BOSTON - With seven of its players competing for gold medals at the World Junior Championship, the No. 5 Boston University men's ice hockey team opens the 2017 portion of its schedule with a home contest against No. 10 Union on Thursday. Game time is set for 7 p.m. 

This marks the Terriers' fifth and final non-conference home game of the season. BU has gone a perfect 4-0-0 in the first four and is also 4-0-0 against ECAC squads this season. Thursday's tilt is the Terriers' fifth this season that features two top-10 squads (Quinnipiac, Harvard, 2 at Denver).

SERIES HISTORY
• BU and Union have met in each of the past two seasons and they were the first contests ever played between the two schools. 
• The Terriers dropped a 5-3 road contest to the Dutchmen in last year's season opener after the teams skated to a 3-3 draw at Agganis Arena on Jan. 3, 2015, in the first-ever meeting.

SCOUTING THE DUTCHMEN
• Union had a six-game win streak come to an end on New Year's Eve in a 3-1 home loss to North Dakota.
• The Dutchmen currently sit at the top of the ECAC standings with 17 points (8-1-1), one point ahead of St. Lawrence (7-1-2).
• Union's offense ranks fourth in the nation, averaging 3.90 goals per contest, and its 55.6-percent faceoff percentage is good for third.
• All of the Dutchmen's top victories have come on the road this season, having earned wins at Michigan, Quinnipiac and Vermont.
• Union boasts the most dangerous line in college hockey this season as senior Mike Vecchione, junior Spencer Foo and sophomore Sebastian Vidmar have combined for 93 points (40g, 53a) in 20 games. 
• Vecchione leads the nation in points (37), goals (18) and faceoffs won (317). Foo is tied for second in points (35), his 21 assists are tied for the most in Division I and also leads the country in plus-minus at +27.
• Senior Alex Sakellaropoulos has started 16 games in goal and boasts a .920 save percentage and a 2.43 goals-against average.

LAST SEASON IN SCHENECTADY
• Charlie McAvoy's first collegiate goal created a late tie but Union quickly regained the lead to post a 5-3 win over BU in the 2015-16 season opener at Messa Rink.
• Ryan Cloonan also notched his first goal as a Terrier, giving the visitors a 2-1 lead after the first. Matt Lane provided BU's first goal of the season, answering an early tally by the Dutchmen, and Doyle Somerby picked up a pair of assists.
• BU held a 34-31 shot advantage but spent just 2:09 on the power play. Union got goals from five players and went 1-of-6 on the power play.
• Sean Maguire recorded 26 saves in goal for the Terriers while Alex Sakellaropoulos made 31 saves for Union. 

BEFORE THE BREAK
• Paced by sophomore Shane Switzer's first two goals as a Terrier and a three-point night from freshman Clayton Keller, Boston University closed out the first half of its season with a 5-2 triumph over visiting Yale on Dec. 13.
• Keller tallied a goal and added two assists and Switzer scored a goal in both the first and second periods with the latter giving the Terriers a 4-0 lead 2:59 into the second period. 
• Sophomore Charlie McAvoy opened the scoring midway through the first period and classmate Bobo Carpenter also found the back of the net early in the middle stanza for the eventual game-winner.
• A power-play marker by Keller with 4:30 remaining in the middle period pushed BU's lead to 5-1 before the Bulldogs scored the lone goal of the third.
• Freshman Jake Oettinger turned aside 28 Yale shots to earn the win in goal.
• The Terriers entered the semester break with 10 or more wins for the fourth time in the past six seasons. 
• BU set a season high for shots in a period (22) and a game (41) against a Yale team that entered the night allowing only 26.5 shots per contest.

PENALTY KILL EXCELS
• The Terriers' penalty kill ranks third in the nation with a 91.2-percent success rate (93-of-102) and has successfully killed off 42 of its opponents' past 45 power plays.
• Earlier this season, BU killed off 22 straight opponent power plays, its longest such streak since 25 straight in March 2011. 
• BU has already scored six shorthanded goals after totaling just two all of last season. That total is tied for first in the nation with Harvard and Nebraska-Omaha.
• The Terriers are second in the nation in combined special teams at 57.8 percent (107-of-185). 

KELLER HONORED
• Freshman Clayton Keller was named Hockey East Rookie of the Month for December on Wednesday.
• He returned to ice after missing seven games due to injury and put up six points (2g, 4a) in three games during December.
• Keller has been selected as the Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week three tmies, most recently on Dec. 19.

BLANKING THE COMPETITION
• The Terriers are 9-3-2 in their past 14 games and four of wins were shutouts.
• 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 in both goals-against average (1.87) and save percentage (.932) and has saved 148 of the past 156 shots he has faced.
• He currently ranks fifth in the nation in goals-against average and ninth in save percentage. 
• 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 skein that was the sixth-best in program history. 

LEADING THE PACK
• Freshman Patrick Harper had at least one point in the first seven games of his BU career and has team highs in both points (20) and assists (13). 
• His points-per-game average of 1.18 ranks fifth in the nation among rookies.