#1 Boston University (0-0-0) vs. Bentley (0-0-0)
Date & Time: Saturday, October 7 - 7:05 p.m.
Venue: Bentley Arena - Waltham, Mass.
Twitter: @BUGameDay | @TerrierHockey

The No. 1 Boston University men's ice hockey team will open its 102nd season on Saturday night when the Terriers travel to Waltham to face Bentley. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Fans can watch the game on FloHockey.tv, with an audio-only broadcast located here.

TERRIER TIDBITS

• BU is the consensus number one team in the nation, ranked first in both the USCHO.com preseason poll and the USA Hockey/The Rink Live preseason poll.
• This is the first time since the 1995-96 season that BU is the preseason No. 1 team.
• Jay Pandolfo, entering his second year as head coach of the Terriers this season, was the captain of the 1995-96 squad.
• Pandolfo is the reigning Hockey East and New England Coach of the Year after guiding BU to the Hockey East regular-season and tournament titles en route to the program's 23rd Frozen Four appearance.
• Fifteen letter winners return from last year's team, including captain Case McCarthy, who is back for his fifth year after his season was cut short due to an injury in the Hockey East semifinals.
• Graduate student Sam Stevens is also back for a fifth season and will be an assistant captain along with sophomore Lane Hutson, senior Luke Tuch and graduate student Cade Webber.
• BU leads the NCAA with 272 points returning from last year's squad and ranks fourth in the country with 95 goals coming back.
• Hutson led Hockey East with 48 points as a rookie last season and was also the top point producer and goal scorer among all NCAA defensemen. 
• Six of the Terriers' top 11 point producers from last year are back for the 2023-24 season, including sophomores Jeremy Wilmer (9g, 23a) and Ryan Greene (9g, 22a), who totaled 32 and 31 points, respectively, as freshmen a year ago.
• Nine freshmen and four transfers join the Terriers this season.
• Four of those nine freshmen were selected in this summer's NHL Draft, including defenseman Tom Willander, who went 11th overall to Vancouver.
• Defenseman Gavin McCarthy, Case's brother, was taken in the third round by Buffalo while defenseman Aiden Celebrini went in the sixth round to Vancouver and Tampa chose forward Jack Harvey in the seventh round.
• BU has an all-new goalie room, as junior Mathieu Caron (Brown), senior Henry Graham (UMass) and graduate student Nick Howard (Saint Anselm) all transferred to BU this summer.
• The fourth transfer is junior forward Jack Hughes, who played the previous two seasons at Northeastern.
• In addition to Case and Gavin McCarthy, there are two other sets of brothers on the Terriers this season.
• Sophomore Quinn Hutson will once again play with his younger brother and classmate Lane, while freshman Aiden Celebrini will skate with his younger brother and classmate Macklin.
• Fourteen current Terriers were invited to NHL development camps this summer.

SERIES HISTORY

• This will be the fourth meeting between BU and Bentley, with the previous three having taken place at Agganis Arena.
• The Terriers cruised to an 8-2 victory in last season's opener against the Falcons.
• BU defeated the Falcons, 3-0, on Nov. 24, 2015.
• Bentley bested BU, 4-1, on Dec. 14, 2013.

SCOUTING THE FALCONS

• First-year head coach Andy Jones will lead a 30-man Bentley roster that includes 12 newcomers, including four transfers.
• The Falcons finished last year with an 11-21-2 record.
• Among the 18 returning players, senior defenseman Nick Bochen is the leading returning scorer with 20 points, having notched five goals and 15 assists.
• Sophomore Stephen Castagna is the top returning goal scorer, having found the back of the net seven times in addition to his eight assists last season.
• In goal, senior Nicholas Grabko and sophomore Connor Hasley split time last year. 
• Hasley went 6-10-2 in 20 appearances, posting a .910 save percentage and a 2.95 goals-against average, while Grabko was 5-11-0 in 16 starts with a 3.69 GAA and an .884 save percentage.

UP NEXT

• BU will open Hockey East play on Friday, Oct. 13, when the Terriers trek to New Hampshire.
• Puck drop is set for 8 p.m., with the game to be televised on NESN.