College Hockey Special Tuesday preview BC VS UNH and Vermont VS Northeastern open up play tonight

In recent history, Boston College and New Hampshire have had quite the rivalry since 1999. Even though UNH has not beaten BC in a Hockey East tournament game since 1997, the two teams have had great battles in the regular season. Tonight they will continue the rivalry at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.

Last season BC defeated UNH on their home ice for the first time since the 1997-98 season. That win gave them all the confidence they needed as they would win the Hockey East regular season crown, and defeated UNH in the Hockey East finals to win the tournament and gain the top seed in the NCAA tournament. Unfortunatly for both teams they did not make it past the second round last year.

For BC look out for Chris Collins who is tied for second in the country in goals scored with 6 including 2 on the powerplay and 2 shorthanded goals. After some struggle early on in the season, goaltender Cory Schneider played well in net last weekend allowing 2 goals in both games. The defense looked good as well on Saturday, after giving up 9 shots in one period, the defense stood strong only giving up 13 shots the rest of the game in their 3-2 win over Providence on Saturday.

For UNH forward Brett Hemmingway leads the team in points with 7 scoring 5 goals and adding 2 assists. Defensmen Brian Yandle is playing well on both sides of the ice. In terms of their goaltending situation, Jeff Pietrasiak is 2-1 while Kevin Regan has not won a game going 0-1-1 in two games with a goals against average over 3.30. In order for UNH to win this game they have to improve on the defense this week.

In other college hockey action tonight

Vermont will play its inagural Hockey East game as they travel to Matthews Arena to take on Northeastern.

Vermont has been playing great hockey and has a 6-0 start to show for it. Joe Fallon has started where he left off last year as he has won 5 games with a goals against average of 1.40. Forwards Brady Leisenring and Torrey Mitchell have 11 points each leading Hockey East in scoring.

Adam Geragosian goaltender for Northeastern had a tough night last Friday after playing great against BC. He let up 7 goals against RPI in the 7-5 loss but did make 27 saves in the game. Look for him to play tough against another 10 team tonight.