Boston College vs. Harvard: NCAA Northeast Regional Pregame Notes and Lines

WORCESTER, Mass. -- Good evening and welcome back inside DCU Center in downtown Worcester, Mass., before the nightcap of today's semifinal doubleheader at the 2016 NCAA Northeast Regional. City rivals Boston College and Harvard are set for their first-ever meeting in the national tournament, with faceoff set for 8:02 p.m.

Tonight's game will be televised on ESPNU and ESPN3.com with John Buccigross, Barry Melrose, and Quint Kessenich on the call.

The Eagles are looking to bounce back from a Hockey East semifinal loss to Boston College and hope their positive history in "The Heart of the Commonwealth" repeats itself this weekend. BC has won five consecutive regional titles here in Worcester and emerged as national champion in 2008, 2010, and 2012.

BC scored just 15 seconds into the game last Friday night at TD Garden, but faced deficits at both intermissions and took a 5-4 loss to the eventual league champion Huskies. BC put together a 15-game unbeaten streak beginning at the start of January, but has now lost three of its last five games.

Freshman Miles Wood scored two goals in the contest, giving him an even ten goals this season. Junior Ryan Fitzgerald leads the Eagles' eight double-digit goal scorers with 22, while boasting a team-high 44 points.

The Crimson advanced to the ECAC title game for the second straight year, but came up on the short end of a 4-1 score against Quinnipiac last Saturday in Lake Placid, N.Y. Despite the loss, Harvard will face its crosstown rival for the 124th time to begin its 23rd all-time NCAA appearance.

Harvard senior Jimmy Vesey is the career goal scoring leader among players participating in the NCAA Tournament with an even 80, including a team-high 24 this season. The Predators prospect and North Reading, Mass., native was held off the scoresheet against Quinnipiac, but notched a goal and an assist in last Friday's semifinal victory over St. Lawrence.

Vesey's classmate Kyle Criscuolo has scored eight game-winning goals on the season, including the clincher 2:18 into overtime to beat the Saints in Harvard's second-to-last contest.

Here are tonight's lines:

CRIMSON (19-10-4)

Jimmy Vesey - Alexander Kerfoot - Kyle Criscuolo
Luke Esposito - Sean Malone - Colin Blackwell
Seb Lloyd - Ryan Donato - Jake Horton
Devin Tringale - Tyler Moy - Lewis Zerter-Gossage

Desmond Bergin - Clay Anderson
Adam Baughman - Brayden Jaw
Viktor Dombrovskiy - Thomas Aiken
Victor Newell (extra defenseman, game time decision)

Merrick Madsen
Michael Lackey
Peter Traber

EAGLES (26-7-5)

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

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

Thatcher Demko
Ian Milosz