A Preview of a HUGE Weekend

This is the one that should have been marked on the calendar for weeks. BC has been working up for a big weekend since their dismal performance in Denver. Well, the heart of the conference season hits them head-on in the form of back-to-back dates with last year's Hockey East finalists, BU and UMass-Lowell. Here's a look at both games:

Friday - BU @ BC

We have previewed the Terriers before, but here is a Cliff Notes version of what BC needs to do to get some revenge for their loss just two weeks ago at Fenway Park:

1. Keep traffic away from the front of the net - all of BU's goals last time were from the crease.
2. Play your game - If BC plays their game (speed and precision) they will be able to get pucks past Milan.
3. Stay out of the box - BU is going to play physical. BC can get pulled into retaliating and getting away from what they want to do (see Maine last week). Stay disciplined, and you win this game.

The ice will be better. There will be no snow. It won't be 20 degrees. There will be a bigger, more vocal, pro-BC crowd (hopefully). The students are back and basketball stinks right now, so this is the perfect storm of good things for the Eagles going into this game. They get to Milan early and take advantage of a vulnerable Terrier squad, but its still BC-BU so the game is closer than it should be.
Prediction: BC 3 BU2

Saturday: BC @ UMass-Lowell

This game is the bigger of the two, surprisingly. UML is sitting in fifth place right now, battling with Maine for the last home ice spot. They are also coming off a tough weekend where they lost both ends of a home-and-home with archrival UMass. They are ripe to pull an upset. Last year, the Riverhawks made it all the way to the finals of the Hockey East tournament before losing a heartbreaker to BU. They looked to have a better ending this year, as they returned all six of their top scorers from last year, and in the early going it looked good, as they won seven of their first ten games (losing only one outright).

The Riverhawks have one of those rare luxuries: two fantastic goalies that can be relied on to win the big one in Carter Hutton and Nevin Hamilton. Hutton sits in the top ten nationally in save percentage, while Hamilton is right behind him. It will be tough to get pucks past these guys, but the shots will be there. UML's defense is not as strong as they were last year, evidenced by the fact that both goalies sit only a few percentage points north of .500.

Offensively, UML is lead by top scorer Kory Falite, who has a 11-9-20 line for the year. Their power play is also not as strong as last year, when they were near the top of the league. Chris Auger is their go-to guy on the PP, but he has only 1 goal on the year, so BC can afford to play a bit more physical if necessary.

They have the home ice advantage, but last year notwithstanding, BC has had a pretty good run of success at Tsongas Arena. Don't get me wrong, I think UML will be a tough out Saturday night. They seem to get up for the Eagles in their barn, and the crowd will be overwhelmingly pro-Lowell. I still like Lowell to make some noise in the late going this season, but BC is on a roll right now.
Prediction: BC 4 Lowell 2