UMass Lowell at Boston College: Pregame Notes and Line Combinations

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Good Friday evening everyone and welcome inside Conte Forum on the campus of Boston College where it is Senior Night for the Eagles and time for their second meeting of the season with No. 16 UMass Lowell. Faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

With the Hockey East season down to its final two weekends, tonight marks an important game for both sides as BC sits in second place just two points ahead of UML. The teams haven't met since the River Hawks opened their season with a 5-2 win over the Eagles at Tsongas Center on Oct. 10, 2014.

River Hawk sophomore Joe Gambardella scored a goal and added an assist in the season-opening game with BC and also posted three points in UML's last outing, a 7-1 win over UMass last Saturday in which it scored five goals in the first period.

Freshman John Edwardh led the River Hawk attack with a five-point night on a hat trick and two assists. As the win followed a 3-3 tie, Lowell retained the Alumni Cup trophy over the University of Massachusetts' flagship campus.

The Eagles finished off a weekend split with Vermont with a 6-5 win last Saturday. Junior defenseman Teddy Doherty and sophomore forward Ryan Fitzgerald each contributed points in the contest, lifting them to the 50 mark for their careers. Doherty scored one of BC's three goals in the opening frame.

Tonight marks the final regular-season home game for BC's seven-member senior class, which has provided some of the depth head coach Jerry York's team needed in the absence of now-professional rookies Johnny Gaudreau, Kevin Hayes and Bill Arnold. The group, led by 14-point scorer Quinn Smith, comes in with 101 career wins.

Here are tonight's lines:

RIVER HAWKS (17-10-4, 10-7-2)

A.J. White - Michael Fallon - Michael Louria
Ryan McGrath - Michael Colantone - Terrence Wallin
Robert Francis - Evan Campbell - Adam Chapie
C.J. Smith - Joe Gambardella - John Edwardh

Tyler Mueller - Zack Kamrass
Tommy Panico - Chris Forney
Dylan Zink - Michael Kapla

Kevin Boyle
Jeff Smith
Olli Kalkaja

EAGLES (18-10-2, 11-6-2)

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

Ian McCoshen - Noah Hanifin
Michael Matheson - Steve Santini
Scott Savage - Peter McMullen

Thatcher Demko
Brad Barone
Brian Billett