Boston College Men’s Hockey vs. Vermont: Weekend Preview

Game Details

Who: Boston College Eagles (9-6-4, 5-3-3 HEA) vs. Vermont Catamounts (7-13-2, 2-10-0 HEA)

When: Friday, January 20 at 7 PM and Saturday, January 21 at 5 PM

Where: Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA

How to Watch: Friday’s game will air online here and Saturday’s game will air online here.

How to Listen: Listen to both games on BC’s website here or on WEEI 850 AM.

Live Stats: Live stats for both games will be updated online here.

How to Follow: BC Interruption’s coverage can be found on Twitter @bcinterruption, and BC’s updates at @BC_MHockey.

Preview

These are must win games for the Eagles. Vermont is bad this season, especially on the road where the Catamounts have won just a single game. UVM has only 2 Hockey East victories, both 2-1 showings against a UNH team that BC defeated 4-2 and 5-0 earlier this season. The Catamounts come into Conte Forum on the heels of a 4-0 loss to AIC, while BC just defeated Sacred Heart in overtime for the opening of the Pioneers new arena.
The Eagles have generally been playing really well recently, scoring 9 goals against BU before winter break, splitting a road series with ASU, and then coming back to defeat UMass at Frozen Fenway. BC’s showing against Sacred Heart was definitely not their best performance of the year, as both teams looked kind of slow and sloppy and the Eagles struggled to generate great chances on net. However, BC did perk up towards the end of the game, and having their captain win them a game in overtime should have the Eagles feeling good.

Stats Breakdown

Goals per game: BC: 3.0, UVM: 1.8
Goals allowed per game: BC: 2.8, UVM: 2.7
Powerplay conversion percentage: BC: 24.6%, UVM: 12.2%
Penalty kill percentage: BC: 79.7%, UVM: 82.4%
Penalty minutes per game: BC: 10.2, UVM: 7.5
Faceoff win percentage: BC: 53.1%, UVM: 51.6%
Leading Scorer: BC: Cutter Gauthier (.73 goals per game), UVM: Jacques Bouquot & Joel Määttä (.23 goals per game)

Players to Watch

On BC’s end, goalie Mitch Benson is a player to watch. Despite allowing 2 goals against Sacred Heart, he made some great saves and overall had a strong game. Against a weak UVM team, he could be poised to really shine this week. On offense, Andre Gasseau was BC’s standout last weekend, both scoring a terrific shorthanded goal and doing the work to set up opportunities for his teammates. Oskar Jellvik also looked good last weekend - he was one BC player that seemed to be wherever the puck was at all times.

For UVM, Jacques Bouquot & Joel Määttä are the players to watch. They both only have 5 goals this season, but Bouquot has 3 in his last 4 games and Määttä scored twice in the UVM win over Linwood in late December.

Taylor Swift Song of the Weekend

Today Was a Fairytale because I feel pretty confident saying BC will have a very good weekend against the Catamounts