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Tonight on NBCSN: Hockey East playoffs -- No. 5 Boston College hosts Vermont

Johnny Gaudreau

It’s Game One of the Hockey East quarterfinals and this is when Jerry York’s Eagles usually start to shine.

Boston College Eagles (20-10-4) vs. Vermont Catamounts (11-17-6) – 7:00 p.m. ET

Season series: Boston College went 2-0-1 against Vermont

Things didn’t quite go how BC expected them to. They’ve become accustomed to finishing high atop the Hockey East standings when the regular season ends. This time around they are but the No. 2 team behind UMass-Lowell it what turned out to be a very close race for No. 1. Don’t let that fool you into thinking there’s something wrong with these Eagles.

Boston College can score plenty of goals. Calgary Flames prospect Johnny Gaudreau (pictured) finished the regular season tops in points with 46 including 18 goals. Senior forward Steven Whitney has been just as dangerous as well scoring 24 goals and finishing with 41 points. BC also boasts two more players with over 30 points (Pat Mullane and Flames prospect Bill Arnold) and junior Blackhawks prospect Kevin Hayes is nearly there himself.

When you compare that to what Vermont has, it makes the Catamounts pale in comparison. Junior forward Chris McCarthy is their only player with 30 points and he leads the team in goals with 13. He’s also their only double-digit goal scorer so far this season. Sophomore forwards Jacob Fallon and Kyle Reynolds are their only other two players with 20 or more points.

If Vermont stands a chance of pulling a huge upset, they’ll need freshman goalie Brody Hoffman to play out of his mind while sustaining the BC attack. They’re also going to need help from Eagles senior netminder Parker Milner in hoping he’s not-so sharp. Vermont was able to score on him a bit during last weekend’s final games earning a 4-4 tie on Friday night, but they’ll have to forget about the 7-2 drubbing they took the following night.

If there’s anything that can help Vermont it’s that Boston College hasn’t dominated at home this year going just 9-5-2 at Conte Forum and just 7-5-1 in Hockey East games. All that said, this is the time of year when we start to see the best out of Jerry York’s teams, don’t expect that to change this weekend.