Feb. 27, 2014

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Inside BU Hockey - Episode 19

BOSTON - The Boston University men's ice hockey program will honor its longtime coach in addition to its senior class when it takes on No. 9 Northeastern on Friday (Feb. 28) in its final home contest of the season. The game, which will be broadcast live by NESN, will start at 7 p.m.

BU will officially retire Jack Parker's No. 6 in a ceremony during the first intermission. The Senior Night ceremony will take place before the game. Fans are encouraged to get to their seats by 6:45 p.m.

Parker's ceremony was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday, Feb. 15, against New Hampshire, but that game was postponed due to weather.

The No. 6 will join Travis Roy's No. 24 as the only retired numbers in the storied program's history.

The Student-Athlete Advisory Council will be sponsoring a used sports ball drive on Friday before and during the game. The used balls are going to an organization from New Bedford called Gifts To Give, which distributes them to under-privileged children along the South Shore. Fans can drop off their used balls in bins in the lobby.

BU (8-20-4, 3-12-3 Hockey East) currently stands in 10th place in the Hockey East standings with nine points, just two points out of ninth place. The Terriers could still finish anywhere between ninth and 11th in the league standings. A Merrimack loss to New Hampshire ensures that the Terriers will finish either ninth or 10th.

If BU earns two points this weekend and either Vermont gets a win versus UMass Lowell or Notre Dames loses to Boston College on Saturday, the Terriers will clinch the ninth seed and visit Notre Dame in the first round.

The Terriers earned home ice for the quarterfinals all nine seasons since opening Agganis in 2005 but that streak will come to an end this year.

BU and Northeastern have not met since the regular-season finale last year on March 9, 2013, when the Terriers capped a home-and-home weekend sweep to claim the season series.

This will be the 220th meeting between the Terriers and Huskies since they first took to the ice together during the 1930-31 season. The Terriers are 19-6-4 against Northeastern in regular-season meetings since the start of the 2005-06 campaign and are 9-5-2 (.625) in the teams' 15 meetings at Agganis Arena.

Picked last in the Hockey East Preseason Coaches Poll, Northeastern enters the final weekend of the regular season ranked ninth in the country.

With a first-round bye secured, the Huskies are now trying to earn home ice for the league quarterfinals.

The Huskies (18-10-4, 10-6-2 HE) earned three points at home last weekend against Maine, capped by a 4-3 victory on Saturday.

Sophomore Kevin Roy has a team-best 42 points (17g, 25a), which ranks fourth amongst Hockey East players. Freshman Mike Szmatula leads all Division I rookies in points per game at 1.12, having tallied 36 points (12g, 24a) thus far. Senior Braden Pimm has added 31 points on the strength of a team-best 18 goals.

Junior goaltender Clay Witt boasts a nation-best .940 save percentage to go along with a 2.17 goals-against average.

Three Terriers have each scored eight points against Northeastern in their careers, as senior Garrett Noonan, junior Evan Rodrigues and sophomore Danny O'Regan each have four goals and four assists. O'Regan has reached that total in just four games while Rodrigues and Noonan have played six and 11 games, respectively, versus the Huskies in their careers.

Sophomore Sean Maguire went 2-1-0 in three starts against the Huskies as a rookie, including a 25-save shutout in the last meeting.