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

Good news everyone! With last week’s two games against Merrimack, Boston College Women’s Hockey has played ten games on the season. Why should you care? The NCAA modified the rules this year due to COVID to say that you only need to have played ten games to be eligible for the postseason. That means the Eagles are NCAA Tournament Eligible! Hooray!

...Okay, not super exciting, but it’s just another baby step along the way to (hopefully) Trophy Season.

Next up — Boston College will follow up last weeks games against last place Merrimack with two games against 2nd-to-last place Holy Cross. Low stress! Hopefully!

WHO

Friday
Holy Cross Crusaders (3-8-0, 3-8-0 WHEA)
at No. 8 Boston College Eagles (7-3-0, 7-3-0 WHEA)

Sunday

No. 8 Boston College Eagles (7-3-0, 7-3-0 WHEA)
at Holy Cross Crusaders (3-8-0, 3-8-0 WHEA)

WHAT

RIVALRY WEEK for all you old-school BC Football fans out there

WHERE

**Games will be played without fans, so don’t show up hoping to get in the door**

Friday
Conte Forum
Chestnut Hill, MA

Saturday
Hart Center Rink
Worcester, MA

WHEN

Friday, January 15th, 2020
2:00pm EST

Saturday, January 16th, 2020
6:30pm EST

HOW TO WATCH

Both games will be shown live on TV on NESNplus. If you don’t live in NESN’s coverage area, you can still watch the games live for free on CollegeSportsLive, but it’ll only work for you if you aren’t in New England.

LAST TIME OUT

Boston College had an easy time with last-place Merrimack last week, winning by scores of 5-3 and 3-1 in which neither game was really as close as the scores looked.

Holy Cross only had one game last week, a 5-2 loss to #7 Providence which was also, surprisingly, closer than the score looked. The Crusaders were winning after 20 minutes and were tied in the 3rd period before the Friars rallied for three quick goals late. The Eagles should keep that in mind going into this weekend.

PROJECTIONS

With no inter-conference games this year, a national KRACH calculator would be pretty pointless. But since we’re only playing conference games, we can use a league-only KRACH projection. There haven’t been a ton of games played yet still, but there have been enough where the numbers are starting to take shape.

According to KRACH, the Eagles are 3rd in Hockey East, and Merrimack is 9th. The numbers work out to BC having a 69.81% chance of winning — or roughly an 48.73% chance of a sweep. Sample sizes aren’t ideal, but that feels low. BC should be able to handle Holy Cross.

THIS WEEK’S STORYLINE

Don’t have a letdown. Same as last week. If BC is going to make the national tournament and contend for the Hockey East title, they are going to have to sweep teams like Merrimack and Holy Cross without much trouble. They can’t be looking ahead to next weekends big series with Providence.

THE BIG QUESTION

Is everyone back? Also same as last week! The Eagles were down a few players against the Warriors due to COVID protocol, and who knows what the timing on their return would be or even if other players could be out. For all we know everyone could be back or more players could be out. It’s been a grand ol’ time this season trying to figure out what the lineup’s going to look like.

GAME TIME MEAL OF THE WEEK

Steak Pizzaiola

This is elite-tier Italian cooking that can be done in a crock pot. 2.5 pounds of sirloin tips, very quickly seared and sliced into big chunks, thrown into the slow cooker with slap-chopped onions, carrots, celery, and garlic, plus a box of strained tomatoes, some white wine, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Throw it all in there and cook on high for six hours. Benissimo. Old family recipe from Mrs. Salzano’s family. You’re welcome.

GAME TIME SONG OF THE WEEK

Oh, Holy Cross

Oh Holy Cross, Oh Holy Cross, all you eat is applesauce.

PREDICTION

Holy Cross is marginally better than Merrimack. Marginally. But the Eagles should also be marginally better than they were last week since they aren’t coming in off a 3 week layoff. Still... BC doesn’t do shutouts, and I expect that to continue for the time being. I would expect two smooth wins, nothing to write home about, with matching 4-1 final scores.