Boston College Hockey vs. Colorado College: Final Thoughts and Predictions

We're well in to the season now as BC sets off on the road for their fourth full weekend in action. It'll be BC's first two game series of the season, playing a pair in Colorado Springs against the Colorado College Tigers. CC has fallen off considerably from the team they were back when that thing happened that we don't like to talk about. They come in to this series 0-4. Can the Eagles extend their misery?

Boston College Eagles (2-1-0) at Colorado College Tigers (0-4-0)
Friday, October 23, 2015, 9:37 PM, Broadmoor World Arena, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Saturday, October 24, 2015, 9:07 PM, Broadmoor World Arena, Colorado Springs, Colo.

MATCHUP:

Pairwise*: BC #30, Colorado College #44
Team Offense: BC 4.00 GPG (#9 in NCAA)... CC 2.25 GPG (#37 in NCAA)
Team Defense: BC 1.00 GA/G (#2 in NCAA)... CC 3.75 GA/G (#43 in NCAA)

*literally meaningless right now, but YOLO

Storylines

Eagles Take Flight: It's BC's first cross country road trip of the young season; how will they react to their first flight of the year?

CC's Struggles Against Hockey East: It's been a pretty tough start for the Colorado College Tigers. First, they get swept by UMass Amherst at home. Then they travel to UMass Lowell and get waxed for a pair. Can they finally get in to the win column against a Hockey East foe?

Getting The First Line Going: Everything clicked for BC last week in their six goal win over Wisconsin...except for the first line of Tuch, Sanford and Bracco which was oddly quiet. Bracco has yet to bust out this season; can he do so this weekend?

The defense can't rest: BC has given up 1, 2 and 0 goals in three games this season, and has outshot their opponent in each game. Can they keep playing a strong defensive game, despite preseason fears that the blue line would be their weakness?

Obligatory Game Day GIF/Video

Ryan Fitzgerald scored this absolute beauty at home against CC last year:

"

Jerry York's Three Classy Keys To The Game*

Hello again to all my friends reading via the world wide internet as we come to you from Colorado. It's so exciting to get back on the ice! We just beat a great Wisconsin team last weekend and now our road gets even harder against Colorado College, what a terrific program they are.

Here are my three keys to tonight's game.

1. Togetherness on the road: You know, there's nothing like a good road trip to foster that great team spirit that we want to see all of our players display. This is a chance for everyone to do some bonding and come home even more appreciative of the great teammates we all have.

2. Representing our conference: We're so proud to represent Hockey East when we head on the road to take on great teams like Colorado College, and it's important to us that we show how competitive our conference is with the way we play in these non conference games. I know our kids won't want to let our good friend Joe Bertagna down.

3. Take advantage of the 5 on 5 practice time: You know, for some odd reason when we head out on the road for these non conference games, the officials seem to call far fewer matching minors, hook and dive calls, goalie interference calls, disallowed goals and other things with the net result being a lot of opportunity to play 5 on 5. This is pretty rare for us so we need to take advantage of the practice time so it can help us in the tournament where the games are officiated in a similar manner.

*Jerry York did not actually say these things.

The Pre-Game Watering Hole

I've never been to Colorado Springs and won't be there tonight, but I bet we have some skiing aficionados out there who could name a good spot. Lay 'em on me.

#CATPREDICTIONS, By The Cats Of The Gifford Cat Shelter

Savannah avenged Bowser's 0 for 2 week by correctly picking BC over Wisconsin last Friday. What's next from our feline friends? Take it away, Laura...

"Savannah was uninterested in waking up to predict this week, so Tux took her spot. Tux, a 5 year old cat available for adoption at Gifford, is the shelter's resident alpha male. He spends all of his time eating, playing, and bothering the other cats to prove he is the alpha. Despite being small for a male cat Tux is definitely in charge, so it seemed likely that he would favor BC for their history of small and speedy players.

However, Tux didn't play favorites and decide to give each team a shot. He didn't take any time to think and immediately dove for the treats, choosing BC to win game one and Colorado for game two."

You can visit Tux and friends at The Gifford Cat Shelter, located right across from BC at 30 Undine Road in Brighton. Founded in 1884 it is the oldest no kill and cageless shelter in the U.S. More information is available at http://www.giffordcatshelter.org/.

The Last Word

​BC 2, Colorado College 1
BC 5, Colorado College 2

I expect a pair of competitive games out west but I do think BC should be able to sweep this team. I could see Friday's game being kind of conservatively played as BC's first far-far-away road game of the year, then things opening up a bit on Saturday...of course, I am just kind of making this up out of nowhere.

But hey, I got BC 6-Wisco 0 right last week, so maybe I can pull this one off too.

I will be watching both games via NCHC.TV online while yelling at my computer​ any time the announcers reference 2011.

Predictions Contest

I managed to correctly pick the 6-0 BC win over Wisconsin last week, moving me in to a tie with Laura for first place. The Gifford Cats also finally got on board for the first time as well. Every single person picked BC to win last week; good job everybody.

Scoring rules if you'd like to play along at home:

Predict the correct winner: 1 point
Get the margin of victory right: 2 points
Nail the correct final score: 3 points

Name	Predictions	GPS	Points
Joe Gravellese	2-1, 5-2	Watching on NCHC.TV, yelling every time the announcers reference 2011	4
Grant Salzano	4-0, 4-0	Grant's feeling optimistic and picks a pair of easy wins. He'll be watching on NCHC Aggievision.	2
AJ Black	4-2, 3-0	I bet AJ knows where you can get good beer in Colorado Springs	2
New Guy	3-1 4-2	New Guy thinks jet lag will get the best of the Eagles on Friday night.	2
Arthur Bailin	3-2 (OT) 4-0	METS GUY!!!!!!!!!!	2
Laura Berestecki	3-2  4-0	Watching at home and hopefully defeating her cat friend in the prediction contest	4
Coach John Fidler	4-3, 3-2	Picking a pair of close wins for BC.	3
Caleb Childers		If you didn't submit a pick this week, you're picking New Guy's Bentley Falcons	1
Tux the Cat/ Gifford Cat Shelter	in game 1 in game 2	The cats are going to be hamstrung by an inability to predict final scores	1
Kwani Lunis			0
Jeff Martyn			0
Bridget Klish			0

Staff Prediction Summary:
BC (14) - Colorado College (2) - Tie (0)

Fan Prediction Standings after last week:

mig1168 3 points
princisb 2 points
airforce987 2 points
JPDot 1 point
b0mberman 1 point
bostoncollegenyr 1 point

Leave your thoughts and predictions on the series below.. Can BC put together a winning road trip this weekend in Colorado Springs?