Hey, we’re back for the second half!
The nice thing about having the winter break is that even though the Eagles have lost four of their last five games, the time off has sort of taken the edge off the frustration. Kind of. The Eagles last played on December 8th and fell to Merrimack by a score of 1-0 to make for just a horrible end to the first half, with a 13-7-0 record that’s far, far below where BC expected to be. Fortunately, as we pointed out yesterday, a 2nd half title run would not be unprecedented and there are plenty of teams who started out poorly but got to the NCAA championship game — and in some cases, won the whole thing.
The only way that will happen, though, is with a red-hot second half. And with just 14 games left in the regular season and BC on the outside looking in at 10th in the Pairwise, it’s pretty much go time.
WHO
No. 10 Boston College Eagles (13-7-0, 10-5-0 WHEA)
at New Hampshire Wildcats (6-9-4, 4-8-1 WHEA)
WHAT
The start of an EPIC SECOND HALF COMEBACK... if there is a just and loving God.
WHERE
Whittemore Center Arena
Durham, NH
WHEN
Saturday, January 5, 2019
2:00pm EST
HOW TO WATCH
UNH streams their games on YouTube Live, which is a pretty high-quality platform... and free! Here’s a direct link to the game.
PROJECTIONS
KRACH has UNH as roughly 3:1 underdogs, with the Eagles at a 74.68% chance of winning (BC -300 on the money line).
GRaNT gives us a score projection of 2.86 to 1.45 in favor of the Eagles.
LAST TIME OUT
New Hampshire went into the break with a come-from-behind 2-2 tie against Harvard, and ended the first half on a pretty nice 5-0-2 run — pretty impressive given that they started just 1-9-2. They probably aren’t all that happy that the winter break caught them when it did.
It’s pretty much the exact opposite story for BC. The Eagles faceplanted to a 1-4-0 finish to the first half after going on a nice 12-1-0 run after stumbling at the start against Duluth, with a 4-3 (OT), 0-1 split with Merrimack. Not good.
THIS WEEK’S STORYLINE
It’s all about the mid-season reset. Did the month off clear BC’s head for the stretch run, or are their in-game problems just too much for them to overcome?
BIG QUESTIONS
Will the huge Olympic-sized ice at Lake Whitt help or hurt BC’s game? Can the Eagles get shots in close or will they be forced to shoot from the perimeter, a couple area codes away from the net? Are we going to see Bad UNH or Good UNH? How’s BC starting goaltender Maddy McArthur and Olympic defender Cayla Barnes, who were both missing from the roster sheet in BC’s last game against Merrimack?
And of course... are we going to see a new BC team in the second half of the season?
RANDOM, POSSIBLY INCORRECT FACT FROM UNH’S WIKIPEDIA PAGE
The University of New Hampshire was actually originally a part of Dartmouth. No word on whether the UNH grads of today try to pass off their diplomas as being Dartmouth degrees. I certainly would.
ICE CREAM OF THE WEEK
We do Ice Cream Of The Week because hell yeah, ice cream.
Vanilla Ice Cream
This week’s Ice Cream of the Week is courtesy of Mrs. Salzano, who definitely has her finger on the pulse of BC Women’s Hockey more than I gave her credit for.
I’ve been on a vanilla kick lately. Just a classic vanilla, because we need a classic BC game where we destroy the other team. The other thing is, you don’t have to be crazy to win this game. You don’t have to be flashy, you don’t have to be over the top. It doesn’t matter how. Because some people say vanilla is a boring flavor. But you know what, sometimes you just need vanilla. Sometimes you just need to win the game.
What a woman.
GAME TIME SONG OF THE WEEK
Halestorm — I Miss The Misery
I miss the bad things
The way you hate me
I miss the screaming, the way that you blame me
Miss the phone calls
When it’s your fault
I miss the late nights, don’t miss you at all
I like the kick in the face
And the things you do to me
I love the way that it hurts
I don’t miss you, I miss the misery
The perfect song for the 2nd half return of BC Women’s Hockey. Rarely has a team I’ve loved so much caused me as much pain as this year’s BC team. Still missed them, though!
PREDICTION
I’m not asking for much. Just a run-the-table second half out of a team that’s lost 4 of their last 5! But in all seriousness, here’s the thing — UNH isn’t very good, and the winter break really couldn’t have come at a better time for BC.
I’m not foolish enough to predict any blowouts any time soon, but this is a good Get Right game against a bottom-tier Hockey East team. Put me down for a 3-1 BC win to get back on track.