BOSTON - Playing at Fenway Park for the third time in seven years, the No. 5 Boston University men's ice hockey team returns to Hockey East play on Sunday (Jan. 8) with an outdoor tilt against Massachusetts. The game, which is the opener of 2017 Capital One Frozen Fenway, begins at 1:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live on NESN.

PREVIOUSLY AT FENWAY
• The Terriers earned a 3-2 win over rival Boston College in the inaugural Frozen Fenway in 2010 before dropping a 7-3 contest to Maine in the 2014 edition.

THE GREAT OUTDOORS
• Boston University has played in 37 prior outdoor games and holds a 21-13-3 (.608) record in those contests.
• The Terriers' first-ever outdoor game took place on Feb. 4, 1920, against Boston College at the Eagles' University Rink.
• BU's most recent outdoor contest that was not held at Fenway was an 8-4 victory over Holy Cross at MIT Rink on Jan. 7, 1956. 

GAINING STEAM
• The Terriers are 10-3-2 in their past 15 games and are riding a season-best three-game win streak following Thursday's 5-4 overtime triumph over No. 10 Union.
• Four of the wins during the stretch have been shutouts.
• For the first time in the Terriers' 95-season history, they blanked their first three home opponents. 

SERIES HISTORY
• Since their first game on Jan. 16, 1920, the Terriers and Minutemen have played 76 times. BU holds an impressive 59-11-6 (.816) record over UMass.
• BU is undefeated in the past eight meetings (7-0-1) with wins in each of the past six. The Terriers are 14-2-3 against the Minutemen since the beginning of 2010.
• The teams have met 63 times in Hockey East play and the Terriers hold a 47-10-6 (.794) advantage in those contests.
• BU holds a 4-1-6 (.636) edge in the 11 overtime contests in the series. All five shutouts between these teams have been recorded by the Terriers. 

SCOUTING THE MINUTEMEN
• Massachusetts has dropped seven of eight contests since earning a 5-4 win over Notre Dame on Dec. 2.
• Most recently, UMass was blanked at home by American International on Tuesday by a score of 3-0. 
• The Minutemen are currently tied for eighth in the Hockey East standings with five points (2-7-1 record). 
• Sophomores Austin Plevy (5g, 7a) and Kurt Keats (4g, 8a) share the scoring lead with 12 points each while senior Steven Iacobellis (4g, 7a) has chipped in with 11.  
• Rookies Griff Jeszka (5g, 5a) and Jonny Lazarus (5g, 4a) have added 10 and nine points, respectively, to the balanced scoring attack.   
• Freshman Ryan Wischow has started 16 games in goal and has a .909 save percentage to go along with a 2.71 goals-against average.  

LAST SEASON
• Boston University has swept its league series with Massachusetts in each of the past two seasons and also swept the Minutemen in last year's Hockey East Opening Round.
• Last year, the Terriers posted a 7-2 home win on Jan. 9 thanks to a Matt Grzelcyk hat trick before adding a 6-3 road win on Feb. 5.
• In addition to Grzeclyk's three goals in the opener, six other Terriers had two-point efforts. In the road victory, Jordan Greenway scored twice and Oskar Andrén posted his first collegiate goal.
• In the playoffs, Bobo Carpenter's overtime goal was the difference in a 2-1 win. The next night, UMass erased four different one-goal leads before Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson's second goal of the night ended the Minutmen's season in a 5-4 contest.

TERRIERS STEAL SHOW AT WORLD JUNIORS
• A record seven Terriers competed at the 2017 World Junior Championship in Montreal and Toronto. That total was the highest representation from any North American university or junior team in a given year in the 41-year history of the tournament.
• Four freshmen (Kieffer Bellows, Patrick Harper, Clayton Keller, Jake Oettinger) and two sophomores (Jordan Greenway, Charlie McAvoy) earned gold medals with Team USA while freshman defenseman Dante Fabbro claimed a silver after the American squad won the championship, 5-4, in a game that was decided by a shootout. 
• The seven BU players combined for 30 points (11g, 19a) and Keller led the U.S. squad with 11 points on three goals and eight assists.
• Keller and McAvoy were named to the All-Tournament Team, Keller and Greenway were both selected in Team USA's Top 3 Players of the tournament and Bellows scored two goals in the gold-medal game.
• BU tied the record set by Minnesota in 1979 for most players on a U.S. World Junior team with six. More recently, the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League had six players across three countries at the 2010 World Junior tournament.
• McAvoy, a defenseman who was an assistant captain for Team USA, was named the U.S. Player of the Game in the gold-medal match. He made his second consecutive World Junior appearance and was the 11th person to make back-to-back U.S. WJC rosters while playing for the Terriers. 
• Fabbro was just the third Terrier to play for Canada at World Juniors. The other two -  Adrian Aucoin in 1993 and Brandon Hickey in 2016 - were also defensemen.
• Oettinger was the third BU goaltender to ever make a World Junior team, joining Rick DiPietro and Cleon Daskalakis.

THURSDAY AT AGGANIS
• Sophomore Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson collected his first collegiate hat trick, including the final two goals of the game, to lift Boston University to a 5-4 overtime victory over No. 10 Union on Thursday night at Agganis Arena. 
• Forsbacka Karlsson notched his second goal of the game on the power play to knot the game at 4-4 with 2:54 remaining in regulation. He then sealed the victory – and the hat trick – when he collected his own rebound off a blocked shot and converted from the left crease at 2:51 of overtime. 
• Classmate and linemate Bobo Carpenter tallied a goal and adding two assists, including one on the overtime winner when he helped win a faceoff that directly led to the goal. 
• All five goals were from sophomores as Shane Switzer opened the scoring 3:10 into the contest with his third goal in two games.
• The Terriers are now 5-0-0 this season in both non-conference home games and contests against ECAC teams.
• Both teams went 2-of-4 on the power play. This was the first time since Nov. 11 at Michigan that the Terriers' penalty kill allowed two goals.
• This was the Terriers' first win over Union in three tries as the series now stands at 1-1-1. 
• The Terriers without the services of seven of their top players as they were playing in the gold-medal game of the 2017 World Junior Championship in Montreal.

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.

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 eighth 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. 

PENALTY KILL EXCELS
• The Terriers' penalty kill ranks third in the nation with an 89.6-percent success rate (95-of-106) and has successfully killed off 44 of its opponents' past 49 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 third in the nation in combined special teams at 57.5 percent (111-of-193). 

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.  
• Harper was named Hockey East Rookie of the Week on Nov. 14 after putting up a goal and two assists in the Terriers' 4-2 victory at Michigan. 

TERRIER TIDBITS
• BU has scored first in each of its past four games after allowing the first tally in four straight contests prior to that. 
• Sophomore Jordan Greenway has 15 points (5g, 10a) in his past 13 games and he is tied for seventh in the nation in game-winning goals with three.
• Sophomore Charlie McAvoy has at least one assist in 10 of his 17 games thus far this season. 
• Freshman Clayton Keller is one of 19 Division I players with two shorthanded goals this season.
• Twenty-five of BU's 58 goals thus far have come in the third period.