Boston College at UMass Lowell: Line Combinations

LOWELL, MASS. -- The slate is clean. Good evening and welcome to the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell, where the 17th-ranked River Hawks will host No. 4 Boston College in the Hockey East season opener for both teams. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. New England Sports Network will be televising the game with Tom Caron and Billy Jaffe on the call.

Tonight's game is a rematch of last season's NCAA Tournament Northeast Regional Final, which the Eagles won 4-3 on March 30 at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. The all-time series between the two Massachusetts-based clubs, which BC leads 63-35-8, dates back to 1978.

Both clubs started the season with strong offensive showings in exhibition contests last weekend.

The Eagles, last year's Hockey East regular season champion and Frozen Four representative, used a pair of goals from rookie Alex Tuch and three assists from sophomore Adam Gilmour to down New Brunswick, 6-4. UML, the two-time league tournament champion, topped St. Thomas University by a 7-3 count thanks to two goals by senior Terrence Wallin.

BC led the nation with 4.10 goals per-game last year and has not been shutout in 99 consecutive games, while UML's 1.88 goals allowed per-game average led the nation on the flip side.

Here are tonight's lines:

EAGLES

Quinn Smith - Michael Sit - Destry Straight
Cam Spiro - Matthew Gaudreau - Danny Linell
Zach Sanford - Ryan Fitzgerald - Austin Cangelosi
Chris Calnan - Adam Gilmour - Alex Tuch

Scott Savage - Michael Matheson
Noah Hanifin - Steve Santini
Ian McCoshen - Teddy Doherty

Thatcher Demko
Brad Barone

RIVER HAWKS

Ryan McGrath - Chris Maniccia - Robert Francis
C.J. Smith - Joe Gambardella - Michael Lauria
A.J. White - Evan Campbell - Terrence Wallin
John Edwardh - Michael Fallon - Michael Colantone

Zack Kamrass - Tyler Mueller
Tommy Panico - Jake Suter
Dylan Zink - Michael Kapla

Kevin Boyle
Olli Kalkaja
Jeff Smith