Last week’s pair of games against Penn State wasn’t exactly smooth sailing, with the Nittany Lions dominating in shots and the Eagles looking pretty rusty in their first games of the season. But nonetheless, Boston College played gritty and pulled out both wins on the back of goaltender Abbey Levy, bringing a 2-0-0 record into their first Hockey East contest of the year.
Things should be a bit easier this weekend for BC as they’ve got a weekend under their belts and face off against Merrimack, who projects to finish last in the league.
Let’s get to it.
WHO
No. 5 Boston College Eagles (2-0-0, 0-0-0 WHEA)
at Merrimack Warriors (0-4-0, 0-0-0 WHEA)
WHAT
A nice, chill game, with no stress. Right? Right! That’s the spirit!
WHERE
Lawler Rink
North Andover, MA
WHEN
Saturday, October 9th, 2021
2:00pm EDT
HOW TO WATCH
All Hockey East games will be streamed for free at collegesportslive.com. Here is a direct link to Saturday’s game.
LAST TIME OUT
Merrimack... well, they are having a pretty rough go of it over the last season-plus. Last year they went 1-15-0 and ended the year on a 14 game losing streak. This year might somehow be going even worse as they’ve started 0-4-0 and have gotten crushed in all four games. Granted, last weekend they played two against Wisconsin, so maybe losing 4-0 and 5-0 isn’t all that bad?
Boston College started the season with two 2-1 wins over Penn State, thanks to Abbey Levy’s heroics in net.
PROJECTIONS
Once everyone’s played some games, this space will be used for KRACH and GRaNT projected odds and scores for the weekend games. But we don’t have enough results to use just yet, so watch for those in the coming weeks!
THIS WEEK’S STORYLINE
Win the games you should win. Merrimack was truly awful last year and they don’t seem to have made much progress in the offseason. If Boston College really is a top 5 team (they’re currently sitting at 5th in the USCHO poll), this is a game they should win going away. Don’t let the Warriors stay within a sniff of this game by the end of the 2nd period.
THE BIG QUESTION
Where’s the offense? Penn State did a good job of slowing down the BC attack last week, only allowing 4 goals over two games (with one of those goals coming in 3 on 3 overtime). The Boston College forwards should be more lethal this season, but we haven’t quite seen what they’re capable of yet. With a soft opponent and a warm-up series behind them, we’ll be looking to see the offense click this weekend.
GAME TIME MEAL OF THE WEEK
Kung Pao Chicken
Nobody ever thinks of Chinese takeout as being healthy, and I mean, I get it... but you could do a lot worse than Kung Pao chicken. It’s usually pan-cooked chicken (not deep friend) and packed with vegetables and peanuts, and if you pair it with some white rice, you’re looking at a pretty reasonably not-unhealthy meal.
This is one of those meals where you’re pretty whatever about it until you start eating it, but once you do you realize you made the right choice.
GAME TIME SONG OF THE WEEK
Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting) — Taron Egerton
Oh, don’t give us none of your aggravation
We had it with your discipline
’Cause Saturday night’s alright for fighting
Get a little action in
I’d go so far as to say that this is actually better than the Elton John version. Bold, I know!
Nice little one-off Saturday afternoon action for the Eagles. Let’s go.
PREDICTION
Yeah, BC isn’t losing this one. Not sure who will be in net, but whoever it is gets BC’s first shutout of the season — we’ll call it 4-0 Eagles to open up league play.