Boston College Women’s Hockey Preview: New Hampshire

We’re back into the full swing of hockey season with a pair of games for both the men’s and women’s hockey teams. With the women’s season starting and ending earlier than the men, we’re actually getting pretty close to crunch time for the BC Women’s Hockey team. The conference tournament starts next month. Yikes.

GAME FACTS

Who:
Boston College Eagles (16-1-3) vs.
New Hampshire Wildcats (9-6-5)

When:
Friday, January 5th at 6pm (@BC)
Sunday, January 7th at 2pm (@UNH)

Where:
Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA (Friday)
Whittemore Center Arena, Durham, NH (Sunday)

How to Watch:
Friday: ESPN3
Sunday: UNH’s Live YouTube Channel (it may be/may also be on ESPN3, but that’s unclear)

How to Follow:
@BC_WHockey, @BCInterruption, @LBerestecki, @Salzano14, @JoeGrav, @ArthurBailin.

Stats

Goals per game:
BC: 4.45 (1st)
UNH: 2.75 (12th)

Opponent goals per game:
BC: 2.20 (14th)
UNH: 2.30 (16th)

Power play conversion:
BC: 27.7% (1st)
UNH: 19.6% (10th)

Penalty kill:
BC: 82.8% (22nd)
UNH: 80.8% (25th)

Face-off win percentage:
BC: 51.6% (11th)
UNH: 48.6% (24th)

How Much Does Laura Grant Hate the Opposing Mascot?

Laura is in Las Vegas with most of the rest of the BCI crew. Grant is stuck in a snowbank in Connecticut writing this preview, so he gets to rate the mascot.

Gnarlz and Wild E. Cat -- Hate level: 2/5

There appear to be two of them. They look almost exactly the same. They’re fine though.

This concludes Grant’s review of UNH’s mascots.

Prediction: BC sweeps 6-2, 6-2 in straight sets. Someone will have a hat trick.

Despite that score prediction, this is a deceptively tough weekend for the Eagles. UNH isn’t bad this year — they’re 13th (or 14th? Because Saint Anselm) in the Pairwise, which is pretty good given how bad the Wildcats have been since they were one of the top programs in the country in the early ‘00s. Still, the Eagles are a top team, they play very well on the large sheet at the Whittemore Center.

Given BC’s weekly defensive struggles (they’re allowed fewer than 2 goals just four times this year, with a single shutout), it’s hard to see the Eagles coming out of this weekend with a shutout. But with the nation’s best offense, the nation’s best power play, and the Wildcats’ poor penalty kill, you like the Eagles to sweep.