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

WOW, last week was a total catastrophe, huh?? Things were looking pretty good until Northeastern, BU, and BU handed us 3 straight losses to knock us completely out of an NCAA tournament spot. For a team that was expected to be one of the best in the country on paper, that was a swift kick to the gut!

We now enter the final weekend before the winter break looking to get back on track for the stretch run in January and February, and for that we have two games against a team that is going to give us one hell of a pair of trap games. Merrimack actually found its way into the polls for a week or two earlier this season, and while they’ve since cooled off from their solid start, they’re still a solidly above average team.

Not bad for a program in its fourth year of existence!

WHO

Merrimack Warriors (10-5-2, 6-5-1 WHEA)
at No. 9 Boston College Eagles (12-6-0, 9-4-0 WHEA)

No. 9 Boston College Eagles (12-6-0, 9-4-0 WHEA)
at Merrimack Warriors (10-5-2, 6-5-1 WHEA)

WHAT

Wins? Please?

WHERE

Conte Forum
Chestnut Hill, MA

J. Thom Lawler Rink
North Andover, MA

WHEN

Friday, 12/7/18, 2pm EST
Saturday, 12/8/18, 2pm EST

HOW TO WATCH

Merrimack at BC on Friday, like all BC men’s and women’s hockey home games, will be streamed live on ESPN3. You can watch the game on TV as well if you have Xfinity. Just say “ESPN3” into your voice remote and select the game from the menu.

BC at Merrimack on Saturday will be streamed at MerrimackAthletics.com, though it will cost $6.95 for a 24 hour pass.

PROJECTIONS

KRACH likes BC over Merrimack with 63.69% odds. That’s a 40.56% chance for a BC weekend sweep, or a bit less when you consider that KRACH doesn’t account for ties.

GRaNT gives us a score projection of 2.60 to 1.91 in favor of the Eagles.

LAST TIME OUT

Merrimack had its worst weekend of the season with a 3-2, 4-3 (OT) sweep at the hands of New Hampshire, who’s having a rough year themselves.

BC had its worst week in almost a decade with three straight losses in the same season for the first time since 2010. I would very like to put this distantly in the rear view mirror.

THIS WEEK’S STORYLINE

Sooooooooooo are we gonna figure this out or...

BIG QUESTIONS

Merrimack is the kind of so-so team (like BU!) that a team with an elite roster like BC should take care of business against — will they?? Or will Merrimack continue BC’s epic skid? Can the Eagles turn things around in time to not just get themselves back into an NCAA tournament position, but all the way back into the top four? Will the real BC team please stand up? Can the Eagles finally dig deep and put together a complete game for the first time in a while? Will the offense PLEASE figure out how to score rather than just taking every shot they are presented with? Can the Eagles stay resilient if the Warriors present an early challenge and find a way to win? Even better, can the Eagles just dominate a team like they’re supposed to?

RANDOM, POSSIBLY INCORRECT FACT FROM MERRIMACK’S WIKIPEDIA PAGE

Merrimack College has one of the shortest Wikipedia articles I’ve ever seen. It’s even shorter than the wiki for the Chestnut Hill Reservoir.

SMOKESHOW OF THE WEEK

As far as I can tell, the first time this phrase has ever been used on the internet. Anyone else who might have used it without me noticing is probably a jackass. Just a hunch I have.

We’re changing it up from Ice Cream of the Week for this weekend, because after weeks of apparently eating nothing but ice cream, the Eagles need something more substantial — BARBECUE.

BBQ Baby Back Ribs

I am by no means a BBQ nor grilling expert, but I’ve been known to pull off some decent ribs from time to time. I use a recipe my aunt uses — rip off that membrane on the bottom, then coat in a sort of wet-dry rub of some mustard, brown sugar, garlic salt, and pepper. Slow cook or smoke that sucker for a few hours, baste with your BBQ sauce of choice, and eat until you literally can’t move.

Awesome.

GAME TIME SONG OF THE WEEK

The Struts — Put Your Money On Me

You know I’m only bragging
Boss is always nagging
My ass is dragging but they don’t know
You think I’ve kinda messed around
But I’ll never let you down
So have some faith I’m sticking around
Sticking around!

Last week really sucked. But I wouldn’t bet against Coach Crowley and Coach Kennedy to turn things around.

PREDICTIONS

We are not losing either of these two games. It felt more like everything just kind of fell apart all at once for BC last week rather than the Eagles just not being good at hockey. We know they’re good at hockey, they have plenty of individual talent, but they haven’t played up to their ability yet.

I doubt it’ll happen all at once, but I do trust the team to have had a mini-reset now that they’ve had a week between games. I think they get back on track against Merrimack before taking the month off to clear their heads. BC sweeps 3-1, 2-0 on the weekend.