Men's Ice Hockey Ready For Beanpot Tilt With Harvard

Monday, February 5

TD Garden - Boston, MA

8 PM

Boston University

Harvard

Senior Brandon Hickey aims to bookend his Terrier career with Beanpot championships.

Photo by: Rich Graessle

Men's Ice Hockey Ready For Beanpot Tilt With Harvard

February 4, 2018 | Men's Ice Hockey

Game Notes Listen Live Stats

Boston University (14-11-2, 10-7-2 HEA) vs. Harvard (10-8-4, 9-5-3 ECAC HL)
Date & Time	Monday, Feb. 5 \| 8:00 p.m.
Venue	TD Garden \| Boston, Mass.
Watch	NESN, TSN2, TSN GO (BU Beanpot Watch Parties)
Listen	TSRN
Live Stats	Stat Broadcast
Game Notes	BU \| Harvard
Podcast	Inside BU Hockey - Episode 16
Twitter	@BUGameDay \| @TerrierHockey

The Boston University men's ice hockey team plays one of the perennial highlights on its schedule Monday night when it returns to TD Garden for the opening night of the Beanpot. The Terriers (14-11-2, 10-7-2 HEA) draw Harvard (10-8-4, 9-5-3 ECAC HL) in a rematch of last year's championship game claimed by the Crimson.

The 8 p.m. game can be seen live on NESN along with TSN2.

BU rides a seven-game unbeaten and five-game winning streak into the first Monday of February and aims to take the first step towards claiming its record 31^st Beanpot title in this, the Beanpot's 66^th edition. With a win over the Crimson, the Terriers would reach the Beanpot final for the fourth consecutive year, its best since a 13-year run from 1995-2007.

The Terriers are 89-41 (.685) all-time in the annual civic showcase event, including a 28-17 (.622) mark against the Crimson.

This will be the 155^th meeting all-time between the teams with BU holding a 79-69-6 edge in the series despite Harvard winning six of the last nine meetings.

Harvard snapped a 1-2-2 skid on Friday night with a convincing 4-1 victory at Dartmouth. The Crimson is led by junior Ryan Donato who has a team-best 30 points on the strength of a nation-best 21 goals. He will play for Team USA at the 2018 Winter Olympics alongside Terrier Jordan Greenway.

BU enters the game fresh off of a 3-2 win at UMass on Friday night for its 10^th Hockey East win of the 2017-18 campaign. This phenomenon is not new as BU has found success lately heading into the Beanpot, posting a 10-1-3 mark since the 2004-05 season in its last game prior to the annual event.

The Terriers have been consistently hot during their winning streak, scoring at least one goal in 13 straight periods. It is the longest such streak for the Terriers since the 2008-09 season when BU had a 16-period scoring run from Dec. 8-Jan. 13.

While it is the green line that will ferry scores of BU fans to TD Garden, it is production from BU's blue line corps which has helped carry the team there with such momentum.

BU has three defensemen with at least five goals scored this season in sophomore Dante Fabbro (eight), senior Brandon Hickey (five) and sophomore Chad Krys (five). The Terriers are the only team in the nation to boast three defensemen with at least five goals scored so far this year. Fabbro is tied for second among Hockey East blue liners in points (21) and classmate Chad Krys is sixth with 19. Fabbro is tied for first in goals among league d-men with eight while Krys and senior Brandon Hickey are tied for sixth with five each.