Men’s Hockey Preview: (5) Denver Pioneers at (4) BC Eagles

When: Friday, October 30 at 7:00pm
Where: Kelley Rink at Conte Forum, Chestnut Hill, MA
Broadcasters: Michael Graziano (PBP), Casey Hague (Color), & Tom DeVoto (Color)

The Halloween weekend is a huge one for Boston College sports, and one of the best matchups in college hockey playing out on Friday night as the fourth ranked BC Eagles host the fifth ranked University of Denver Pioneers. The matchup is very balanced, as Denver comes in at 3-1-0, having lost their season opener to Air Force in overtime and BC also suffered a season-opening loss to Rensselaer 2-1 and has won out since then to give them a 4-1-0 record. Last year, BC and Denver split two regular season games in Denver, and then Denver beat BC in the NCAA tournament 5-2, ending the Eagles’ season.
Boston College is led by junior goalie Thatcher Demko, who is off to an outstanding start following offseason hip surgery. He has a .6028 goals against average and a .974 save percentage to go along with three shutouts, all in just five games. The goaltending is coupled with a strong scoring attack led by forwards Zach Sanford and Miles Wood, each with six points, and Ryan Fitzgerald and Casey Fitzgerald, each with five points. Overall, Boston College is outscoring opponents 20-3 on the young season.
Denver is a solid team, but they do not have quite the net presence that the Eagles do. Tanner Jaillet and Evan Cowley have split the goaltending duties thus far, and have combined to allow eight goals in four games. Jaillet has one shutout, but Cowley has been better overall, with a GAA that is about one goal better and a save percentage .058 points higher. Offensively, Matt Marcinew and Nolan Zajac lead the Pioneers with four points apiece. One key advantage for Denver though, is that they do not commit penalties the way BC does. Denver averages just 7.5 PIM per game, while BC averages 18.60 PIM. This discrepancy could put huge amounts of pressure on Demko and the Eagles’ defense if they have to play that many minutes shorthanded against a top ranked opponent.
Another key blow for the Eagles was losing a top freshman recruit in Jeremy Bracco, who has left the program as of Wednesday, October 28, according to Boston College Athletics. He has signed to play in the Ontario Hockey League with the Kitchener Rangers. Bracco started slowly, but had turned it on in recent games, tallying three assists. While this is a significant blow for the Eagles, both now and in the future, the freshman class is still very strong and the top two lines for BC will remain unchanged.
Although it is early in the season, this matchup could prove to be a preview of the NCAA tournament in the spring and will show how good each of these teams are against top ranked teams in the country. The Eagles are looking for revenge after last year’s NCAA loss and I think they will get it.

Prediction: Denver 2 at Boston College 4