BC Women’s Hockey vs. Merrimack: Final Thoughts & Predictions

It is unfortunate that we can’t just pretend last weekend didn’t happen. After coming into the season with so much hope that the defense would have a big turnaround and the Eagles would do a better job in puck possession, Boston College Women’s Hockey was pretty comprehensively dismantled by #8 Quinnipiac over sixty minutes last Friday. It was almost identical to BC’s games against good teams last season except for the fact that it might have been even worse. Shots were 54-13 in the game and there was truly not a single point where the Eagles controlled play.

But let’s look at the bright side here — things can only get better going forward, and while this weekend’s home-and-home with lowly Merrimack won’t give BC a very good look into how they may have corrected some problems from last week, it should at least give them a chance to lick their wounds and reset.

WHO

Thursday
Boston College Eagles (1-1-0, 0-0-0 WHEA)
at Merrimack Warriors (1-1-0, 0-0-0 WHEA)

Friday
Merrimack Warriors (1-1-0, 0-0-0 WHEA)
at Boston College Eagles (1-1-0, 0-0-0 WHEA)

WHAT

A time to heal

WHERE

Thursday
Lawler Rink
North Andover, MA

Friday
Conte Forum
Chestnut Hill, MA

WHEN

Thursday, October 6th, 2022
6:00pm EDT

Friday, October 7th, 2022
2:00pm EDT

HOW TO WATCH

This week’s games, like all league games this season, will be streamed on ESPN+. Here is a direct link to Thursday’s game, and here is a direct link to Friday’s game,

LAST TIME OUT

Merrimack was pretty bad last season, going 8-25-1 and finishing a pretty distant 2nd-to-last in Hockey East, though they were a somewhat young team and might have some improvement this year. Their first weekend of this season actually wasn’t terrible as they took a 3-2 OT loss and a 2-0 regulation win over Syracuse. The Warriors did get outshot pretty handily in both games, though.

As for BC, I think we’ve gone into enough detail about how much of a nightmare Friday’s game was against Quinnipiac.

PROJECTIONS

Keep an eye on this section over the next several weeks as we use the KRACH and GRaNT rankings, once all teams have started their season, to predict each weekend’s games!

THIS WEEK’S STORYLINE

Just Like Last Year. In a lot of ways, seeing more of the same from last season wouldn’t be the best thing, but the Eagles did a pretty good job of handling their weaker opponents last year and it was probably the biggest reason they ended up being above .500. Merrimack fits the bill — Boston College swept the Warriors in three games last season — so hopefully the Eagles can use this as a get-right weekend.

GAME TIME SONG OF THE WEEK

Deal Casino — Bare Hands

A new car, a new house, if you’ve
Got a heart she’ll tear it out with her
Bare hands, her bare hands
She don’t love, she don’t care

Last week was pretty heartbreaking! But there’s still a lot of time for improvement.

PREDICTION

If we’re going by the “we still look like last year” theory, we’ll probably see two close wins, since all three W’s against Merrimack were by a combined four goals last season. I think the Eagles do control play in these games, but we end up getting a goalie battle and BC has to stress out a bit in the end. Let’s go with 2-1 BC and 2-0 BC for the sweep, but a sweep that doesn’t move the needle — yet — on the season’s prospects.