Denver at Boston College: Pregame Notes and Line Combinations

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Good evening and welcome inside Kelley Rink at Conte Forum on the campus of Boston College. There's a good one in store here in Chestnut Hill on this Friday as the No. 4 Eagles host No. 5 Denver in a NCAA East Regional rematch.

Tonight marks the 30th all-time meeting between the powerful programs, which have opened postseason play against one another in each of the last two seasons. The Pioneers moved to the regional final with a 5-2 win this past March 29 at Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, R.I.

The Eagles are still in a good spot after losing star freshman Jeremy Bracco to the Ontario Hockey League on Wednesday, having won three consecutive games without allowing a goal.

Junior Thatcher Demko backstops the country's best defense, one that has allowed just three goals all season and none since a 2-1 loss to RPI on Oct. 11. The Canucks prospect is just the 21st goalie in NCAA history to pitch three consecutive shutouts ― one against Wisconsin and two at Colorado College.

Adam Gilmour scored twice in Saturday's 5-0 win in Colorado Springs while sophomore Zach Sanford assisted on two goals and scored one shorthanded for the first time in his career. Gilmour's third multi-point performance as an Eagle also included his fifth game-winning goal.

Denver is off to a 3-1-0 start, but has not seen game action since Oct. 17 when it earned a third straight win to complete a weekend sweep of Michigan State.

Junior Matt Marcinew and senior Nolan Zajac are tied for the team lead with four points apiece. Three of Marcinew's points have been goals while Zajac, who is one of just three defensemen in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference averaging a point per-game or better, has the inverse stat line.

Junior Evan Cowley and sophomore Tanner Jaillet each saw considerable playing time between the pipes a year ago and have each started two games early on this year. Cowley has won both of his decisions while Jaillet's lone win was a 16-save shutout in DU's last outing.

Here are tonight's lines:

PIONEERS (3-1-0)

Trevor Moore -  Danton Heinen - Dylan Gambrell
Emil Romig - Quentin Shore - Troy Terry
Evan Janssen - Gabe Levin - Logan O'Connor
Grant Arnold - Matt Marcinew - Jarid Lukosevicius

Tariq Hammond - Nolan Zajac
Adam Plant - Will Butcher
Blake Hillman - Matt VanVoorhis

Evan Cowley
Tanner Jaillet

EAGLES (4-1-0)

Miles Wood - Austin Cangelosi - Chris Calnan
Zach Sanford - Adam Gilmour - Alex Tuch
Matthew Gaudreau - Colin White - Ryan Fitzgerald
Travis Jeke - Christopher Brown - J.D. Dudek

Ian McCoshen - Casey Fitzgerald
Teddy Doherty - Steve Santini
Josh Couturier - Scott Savage

Thatcher Demko
Chris Birdsall
Alex Joyce