BOSTON - Looking to add to its six-game win streak, the No. 3/4 Boston University men's ice hockey team hosts Maine in the opener of a weekend home-and-home series in Hockey East play on Friday (Jan. 20) at 7:30 p.m. The Terriers have won four straight against Maine with sweeps in each of the past two seasons.
The first 3,500 fans at Agganis Arena on Friday will receive BU winter hats. The BU women's ice hockey team will host its annual Hockey East Skating Strides Against Breast Cancer game on Sunday when they take on Providence at 3 p.m. Proceeds from the Chuck-a-Puck Friday night at Agganis will be donated toward the cause.
GAINING STEAM
• The Terriers are 8-1-1 in their past 10 games and are riding a six-game win streak, their longest since reeling off eight straight victories towards the end of the 2014-15 season.
• The win streak is tied for second-longest in the nation currently, trailing only UMass Lowell (7).
SERIES HISTORY
• The Terriers and Black Bears have played 125 times since first meeting in the 1923-24 season, and BU holds a 62-50-13 edge (.548), including a 22-8-5 advantage since the beginning of the 2005-06 season.
• BU is 12-3-2 in the 17 meetings that have taken place at Agganis.
• Twenty-five meetings have gone into overtime and BU holds a 9-2-14 advantage in those games. BU has recorded seven of the 12 shutouts in the series.
• The Terriers' longest winning streak in the series was 13 games (Jan. 16, 1982 - Feb. 15, 1986). The Black Bears' longest streak was 11 games (Oct. 31, 1986 - Nov. 10, 1989) and came just after the BU win streak.
SCOUTING THE BLACK BEARS
• Maine is 8-11-3 on the season and is coming off a 4-0 shutout victory over UConn at Frozen Fenway.
• The Black Bears are tied for 10th in the Hockey East standings with five points (2-7-1).
• Maine is in search of its first road win of the season, as it has gone 0-7-3 in opposing rinks.
• The Black Bears rank sixth in the nation in blocked shots per game at 15.2.
• Their best wins thus far this season have come against UMass Lowell and Quinnipiac.
• Senior Cam Brown, the brother of former BU soccer All-American Casey Brown, leads Maine in points (26) and assists (22). Classmate Blaine Byron is close behind with 23 points and shares the team lead in goals at 10 with freshman Chase Pearson.
• In all, eight Maine players have 11 points or more.
• Sophomore Rob McGovern has made 18 starts in goal and has a .914 save percentage and a 2.80 goals-against average.
LAST SEASON VS. THE BLACK BEARS
• Boston University swept its home-and-home weekend with Maine last season, posting a 5-2 road win on Jan. 22 before earning a 6-1 victory at Agganis Arena the following night.
• In the opener, Ahti Oksanen had four points (2g, 2a) and Jordan Greenway registered a career-high three assists.
• At home, Matt Lane and Bobo Carpenter contributed two goals apiece.
TERRIERS TAKE DOWN EAGLES WITH SWEEP
• The Terriers earned an impressive home-and-home sweep of archrival Boston College last weekend, earning a 2-1 home win on Monday followed by a 3-0 shutout victory at Conte Forum on Monday.
• It marked BU's first home-and-home sweep of its archrival in 15 seasons.
• Freshman Jake Oettinger stopped 66 of 67 shots in the series, including a 34-save shutout on Monday, to help the Terriers become the first team to sweep a full Hockey East regular-season series from the Eagles since UNH in 2007-08.
• Freshman Clayton Keller broke a 1-1 tie at the 7:10 mark of the second stanza in the opener.
• Sophomore Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson scored in each game, including the first goal on Friday.
• The Terriers scored on all three of their power plays in the road win
• Freshman Patrick Curry potted a power-play goal from the right slot with one second remaining in a BC penalty at 7:26 of the middle period and that was the game's only goal until the final minute of play.
• Skating on a 5-on-3 advantage, Forsbacka Karlsson scored from below the left circle to push the lead to 2-0 with 57.4 seconds remaining.
• With one more penalty to kill off, the Eagles pulled freshman netminder Joseph Woll before sophomore Bobo Carpenter put the finishing touches on the win with an empty-netter.
• The Terriers have allowed just three goals to BC in their past 247 minutes against them.
WHO'S HOT?
• Sophomore Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson has seven goals over the past four games - on just 11 shots - and is on a five-game point streak (7g, 2a).
• Freshman Clayton Keller is on an eight-game point streak (5g, 8a).
• Sophomore Jordan Greenway has tallied at least one assist in each of the past six contests.
• Sophomore Bobo Carpenter has had a hand in the game-winning goal in four of BU's past five games (1g, 3a) and is on a five game point streak (3g, 4a).
JFK'S BIG WEEK
• After scoring five goals in two games, sophomore Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson was an easy choice for Warrior Hockey East Player of the Week on Jan. 9.
• In the second-half opener on Jan. 5, Forsbacka Karlsson recorded his first collegiate hat trick, including the game-tying and overtime goals, in a 5-4 victory over No. 10 Union.
• He followed that up by scoring the first two goals in the Terriers' 5-3 win over UMass at Frozen Fenway on Sunday.
• The Swedish pivot now leads the team in goals this season with 10 and is tied for first in points with 22.
• His final goal against UMass marked the 50th point of his collegiate career.
ALL IN
• All 23 skaters on BU's roster have scored at least one point this season.
TERRIER TIDBITS
• Sophomore Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson is the only current Terrier who has scored a goal at Maine's Alfond Arena.• Of BU's top 11 point-scorers this season, 10 have at least one power-play goal.
• BU has scored first in each of its past seven games after allowing the first tally in four straight contests prior to that.
• Sophomore Jordan Greenway has 19 points (5g, 14a) in his past 16 games and has a team-best three game-winning goals.
• Twenty-eight of BU's 68 goals thus far have come in the third period.
• Senior captain Doyle Somerby sports a team-best plus-11 rating.
• Five of BU's wins this season have been shutouts, and for the first time in the Terriers' 95-season history, they blanked their first three home opponents.
ROOKIE NETMINDER IMPRESSES
• Freshman Jake Oettinger has won three Hockey East weekly awards and was named the league's Goaltender of the Month for October.
• The Minnesota native leads all Hockey East netminders and ranks fifth nationally in both goals-against average (1.78) and save percentage (.937).
• His four shutouts are tied for the nation lead and he also put together 56 scoreless minutes in a start against Northeastern, missing the rest of the time to fix a skate midgame.
• Oettinger did his part to excite the Agganis faithful as he put together a home shutout skein of 204:41 to start his career.
• He closed October with back-to-back shutouts as part of a 134:14 shutout streak that was the sixth-best in program history.
PENALTY KILL EXCELS
• The Terriers' penalty kill ranks second in the nation with an 89.9-percent success rate (107-of-119) and has successfully killed off 56 of its opponents' past 62 power plays.
• Earlier this season, BU killed off 22 straight opponent power plays, its longest such streak since 25 straight in March 2011.
• The Terriers have already scored six shorthanded goals after totaling just two all of last season. That total is tied for second in the nation.
• BU leads the nation in combined special teams at 57.8 percent (127-of-216).
