Merrimack 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 where the No. 3 Eagles are set to host Merrimack in the first game of a Hockey East home-and-home series. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m.

The Eagles are 26-0-3 in their last 29 home games against Merrimack, a stretch that dates back to the Warriors' last win on Oct. 31, 1997. BC swept last year's season series and has won each of its last five contests with Merrimack, while it has a 64-21-5 all-time advantage.

BC won the first 1-0 game in Beanpot history on Monday night at TD Garden, and did so in dramatic fashion. Sophomore Alex Tuch scored his 11th goal of the season just 1:57 into overtime as the Eagles edged past rival Boston University. The Beanpot title was the Eagles' 20th all-time and sixth in the last seven years.

The Eagles extended their unbeaten streak to ten consecutive games with Monday's win, tied with Air Force and Quinnipiac for the nation's longest. However, BC has not taken four points in a two-game Hockey East weekend since November as it has tied the back end in its last four.

The Eagles will play tonight's game without freshman Miles Wood, who was suspended for one game after head contact late in Monday's first period.

Merrimack posted its first Hockey East point since Dec. 11 in Saturday night's 2-2 tie with UConn at Lawler Arena. Senior Brian Christie scored the game-tying goal with 56.5 seconds remaining in regulation, while junior Hampus Gustafsson handed out two assists.

The Warriors ended a ten-game losing streak with a 10-0 win over Arizona State on Jan. 31 in their action before facing UConn.  Merrimack is tied for tenth place in Hockey East, but stands just two points out of sixth. Saturday's stalemate was the Warriors' sixth this season, one shy of tying a school-record set in 2011-12.

Here are tonight's lines:

WARRIORS (8-14-6, 2-8-6)

Jace Hennig - Brian Christie - Ben Bahe
Brett Seney - Hampus Gustafsson - Mathieu Tibbet
Justin Hussar - Alfred Larsson - Mathieu Foget
Derek Petti - Michael Babcock - Chris LeBlanc

Marc Biega - Alex Carle
Jared Kolquist - Ethan Spaxman
Matt Cronin - Jonathan Lashyn

Collin Delia
Drew Vogler
Craig Pantano

EAGLES (20-4-4, 11-1-4)

Matthew Gaudreau - Colin White - Ryan Fitzgerald
Adam Gilmour - Austin Cangelosi - Christopher Brown
Teddy Doherty - Zach Sanford - Alex Tuch
Peter McMullen - J.D. Dudek -Travis Jeke

Ian McCoshen - Casey Fitzgerald
Michael Kim - Steve Santini
Josh Couturier - Scott Savage

Thatcher Demko
Ian Milosz
Chuck Van Kula