BC Women’s Hockey vs. #9 Minnesota-Duluth: Final Thoughts & Predictions

After BC football’s debacle last week against Purdue, it feels like hockey season is starting at justtttt the right time. Boston College Women’s Hockey has, on paper, one of its most talented teams in program history. Unfortunately, there are three other superpowers in women’s hockey this year, so the Eagles will have the same dogfight come NCAA tournament time.

But, there is a whole season to play as BC jockeys for position and takes aim at that number one overall seed. And that starts TODAY! Holy smokes.

Who

No. 4 Boston College Eagles (0-0-0, 0-0-0 WHEA)
at No. 9 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (0-0-0, 0-0-0 WCHA)

What

HOCKEY!

Where

AMSOIL Arena
Duluth, MN

When

Friday, September 28th, 2018, 8pm EDT/7pm CDT
Saturday, September 29th, 2018, 5pm EDT/4pm CDT

How to Watch

www.flohockey.tv

It’s $29.99/month, which will at least get you both games. But yeah, I know, that’s an absurd amount of money to stream a couple games.

Required Reading

The National Picture: BUY OR SELL: Trading On The 2018-2019 NCAA Women’s Hockey Exchange

The BC Picture: Boston College Women’s Hockey 2018-2019 Preview: WE’RE STACKED... But We’re Not The Only Ones

The Coach’s View: FIVE GOOD MINUTES: Catching Up With BC Women’s Hockey Head Coach Katie Crowley

Last Time Out

Neither team won the national championship, so both teams ended with SADNESS.

Boston College crashed out of the NCAA tournament with an upset 2-0 loss to Ohio State — the only time all season that the Eagles were shut out. It was miserable.

Minnesota-Duluth had a much quicker end to their season after being upset by Bemidji State in the WCHA quarterfinals in a 3 game series.

Big Questions

WHO IS THE GOALIE?! Katie Burt is gone, and there are two untested freshmen and one untested junior battling to take her spot in the crease. Who will it be? Is BC’s talent advantage among the skaters enough to overcome the disadvantage of having to beat USA Hockey gold medalist goaltender Maddie Rooney? Will there be Daryl Watts puns in the game recaps? Will not playing an exhibition hurt the Eagles, given that Duluth played a wicked talented Minnesota Whitecaps team last week? Will my new doggo be freaked out at my reactions to BC’s goals?

Random, Possibly Incorrect Fact From Minnesota-Duluth’s Wikipedia Page

UMD started out as the “Duluth Normal School” (“Normal School” being what they called a teaching school back in the day). Tuition was free if you signed a pledge to teach after graduation, otherwise it was [reads] [reads it again] $30 per year?? Dude, what the hell?

Ice Cream of the Game

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

Vanilla/Chocolate Soft Serve Twist with Rainbow Shots

My local ice cream joint is a wildly popular central Connecticut place called Durham Dari Serve, which, I, like most people with a favorite local ice cream joint, will swear my undying loyalty to. They’ve got pretty much anything you could want, but lately all I can think of getting is a simple a vanilla & chocolate soft serve with rainbow shots (or “sprinkles” if that’s your dialect. Not “jimmies,” that’s not a thing). Durham Dari Serve will load your ish up with shots like a MF boss, to the point that you won’t have to go a single sad bite without crunchy goodness all the way to the end of your creamy journey.

Anyway, this is one of those things where you think “oh yeah, that’s fine,” until you actually go out and get one and remember that it’s basically Jesus. Go do it and tell me I’m wrong.

Game Time Song of the Week

The Allman Brothers Band — Ramblin’ Man

ROAD TRIP!

Prediction

BC’s got such a weak schedule this year that they’ll be heavy favorites pretty much every single week. Having said that, this weekend is the single toughest regular season matchup they’ll have the entire season. Northeastern is ranked #8 in the USCHO poll and Minnesota-Duluth is #9, but Duluth will be ranked ahead of the Huskies before the season is over with. So when all is said and done, this will be the highest-ranked team the Eagles play all season, and it’s on the road, and it’s against a team from the WCHA.

BC should win both games, but they’re playing against the single best goaltender in the world. That’s pretty scary! So while I think BC will have nice comfy shot margin (something they actually didn’t do much last year), the games will probably be at least pretty competitive on the scoreboard. I’ll go with a stressful 2-1, 3-1 BC sweep as the Eagles shake off some preseason rust.