After a home victory over New Hampshire on Friday, the Boston University men's ice hockey team heads to No. 7/8 Providence on Saturday (Jan. 12) in search of a two-win weekend. The game will be televised on NBC Sports Boston on tape delay following Boston Celtics coverage.
Today is the busiest day of the year for Division I men's college hockey with 59 of 60 teams in action. BU is closing our a stretch of three games in five days following a 25-day break for finals and the holidays. The Terriers are unbeaten in their last four contests (3-0-1), which is the longest current streak of any Hockey East team.
Of BU's first nine games in 2019, this is the only one that takes place outside of Boston. Included in this stretch is an upcoming five-game homestand, the team's longest since the 2008-09 season, when it played six straight games at home.
In this year's home opener on Oct. 26, the Friars posted a 5-0 victory.
The Terriers and Friars first met in the 1926-27 season and have played 183 times since that encounter. BU leads the series, 109-57-17 (.642). BU is 14-6-4 against Providence in their past 24 meetings but has just three wins in the past 11 (3-4-4). In this year's home opener on Oct. 26, the Friars posted a 5-0 victory.
The Terriers are 34-30-7 (.528) against the Friars in the 71 meetings at Schneider Arena.
PC had a eight-game unbeaten streak (5-0-3) snapped on Friday in a 4-2 road loss at Boston College. The Friars are one point behind BU in the Hockey East standings with three games in hand.
Junior Josh Wilkins leads the team in both points (24) and assists (17) while Jack Dugan has enjoyed a strong rookie season with 23 points (7g, 16a). Junior Kasper Björkqvist and senior Scott Conway share the team lead in goals with nine apiece and junior Jacob Bryson (3g, 11a) is the top-scoring blueliner on the team with 13 points.
In goal, senior Hayden Hawkey ranks second among Hockey East goaltenders with 1.99 goals-against average and also has a .911 save percentage.
The Providence defense ranks second in the nation in shots allowed per game, giving up just 22.7.
Freshman Joel Farabee and junior Dante Fabbro each had a goal and two assists to lift BU to a 5-2 victory over UNH Friday. The win allowed the Terriers to complete a series sweep of the Wildcats for the second straight year and they are now undefeated in their past nine contests (7-0-2) against UNH.
Farabee has now scored a goal in three straight games while fellow rookie Jack DeBoer, who opened the scoring on Friday with his first goal as a Terrier, is also on a three-game point streak with a goal and two assists.
Fabbro leads the team in both points (16) and assists (12) while fellow co-captain Bobo Carpenter has 13 points on the strength of a team-best 10 goals.
Junior goaltender Jake Oettinger has a 1.71 goals-against average and a .947 save percentage over the past four contests. Despite giving up five goals against them earlier this season, he has a 1.82 GAA and .942 save percentage in seven starts against the Friars.
