Vermont at Boston College: Hockey East Quarterfinals Game 1 Pregame Notes and Line Combinations

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Good evening and welcome inside Conte Forum on the campus of Boston College where the No. 3 Eagles are set to host Vermont to open the quarterfinal round of the 2016 Hockey East Tournament. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m.

These two teams met just three weekends back with the Eagles pulling off a two-game road sweep, winning by 3-1 and 4-1 scores. The Catamounts advanced to the semifinals at TD Garden for just the third time with a series victory in this very building last year, holding BC to just one goal over the final two games after a Game 1 loss.

BC is the top seed in Hockey East for the first time since 2014, but the 13th time in program history. The Eagles finished the regular season with a 3-1 loss to UMass Lowell on Feb. 27, but were unbeaten in the 15 games prior.

The Eagles have scored 134 goals on the season, already surpassing last year's total by 27. Junior Ryan Fitzgerald leads a group of four BC skaters who have upended their individual point totals, having posted 20 goals and an even 40 points.

Fitzgerald scored his 50th career goal against the River Hawks on Feb. 26. He has scored a team-high six goals and nine points since the Beanpot, taking over the team lead from freshman Colin White.

UVM won its first two postseason games on the road ― by 2-1 and 4-3 scores ― at UConn last weekend, pulling the only opening-round upset in Hockey East. The ninth-seeded Catamounts have now advanced to the quarterfinal round in three straight seasons.

Freshman Brian Bowen scored the series-clinching goal with just 1:19 left in regulation last Saturday, following up senior defenseman Yvan Pattyn's tying goal halfway through the third period. Sophomore Rob Darrar returned to the lineup and scored the winner in the second period a week ago.

Mike Santaguida has started each of UVM's last three games after missing 17 in a row due to injury. The junior stopped 56 of the 60 shots he faced in last weekend's series and earned sixth win of the season with a 24-save effort on Saturday.

Here are tonight's lines:

CATAMOUNTS (14-20-3)

Brendan Bradley - Jarrid Privitera - Mario Puskarich
Brady Shaw - Craig Puffer - Conor O'Neil
Brian Bowen - Rob Darrar - Kevin Irwin
Travis Blanleil - Jonathan Turk - Anthony Petruzzelli

Chris Muscoby - Yvan Pattyn
Trey Phillips - Alexx Privitera
Mitch Ferguson - Mike Lee

Mike Santaguida
Packy Munson
Pat Feeley

EAGLES (24-5-5)

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

Ian McCoshen - Casey Fitzgerald
Michael Kim - Steve Santini
X - Scott Savage

Thatcher Demko
Ian Milosz
Alex Joyce