BOSTON - All eyes in college hockey will be on the No. 2 Boston University men's ice hockey team Saturday (Sept. 30) when the Terriers host No. 16 Union in the only NCAA game on opening night of the 2017-18 season. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

After Niagara visits Colgate for a 4 p.m. game in the first official game of the college hockey season, the Terriers and Dutchmen will take center stage live on TerrierTV. This is the first time in the 96-season history of BU hockey that a game will take place in September.





BU and Union finished adjacent in the final PairWise last season with the Terriers finishing one spot ahead of the Dutchmen in large part to their thrilling 5-4 overtime victory when the teams met at Agganis on Jan. 5. Union fell to Penn State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament while BU came up just a goal short of the Frozen Four. 

This is the fourth straight year that BU has faced Union and the teams are an even 1-1-1 in the previous three meetings. In the first-ever meeting in Boston on Jan. 3, 2015, the teams battled to a 3-3 draw before the 2015-16 season opener in Schenectady saw the Dutchmen emerge victorious in a 5-3 contest. 

Union, which posted a 25-10-3 record last season, will have to replace two of the top four scorers in the nation as Mike Vecchione graduated after tying for the nation lead in points (29-34--63) and Spencer Foo finished fourth with 62 on 26 goals and 36 points before foregoing his senior season to turn professional.

Junior Sebastian Vidmar is the team's returning leader after after putting up 41 points on 14 goals and 27 assists last season. Two of Vidmar's classmates, Brett Supinski (8g, 28a) and Cole Maier (15g, 10a), are back following 36- and 28-point seasons a year ago, respectively.

In goal, the Dutchmen will likely turn to junior Jake Kupsky following the graduation of Alex Sakellaropoulos. Kupsky, a San Jose Sharks draft pick, posted an .878 save percentage and a 3.98 goals-against average in eight starts as a sophomore in 2016-17.

The Terriers have reloaded with an impressive freshman class after graduating four players and having three others leave early to begin their NHL careers. Amongst the top returners are a trio of forwards who all put up at least 30 points last season. Sophomore Patrick Harper is coming off an impressive rookie season in which he registered 37 points on 13 goals and 24 assists. Now upperclassmen, juniors Jordan Greenway (10-21--31) and Bobo Carpenter (14-18--32) will be relied on to lead the offense after strong efforts as sophomores. 

BU's defensive corps this season is nine deep, including seven who are NHL draft picks. That group includes three freshmen who were selected in the third round of the 2017 NHL Draft. The six returnees have appeared in a combined 377 games.

Brandon Hickey was elected captain of this year's squad and has been a key contributor to the BU d-corps his first three seasons, missing only seven games - all to injury - and has 40 career points (15g, 25a). Classmates John MacLeod and Brien Diffley are veterans of 96 and 80 games, respectively, and sophomores Dante Fabbro and Chad Krys will look to take the next step after impressive rookie seasons.

After a stellar freshman campaign, Jake Oettinger became the first goaltender in five years to be selected in the first round of the NHL Draft. He posted a .927 save percentage and a 2.11 goals-against average as a rookie, which ranked 10th and 12th nationally, respectively.