#3 Boston University (0-0-0) vs. Holy Cross (0-0-0)
Date & Time: Saturday, October 5 - 7 p.m.
Venue: Agganis Arena - Boston, Mass.
Twitter: @BUGameDay | @TerrierHockey

The No. 3 Boston University men's ice hockey team will open its 103rd season on Saturday night when the Terriers host Holy Cross at Agganis Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Fans can watch Saturday's game, as well as all contests at Hockey East rinks this season, on ESPN+. In addition, an audio-only broadcast will be located here. Bernie Corbett enters his 40th season as the Voice of Terrier Hockey, with Mark Linehan set to reprise his role as analyst alongside Corbett.

Saturday's game will be the first of 18 games at Agganis Arena during the venue's 20th anniversary season. Click here to read more about a series of major upgrades aimed at elevating the guest experience.

TERRIER TIDBITS

• BU enters the year ranked third in both the USCHO.com preseason poll and the USA Hockey/The Rink Live preseason poll, behind only top-ranked Denver and No. 2 Boston College.
• The Terriers are looking to return to the Frozen Four for a third straight year, having made it to the national semifinals in each of Jay Pandolfo's first two seasons as head coach.
• BU returns 16 letter winners from last year's squad, including juniors Ryan Greene (12g, 24a) and Quinn Hutson (18g, 18a), two of the Terriers' top five scorers from a year ago who both set career highs in goals, assists and points as sophomores.
• They tied for third on the Terriers with 36 points.
• Hutson was second on the team in goals last year while Greene was fourth on the team in assists.
• Both juniors will wear a letter this season, as Greene was named co-captain with sophomore Shane Lachance while Hutson is an assistant captain along with classmate Devin Kaplan.
• Greene is the first junior to wear a 'C' since Dante Fabbro in 2018-19 while Lachance is the first sophomore to wear a 'C' in program history.
• Sophomore Tom Willander, a Hockey East Second Team All-Star defenseman last season, led BU in plus-minus (+28) while totaling four goals and 21 assists for 25 points.
• Mathieu Caron, named a Hockey East Third Team All-Star in his first season at BU, enters his senior season having started all 40 of the Terriers' games as a junior.
• Caron, who led the NCAA in games played, owned a 2.35 goals-against-average and a .915 save percentage. 
• Seven freshmen and three transfers join the program this season.
• After Macklin Celebrini was selected first overall, three Terrier freshmen were taken in the 2024 NHL Draft.
• Cole Eiserman went 20th overall to the New York Islanders, Cole Hutson came off the board at 43rd overall to the Washington Capitals and Kamil Bednarik became the second Terrier taken by the New York Islanders, as they chose him at 61st overall. 
• Another freshman this season, Brandon Svoboda, was taken in the third round of the 2023 NHL Draft by the San Jose Sharks.
• Those four freshmen are among the 13 draft picks on this year's roster, which is tied for second-most in the NCAA.
• Among those 13 draft picks is senior transfer Matt Copponi, who arrives at BU after three seasons at Merrimack.
• He joins two graduate students - defenseman Brehdan Engum (UMass Lowell) and goaltender Billy Girard IV (University of New England) - as transfers to BU.

SERIES HISTORY WITH HOLY CROSS

• BU is 5-1-0 all-time against Holy Cross, not including a 5-1 exhibition win over the Crusaders on Oct. 2, 2021 at Walter Brown Arena.
• The last regular-season meeting between the two programs was at Agganis on Oct. 12, 2013, with BU earning a 3-2 win over Holy Cross.
• BU never trailed in that victory, getting goals from Danny O'Regan, Nick Roberto and Cason Hohmann along with 21 saves from Matt O'Connor.

SCOUTING THE CRUSADERS

• Holy Cross finished last season at 21-14-4, falling to AIC in the Atlantic Hockey semifinals.
• The Crusaders were picked to finish third in the conference's preseason coaches poll.
• Senior Liam McLinskey was named the Preseason Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year after earning that honor at the end of last season.
• McLinskey, a top-10 finalist for the 2024 Hobey Baker Award, led Atlantic Hockey with 47 points on 19 goals and 28 assists.
• Senior goaltender Thomas Gale joined McLinskey on the preseason All-Atlantic Hockey Team.
• Gale started 18 of his 19 appearances last season, posting an 8-8-2 record with a 2.41 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.

• BU will continue its four-game homestand to open the season with a non-conference clash against Union on Saturday, Oct. 12, at Agganis Arena.
• Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m., following the women's ice hockey team's game against Northeastern at 3 p.m.