles kept up with Providence for the game and didn’t buckle after the Friars tied the game up in the second. A lot of that was because of Eric Dop’s strong performance in net, so here’s to hoping that was a major confidence boost and he is able to keep it consistent going forward.

PREDICTIONS:

I think the Eagles win this one, 4-1. I don’t know if it’s just my hope that McLaughlin, Helleson, and/or McBain put on a show before they take their places on the biggest international stage in men’s hockey, but it would be very nice to have one solid win send them off.

HOT BEVERAGE OF THE GAME:

An extra hot cup of hot chocolate. Go Eags.