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

We have reached the halfway point of the season! Seventeen games down, seventeen to go, and the holiday break on deck. Boston College Women’s Hockey has a nice little three game winning streak going, and with last place Holy Cross on the schedule to wrap up the first half of the season this weekend, the Eagles will look to extend that streak to five heading into the break.

WHO

Friday
Boston College Eagles (9-7-1, 7-5-0 WHEA)
at Holy Cross Crusaders (2-15-1, 1-11-0 WHEA)

Saturday
Holy Cross Crusaders (2-15-1, 1-11-0 WHEA)
at Boston College Eagles (9-7-1, 7-5-0 WHEA)

WHAT

The lead-in to the holidays

WHERE

Friday
Hart Center Rink
Worcester, MA

Saturday
Conte Forum
Chestnut Hill, MA

WHEN

Friday, December 2nd, 2022
6:00pm EST

Saturday, December 3rd, 2022
2:00pm EST

HOW TO WATCH

Both games this weekend, like all Hockey East conference games, will be streamed live on ESPN+. Here is a link to Friday’s game at Holy Cross, and here is a link to Saturday’s game at Conte.

LAST TIME OUT

Boston College played one of their best games of the season on Tuesday against Harvard, taking a dominant 5-1 victory against the Crimson in what was tied for their highest offensive output of the year.

Holy Cross... oh boy. They’re riding a ten game losing streak, with an absolutely dreadful 4-1 defeat to the NEWHA’s Franklin Pierce their most recent result. They have been far and away the bottom team in Hockey East all season with a -31 goal differential in 12 conference games.

PROJECTIONS

KRACH (used for odds) has Boston College ranked 15th and Holy Cross in 37th. Running the numbers gives us the Eagles with an 92.86% chance of winning, or BC -1300 with your local bookie. That also works out to about a 86% chance of a BC sweep on the weekend.

The GRaNT rankings (used for point spread) has the rankings right about the same, with the Eagles in 15th and the Crusaders in 36th. Our calculator gives us a projected score of 3.48 to 0.77 in favor of the Eagles, or something like a 3-1 or 4-1 BC win.

THIS WEEK’S STORYLINE

Continued Progress. BC’s wins over New Hampshire two weeks back were fine but unimpressive. BC’s win over Harvard, though, was far better and hopefully can be indicative of an improved offensive threat. Holy Cross shouldn’t pose a big challenge, so the Eagles need to keep pushing to make sure that offense stays humming going into the second half.

GAME TIME SONG OF THE WEEK

O Holy Cross

O Holy Cross, O Holy Cross
All we eat is applesauce
We eat it morning noon and night
We even eat it when we’re tight
O Holy Cross, O Holy Cross
All we eat is applesauce

Man, the wit of college students from 70 years ago. Incredible stuff.

PREDICTIONS

BC needs to be a little careful not to get too complacent here as the Crusaders have a win over Vermont and a shockingly close 2-1 loss to Northeastern this year. Still, they’re really struggling. Fortunately, the Eagles aren’t bloggers living in their mother’s basement like I am and shouldn’t take Holy Cross too lightly like I have throughout this preview. I like BC in a blowout in one game and a closer contest in another — we’ll say BC wins 5-0 and 3-1 on the weekend leading into the holidays.