No. 2/3 Terriers Host UNH Friday on NESN
February 12, 2015 | Men's Ice Hockey
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Inside BU Hockey - Episode 18
BOSTON - Looking for its first seven-game win streak since the end of the 2009 national championship season, the No. 2/3 Boston University men's ice hockey team (18-4-4, 12-2-2 Hockey East) hosts New Hampshire (10-16-2, 5-10-1 HE) in the opener of a home-and-home weekend series on Friday at Agganis Arena. The game, which will be televised by NESN and TSN2, will start at 7 p.m.
Only St. Lawrence (7) has a longer current winning streak than BU. The Terriers are 9-1-3 since the start of December and are 8-0-1 on the road this season in Hockey East play.
BU is alone in first place in Hockey East with 26 points, four points clear of second-place Boston College. The Terriers are close to clinching a top-four finish, which would enable them to secure a bye for the first round of the league tournament.
The Terriers and Wildcats have played 172 times since the 1924-25 season and BU holds a decided advantage, 102-51-19 (.648). BU has won eight of the past 13 meetings but UNH has come out on top in four of the past five, including both meetings last year. The Wildcats hold an 8-6-3 advantage in the 17 meetings played at Agganis Arena.
The road team in the BU/UNH regular-season series has enjoyed a decent amount of success in recent years, posting a 16-10-5 mark in league play since the start of the 2003-04 season.
New Hampshire will be wrapping up a five-game road stretch on Friday, having previously split weekend series at both Vermont and Notre Dame.
The Wildcats enter the weekend in 11th place in the Hockey East standings with 11 points, five points behind Northeastern and Connecticut for the final home ice spots for the first round of the league tournament.
Sophomore Tyler Kelleher ranks tied for fourth amongst Hockey East players in points this season with 31 on 12 goals and 19 assists. Seniors Grayson Downing (14g, 10a) and Matt Willows (13g, 10) have added 24 and 23 points, respectively, and Andrew Poturalski (11g, 11a) is one of only seven Hockey East rookies to have at least 20 points this year.
Freshman Daniel Tirone, who joined the team at the semester break, has started in goal in eight of UNH's past 11 games - winning five - and sports a .900 save percentage and a 2.93 goals-against average.
Dick Umile is in his 25th season as head coach at his alma mater.
The Terriers' top forward line of freshman Jack Eichel, junior Danny O'Regan and senior Evan Rodrigues has totaled 47 points (19g, 28a) in the eight full games they have skated together. All three ranked in the top 16 nationally in points per game as Eichel is first at 1.72, Rodrigues is fourth at 1.54 and O'Regan is 14th at 1.23.
Rodrigues is wielding the hottest stick in the country as the senior enters the weekend on a nation-best 11-games points streak with 27 points (10g, 17a) during the stretch.
On Tuesday, Rodrigues was named the NCAA Hockey No. 1 Star of the Week after totaling six points (3g, 3a) in two games. He was named Hockey East Player of the Week for the second consecutive time on Monday. During BU's current six-game win streak, he has scored or assisted on all six game-winners and has multi-point efforts in all six contests.
Junior Ahti Oksanen is another Terrier on a roll, as he has at least one goal in five of BU's past six contests with eight tallies during the run.
Junior goaltender Matt O'Connor has won 15 of 21 starts and his .935 save percentage ranks fifth in the nation. He has a .951 save percentage in three starts against UNH but has just one win.
Attending Friday's game will be a group from New York City's Ice Hockey in Harlem (IHIH) program, a nonprofit that works to improve the social and academic well-being of children from the Harlem community through participation in ice hockey.
The group will be guests of Boston University on Friday before the game, touring campus and meeting with professors, deans and students to learn more about college life.
The partnership between the Terriers and IHIH started back in November of 2013, during BU's trip to NYC to play Cornell at Madison Square Garden. While in New York, the Terriers visited IHIH on their home rink in Central Park for a special hockey clinic. BU donated books to IHIH's afterschool reading program and BU great Mike Eruzione spoke to the players about his experience in the Olympics and the importance of education.
For more information about Ice Hockey in Harlem click HERE.
