Dec. 7, 2016
By Dan Colleran
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The No. 13/14 University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team closes out its first semester slate by playing host to No. 3/4 Boston College on Saturday night at the Compton Family Ice Arena.
The Irish are coming off a game two, 3-0 shutout victory at Massachusetts (Dec. 3), while the Eagles most recently defeated Northeastern, 5-3, on Tuesday night (Dec. 6).
Notre Dame and Boston College will be playing for the 42nd time in a rivalry that dates back to December of 1969 and includes meeting in the 2008 NCAA Championship game. The teams also played in the Compton Family Ice Arena Dedication Game on Nov. 18, 2011, which ended with Bryan Rust’s overtime winner with 1.1 seconds remaining on the clock.
OVERVIEW | GAME 17
Matchup: Boston College at Notre Dame
Date: Saturday, Dec. 10
Time: 7:10 p.m. (ET)
Site: Notre Dame, Ind.
Arena: Compton Family Ice Arena (5,022)
Television: NBC Sports Network [NBCSN]
Play-by-Play: Steve Schlanger
Analyst: Anson Carter
Live Streaming: NBC Sports App
Live Radio | Audio: WZOC 94.3 FM | WatchND
Play-by-Play: Darin Pritchett
Live Stats:
Live Updates: @NDHockey
Series History: BC leads, 21-18-2
NOTES TO KNOW
— Cal Petersen is 2-2-0 in four career starts against Boston College and has a 2.52 goals against average to go along with a .936 save percentage.
— Junior defenseman Jordan Gross leads all Irish skaters with three points against the Eagles on two goals and an assist in four games.
— Junior forward Jake Evans ranks third in Hockey East and 14th in the country with a .628 faceoff winning percentage this season (201 wins -119 losses).
— The Fighting Irish will be looking to hand Boston College its first Hockey East loss of the season as the Eagles have started 2016-17 with a program-best 8-0-1 mark in Hockey East play.
THE SERIES
— Boston College holds a slight edge in the all-time series, 21-18-2.
— The series began Dec. 20, 1969 and, since 1995, the teams have met every year except for two (1999-2000 and 2005-06).
— Last season, the Irish and Eagles split their regular-season series.
— In game one last year, the Irish trailed 3-1 at 7:05 of the third period but rallied to score three straight goals to post a 4-3, come-from-behind win at third-ranked Boston College on Dec. 10 at Conte Forum.
— In Notre Dame’s 3-1 Senior Night victory on Feb. 28, 2015, Cal Petersen made 55 saves – his highest career save total in a regular season game.
— The Eagles helped dedicate the Compton Family Ice Arena on Nov. 18, 2011 as No. 4 Notre Dame downed No. 3 BC, 3-2 in overtime when Bryan Rust scored with 1.1 seconds remaining. — Boston College led the first half of the series, going 14-7-2 against the Irish from 1969-2002, but Notre Dame has led the rivalry since, going 11-7-0 since 2003.
— The teams met in the 2014 Hockey East quarterfinals with Notre Dame claiming the best-of-three series at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, upsetting the top-seeded Eagles.
— Other recent notable meetings include a 4-3 BC win at Fenway Park (Jan. 4, 2014), while BC also defeated the Irish 4-1 in the 2008 NCAA Championship game in Denver, Colorado (Notre Dame’s first appearance in the NCAA Championship game).
BJORK PLAYS LEADING ROLE
— Junior forward Anders Bjork, a 2014 fifth-round pick by Boston, is one of the country’s leading scorers with 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points.
— Bjork reached the 25-point plateau in his 15th game of the season, marking the fastest any Notre Dame player has reach 25 points in the Coach Jackson era (and dating back to at least 2001-02).
— Bjork has been held without a point in just four of Notre Dame’s 16 games this season (one of which was the 0-0, two-period tie at Northeastern).
— Bjork has posted seven multi-point games, including four-point games against ASU (Oct. 8) and UConn (Oct. 28).
— The Irish are 8-3-1 on the season when Bjork notches at least one point (5-2-0 when he scores at least one goal).
BJORK RANKS
Category | HEA Rank* | NCAA Rank*
Goals (11) | t-2nd | t-8th
GWG (3) | t-1st | t-2nd
Assists (14) | t-4th | t-9th
Points (26) | 2nd | t-4th
Points/game (1.62) | 2nd | 7th
Pts./3rd period (11) | 1st | 1st
* – Entering Dec. 9 games
TOP MARKS IN THE COUNTRY
— Released on Nov. 15, the Irish rank third in NCAA Div. I hockey in the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) with a score of 94 (Bowling Green is first with 100, followed by Air Force at 96). — Notre Dame also ranks first in NCAA Div. I hockey in the Federal Rate (measured by the federal government in its Department of Education report) with a score of 82.
— Miami is second in the Federal Rate with a score of 79.
— The University of Notre Dame has claimed a share of the 2016 national championship for graduating student-athletes in all sports–in the process posting the top NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) figure (98) for its student-athletes for the 10th straight year.
— ND —
Dan Colleran, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College (’06 & ’08G).