Rivalry Re-newed

BU- BC, what else do I have to say? The Terriers and Eagles will kick off a home and home series tonight at Agganis Arena. Tomorrow the two teams play again over at Conte Forum. Both games are on CBS College Sports and start at 7:30.This weekend is the first two, with a total of four games,that the teams will play each other. They will then have one more Hockey East league game and the Beanpot opener  in early February.

BC started the season on a tear winning their first three games of the season. That included a 2-0 shutout of Northeastern and a weekend sweep of Denver in the Pioneers Magnus Arena. It looked as if they had not missed a beat from their National Championship team of a year ago. In fact this team is basically the same team as last years Eagles squad, with only a few fresh faces.Throughout late October and most of November, BC proceeded to win one lose one, until they swept Maine two weekends ago. Last weekend they fell 5-3 to Merrimack and then rolled past Vermont 6-0 on Sunday.

What To Watch For

• Cam Atkinson Boston College Forward. Atkinson leads the team in total points with 17. He is also team leader in goals with 11, five more then anyone else on the Eagles. He is a pure goal scorer, no doubt about it. Last season he had 30 goals, but just three against BU. He creates space with his speed and has a pretty good shot considering his size (5' 8'', 165) 

•  Chris Kreider Boston College Forward. Kreider is coming off an impressive freshman campaign in which he had 15 goals and 8 assist totaling 23 points. He also was a stud on the US World Junior Championship team which won the gold medal by beating Canada 6-5 in overtime in the Championship Game. He has had a bit of a slow start this season, as he did last year, but came on at about this time last year. BU does not want to see this guy get hot in the series. He is a lethal scoring threat and will likely (hopefully) head to the pros next season. 

• Brian Gibbons Boston College Forward. Gibbons is one of only three seniors on the Eagles. He is second in scoring with 17 points (6g 11a). He, like Atkinson, can score from everywhere. He has good speed and a hard shot.

• John Muse, Boston College Goalie.  Muse has 8 wins including three shutouts. He has 322 saves and looks to be back to his freshman form, the year he took the Eagles all the way to a National Championship in 2008.

The Last Time They Met...

was last year's Beanpot Championship game. BC dropped the Terriers 4-3, but BU did come back from 4-1 down in the third.