BC Women’s Hockey vs. Vermont: Final Thoughts & Prediction

Last week, Boston College Women’s Hockey got back in the win column with a weekend sweep of the Maine Black Bears. Hooray!

But despite the sweep, BC didn’t do much to declare that they are “Back” quite yet. The Eagles needed overtime in both games, and Maine is not really a team you feel good about needing overtime to beat. Still, momentum is a thing, and BC at least has a little bit of it going into their last game of the first half thanks to the two exciting road victories.

WHO

Boston College Eagles (10-7-0, 8-4-0 WHEA)
at Vermont Catamounts (8-7-2, 5-4-1 WHEA)

WHAT

The final game before the winter break

WHERE

Gutterson Fieldhouse
Burlington, VT

WHEN

Friday, December 10th, 2021
2:00pm EST

HOW TO WATCH

Friday’s game will be streamed for free at CollegeSportsLive dot com. Here is a direct link to the game.

LAST TIME OUT

Boston College went to overtime twice against the Maine Black Bears last weekend and won them both, winning 4-3 on Friday afternoon before needing a late tying goal in a 2-1 victory on Saturday.

Vermont’s weekend was a weird one. The Catamounts played two in Durham, NH last week, getting beaten by New Hampshire pretty convincingly by a score of 5-2 on Friday before returning the favor for a 6-3 win on Saturday. The Catamounts outshot the Wildcats in both contests (and outshot them by a lot in game two), so take that for what it’s worth.

PROJECTIONS

KRACH (used for odds) has the Eagles in 15th place after last week’s sweep of Maine, with Vermont a bit further down in 20th. Using our handy-dandy calculator, the ratings give the Eagles a 63.95% chance of winning — that’s BC -177 with your local bookie, almost identical to what it was against the Black Bears last week.

Interestingly, KRACH has Vermont as the most average team in the country with a rating of 101.73 (with 100 being average).

The GRaNT rankings have the two teams slightly closer, with BC sitting at 16th and Vermont in 19th. Our calculator projects a final score of 2.44 to 2.26, or something like a 2-2 draw.

THIS WEEK’S STORYLINE

Finish Strong. Last game before the break, and BC’s got a little bit of momentum on their side. The team’s a little beat up with some injuries right now, but they’ll get reinforcements after the break with the addition of forward Michaela Boyle from Robert Morris to the roster. If the Eagles can limp into the holidays with a W, they’d at least set themselves up for where a nice second half run might just get them back into the national tournament conversation.

THE BIG QUESTION

How does BC keep pulling out these close wins? BC is 8-3 in one goal games, and 3-0-0 in overtime. You have to admire the fight. Even when things aren’t going well, they haven’t packed it in in the third period. The overtime wins in particular have been great, and their 3 on 3 strategy looks good — setting up for rushes and exiting the offensive zone when necessary to maintain possession. Given the way this entire year has gone, I would expect this game to be a close one too.

GAME TIME MEAL OF THE WEEK

Sugar On Snow

Okay, not really a meal, but I wanted to do something Vermont-y for this week’s food and was drawing a blank. A quick Google search honestly didn’t help that much, as the first three items on the list I found were “cheese,” “locally sourced eggs,” and “chocolate.” Cheese I’ll give them, but as far as I know Vermont does not have a monopoly on eggs or chocolate.

Anyway, I eventually came across “Sugar On Snow,” which the internet promises me is a “quintessentially Vermont thing.” I’ve seen it in travel articles about visiting Quebec City, so it’s definitely A Thing, but I didn’t know Vermont did it too. Anyway, it’s basically maple syrup boiled down a bit and poured onto snow, turning it into a sort of maple-taffy-like snack. Admittedly, that sounds like a nice winter treat. I’m willing to give it a fair shake.

RANDOM FACT ABOUT VERMONT

Special category this week! Did you know that “Vermont” is just short for “Viridis Montis,” which is Latin for “Green Mountains”? That’s also why Vermont is also called “UVM” — you’ve probably thought to yourself “oh, it must be short for University of VerMont,” and, well, yeah, technically it is, because its Latin name is ”Universitas Viridis Montis.” That’s actually pretty cool!

GAME TIME SONG OF THE WEEK

The Raconteurs — Steady As She Goes

Well, here we go again
You’ve found yourself a friend that knows you well
But no matter what you do
You’ll always feel as though you tripped and fell
So steady as she goes

At this point BC’s M.O. is pretty clear — every game is going to be a battle, and they’ll probably get outshot, but they have the fight in them to get a win. Might as well just lean into it at this point.

PREDICTION

This game screams “tie” to me. Vermont’s always given BC a tough time for some reason, and that bus ride up to Burlington is pretty brutal. I think the GRaNT Ratings have this one right — I like this game as a 2-2 draw. Who wins the shootout isn’t a huge deal but we’ll give BC and their elite shooters the edge in that one for the bonus point.