Feb. 22, 2008

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BOSTON - Back in the mix for home ice in the Hockey East playoffs, the Boston University men's ice hockey team (12-14-4, 10-8-3 HEA) enters a crucial home-and-home weekend with cross-town rival Northeastern (14-11-3, 11-8-2). The Terriers are tied for fifth place in the league standings, just one point behind both the Huskies and Providence for third place. The teams will square off at Matthews Arena on Friday before closing out the weekend at Agganis Arena on Saturday. Both games will start at 7 p.m.

The Terriers enter the weekend on a season-best four-game win streak following back-to-back overtime wins over Maine at Agganis Arena last weekend. BU, which is 7-2-2 in its last 11 league tilts, will look to string five straight wins together for the first time since January 2007.

BU and Northeastern met on the ice just 11 days ago in the Beanpot consolation game with the Terriers pulling out a 5-4 come-from-behind victory. The rivals opened their league series back on Nov. 11 and battled to a 2-2 draw at Matthews Arena. In both contests, the Terriers rallied back from a two-goal deficit.

The Terriers and Huskies have played 196 times since the 1930-31 season with BU holding a 140-50-6 (.730) advantage. The Terriers are 6-2-2 in the last 10 meetings and 13-3-4 in the previous 20.

Senior Pete MacArthur has enjoyed a great deal of success against the Huskies, tallying 14 points (6g, 8a) in 12 games. Classmate Bryan Ewing has registered four goals and four assists in 13 games against Northeastern.

The Huskies have not had consecutive wins since claiming the title at the Badger Hockey Showdown on Dec. 28-29. They are coming off a weekend split against UMass, as each team won at home. Junior Joe Vitale has a team-best 28 points on the strength of 19 assists, while classmate Ryan Ginand leads the squad in goals with 10.

The Terriers have been bolstered by strong goaltending from Brett Bennett as of late, as the sophomore has posted a 0.99 goals against average and a .951 save percentage in his last four league starts.