NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College men's ice hockey team continues postseason play when it opens up its best-of-three Hockey East Tournament Quarterfinal Series at No. 18 Boston College on Friday night. Puck drop from Conte Forum is set for 7 p.m.
Inside the Series
- Merrimack owns a 22-68-7 all-time mark against the Eagles dating back to 1972.
- After a 3-3-1 stretch against BC from Oct. 31, 2009 to Nov. 26, 2010, Merrimack has just two wins in its last 17 tries (2-12-3) against the Eagles.
- BC swept the regular season series by 3-1 (at BC) and 2-1 (at Merrimack) scores.
- Last year, the Warriors won the season series for only the second time since joining Hockey East after going 1-0-1 and snapped an eight-game winless stretch (0-6-2).
- That one win last year came at Conte Forum by a 6-3 score, ending a 30-game winless streak (0-27-3) that dated back to Oct. 31, 1997.
- Merrimack is also just 1-10 in the postseason against Boston College.
'Mack Facts
- Merrimack reached the quarterfinal round of the Hockey East Tournament for the third time in the last four years after its two-game sweep of UMass Lowell last weekend.
- Senior Brett Seney leads the team lead with 32 points on a team-high 13 goals, including seven that have come on the power play and one shorthanded strike.
- Two other seniors, a junior and a sophomore have passed the 20-point barrier in Jace Hennig (25), Jared Kolquist (23), Ludvig Larsson (20) and Sami Tavernier (20).
- Kolquist's 19 assists are tied with Seney for most on the team.
- Seney ranks sixth in Hockey East in overall scoring and third in power play points (18); he also ranks fifth with seven power play goals.
- Kolquist, Hennig and Tavernier rank sixth and ninth in Hockey East with 15 and 13 power play points, respectively.
- Goaltender Craig Pantano has seen the bulk of the time in net and has started 25 of the team's 35 games; he is 11-12-2 with a 2.32 GAA and .918 SV% on the year.
Eagle Eye
- Despite finishing the regular season winless in non-league games (0-7-3), Boston College captured the Hockey East regular season title by going 18-6-0 in league play.
- After losing to Harvard in the Beanpot Consolation game on Feb. 12, BC closed the year with four straight wins, outscoring its opponents by an 18-6 margin in that span.
- Freshman Logan Hutsko leads all Eagles with 29 points (12g, 17a) and owns a share of the team lead in goals. He is one of four Eagles with more than 20 points this year.
- David Cotton has dished a team-high 18 assists and his four power play goals are tied for the team lead with Graham McPhee and Christopher Brown.
- Sophomore Joseph Woll has started 27 of BC's 34 games in net owns a 15-10-2 record with a 2.53 goals against average and .911 save percentage.
- The Eagles rank 26th nationally in scoring offense (2.94) and 24th in scoring defense (2.71); their power play ranks 33rd (18.1) and penalty kill ranks 34th (80.7).
- Jerry York, the NCAA's all-time winningest head coach, is in his 24th season at BC and 46th overall. He entered the year with a 1033-614-114 all-time coaching mark.
Up Next
Merrimack and BC will return to action for Game 2 of their best-of-three series on Saturday at 7 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, would be on Sunday at 6 p.m.
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