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

Boston College Women’s Hockey saw their winning streak snap against #6 Harvard on Tuesday in the Women’s Beanpot, but if anything fans should be even more impressed with the Eagles’ efforts than they were going into the game. BC came from behind not once, not twice, not three times, but four times before ultimately falling 5-4 to the Crimson for the Beanpot title.

It was a real heartbreaker, but there isn’t much time to sulk. The Eagles just have two more weekends left in the regular season, and critical points for conference tournament seeding are on the line.

WHO

Friday
Merrimack Warriors (5-21-1, 4-17-1 WHEA [9th])
at Boston College Eagles (17-12-0, 14-8-0 WHEA [4th])

Saturday
Boston College Eagles (17-12-0, 14-8-0 WHEA [4th])
at Merrimack Warriors (5-21-1, 4-17-1 WHEA [9th])

WHAT

The start of a new winning streak

WHERE

Friday
Conte Forum
Chestnut Hill, MA

Saturday
Lawler Rink
North Andover, MA

WHEN

Friday, February 11th, 2022
2:00pm EST

Saturday, February 12th, 2022
4:00pm EST

HOW TO WATCH

Friday’s game will be shown live on NESN, with Saturday’s game being streamed everywhere on CollegeSportsLive.com. Folks outside of the NESN coverage area can watch Friday’s game on the College Sports Live stream as well. Here is a direct link to the Friday stream, and here is a direct link to the Saturday stream.

LAST TIME OUT

Boston College lost 5-4 to Harvard in the Beanpot championship in a lionhearted effort that saw the Eagles come back from deficits of 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, and 4-3 before running out of clock. The Eagles had been on a seven game winning streak coming into the game, so it’s time to start a new one.

Merrimack... oh boy, Merrimack. The Warriors are in the depths of a whopping ten game losing streak. The worst part of the losing streak technically didn’t even count as a loss as Merrimack got shut out 2-0 by LIU of the NEWHA in an exhibition in there as well. Yikes.

Most recently the Warriors fell 4-3 to Providence on Tuesday, which sounds like it’s not a terrible result until you consider that the Friars were on almost as much of a cold streak at Merrimack was.

PROJECTIONS

KRACH (used for odds) has the Eagles ranked 16th and Merrimack in 33rd. Running the numbers gives us the Eagles with an 86.09% chance of winning, or BC -619 with your local bookie. That works out to about a 74% chance of a Boston College sweep.

The GRaNT rankings (used for point spread) are about the same, with the Eagles in 16th as well and the Warriors in 31st. Our calculator gives us a projected score of 3.33 to 1.55 in favor of BC, or something like a 3-1 or 4-2 Eagles win.

THIS WEEK’S STORYLINE

Up off the mat. The loss to Harvard was brutal. But BC’s efforts and unwillingness to quit were the stuff of legends and while moral victories don’t put trophies in the trophy case, it was still an effort worth celebrating. The Eagles really need to put this behind them and get back on their feet for the stretch run, because they have a very real chance of making a run at the Hockey East title.

GAME TIME MEAL OF THE WEEK

Grandma’s Casserole

This is a personal favorite of Mrs. Salzano’s as it’s something my aunt makes for us when we’re out in Arizona. This is one of those “just throw in what you’ve got and it taste’s great” meals — ground beef, sour cream, cheese, pasta, pasta sauce, onions, bam, throw it in the oven. Not the healthiest meal in the world, no. But it’ll stick to your ribs and it’s delicious.

GAME TIME SONG OF THE WEEK

Rancid — Fall Back Down

Don’t worry about me I’m gonna make it alright
Got my enemies cross haired and in my sight
I take a bad situation gonna make it right
In the shadows of darkness I stand in the light

We’ve already touched on the theme here this week, but BC has to get back up on their feet after the Harvard loss. Merrimack shouldn’t be a big threat, so it should be an easy opportunity to get back in the win column.

PREDICTION

BC’s playing way too well to lose to Merrimack, and Merrimack is playing way too poorly to beat just about anybody. The Eagles will sweep this weekend handily — we’ll go with scores of 4-1 and 3-0 to head into the final weekend.