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

Tuesday night, the Eagles had their first BC/BU rivalry matchup, and played great despite the close 4-3 final score. But getting up to play your big rival is one thing, getting up to play the worst team in women’s hockey is another.

This is BC’s second game against Holy Cross, taking game one by a score of 5-1. You’d think that would be plenty good enough — the GRaNT rankings, in fact, predict a 4 goal BC win — but the Eagles only managed one goal very late in the first period and didn’t finish strong. Yes, BC can coast against these weaker teams, but it’s a bad look for a team that has its sights set on a national title. The Eagles are going to be looking for some more consistency today, and with a little puck luck, hope to post their fifth shutout of the season.

WHO

No. 4 Boston College Eagles (11-3-0, 8-1-0 WHEA)
at Holy Cross Crusaders (0-13-2, 0-9-0 WHEA)

WHAT

YIKES

WHERE

Hart Center Rink
Worcester, MA

WHEN

Saturday, 11/24/18, 1pm EST

HOW TO WATCH

BC vs. Holy Cross will be streamed live on PatriotLeague.tv, which I’m pretty sure is free.

LAST TIME OUT

Boston College beat Boston University on Tuesday 4-3 and played pretty great, though they left plenty of goals on the table and, as you can see, didn’t quite play their best defensive game.

Holy Cross lost 7-3 to Harvard with the Crimson jumping out to a 6-0 lead early in the 2nd period. It was Score Effects City after that.

THIS WEEK’S STORYLINE

BC should be able to sleepwalk to a touchdown against Holy Cross and they didn’t do it last time. If the Eagles don’t improve on their 5-1 score last month against the Crusaders, there will be some head scratching.

BIG QUESTIONS

Will BC come out with some effort and impose their will on Holy Cross, or will they just act like they’re too good to try? Will Maddy McArthur continue her stretch of starting every game in net for the Eagles? Who will be the first Eagle to get a hat trick this season, which somehow hasn’t happened yet, and is this the game where it’ll happen?

RANDOM, POSSIBLY INCORRECT FACT FROM HOLY CROSS’ WIKIPEDIA PAGE

This seems fun:

Wheeler Hall is the most storied of the residence halls, known for its unique traditions. It is also the site for a popular campus sport known as stickball, a long-standing Holy Cross tradition usually played by Wheeler residents. It is estimated that Holy Cross students began playing stickball at Wheeler Hall around 1940. The Holy Cross version’s origins are the stuff of legends. The sport lends itself to neighborhood stickball, and is played with a tennis ball and broomstick. Wheeler Hall’s five floors and symmetrical design makes it an ideal setting for the playing and spectating of the sport. A hill behind home plate helps contribute to the playing area’s natural amphitheater-like setting.

Neat.

ICE CREAM OF THE WEEK

We do ice cream of the week because hell yeah, ice cream.

Pumpkin Pie a la mode

Okay, not exclusively ice cream. But you’ve definitely got some leftover pumpkin pie, so grab some vanilla bean ice cream and wolf that sucker down.

GAME TIME SONG OF THE WEEK

Holy Cross Alma Mater

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 on bended knee
Kiss the ass of old BC

PREDICTION

Come on, BC. If we don’t score a touchdown (which we haven’t done THE ENTIRE SEASON), it’ll be maddening. Maybe throw in a hat trick for Newkirk or something. Just play well. Boston College wins 7-0.