WOMEN'S HOCKEY NOTEBOOK
The Vermont Catamounts (10-18-5, 7-13-4 WHEA) take on the third-ranked Boston College Eagles (28-3-3, 19-2-3 WHEA) in the opening round of the 2018 Hockey East Tournament this weekend.
 
UVM and BC take the ice in game one of a three-game series at 2 p.m. on Friday (Feb. 23) and again at 2 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 24) in game two of the series. If necessary, game three will be played at 2 p.m. on Sunday (Feb. 25). All games will be played at Conte Forum.
 
RELATED LINKS
Game 1: Video | Live Stats
Game 2: Video | Live Stats
Game 3: Video | Live Stats (if necessary)
CatamounTV Preview

SCOUTING BOSTON COLLEGE
Boston College began and ended the regular season as the third-ranked team in the country.
 
Since the start of the 2018 calendar year, the Eagles are 13-2-0 with losses to Northeastern and New Hampshire.
 
Freshman Daryl Watts led the nation in points per game (2.32) as she finished the year with 40 goals and 39 assists for 79 points. Caitrin Lonergan was second in the nation in points per game (2.06) and finished the regular season with 29 goals and 41 assists for 70 points.
 
Boston College's third-highest scorer, Makenna Newkirk, finished eighth in the country in scoring as she finished the regular season with 20 goals and 35 assists for 55 points.
 
Goaltender Katie Burt played over 2,000 minutes for the Eagles this season, and finished 17th in the country with a 1.97 goals against average and 12th in the nation in save percentage (.931). She posted four shutouts and broke the NCAA career wins record and currently has 119 career victories. 
 
EAGLE AND CATAMOUNTS THIS SEASON | CatamounTV Highlights (10/22)
Boston College won all three regular season matchups against the Catamounts.
 
In an October matchup, Lonergan scored three goals and added an assist as BC skated past Vermont, 4-2. Olivia Kilberg scored her first collegiate goal to tie the game late in the second period.
 
Vermont played a pair of games at Conte Forum in mid-January, falling 3-2 in overtime on Jan. 19 before falling 2-1 in regulation on Jan. 20. Sydney Scobee made 77 saves over the two games and goals from Alyssa Gorecki, Ali O'Leary, and Kilberg nearly pushed Vermont over BC in both games. 
 
THE CLASS OF 2018
Five members from the Class of 2018 will be playing in their final Hockey East playoffs. Amanda Drobot, Katherine Pate, Mackenzie MacNeil, Kourtney Menches, and Taylor Willard have all played four seasons in Green & Gold.
 
With 49 wins to this point of the season, the Class of 2018 rank as the third-winningest class in Vermont history. The seniors need one win to tie the Class of 2016 in second at 50 wins.
 
2018 HOCKEY EAST CHAMPIONSHIP
Boston College took the Hockey East regular season crown for the fifth straight season with 41 points. Providence claimed second with 29 points with Maine and Northeastern following with 26 and 24 points, respectively.
 
The fifth through eighth seeds and visitors in this weekend's quarterfinal matchups were New Hampshire (23 pts.), Boston University (21 pts.), UConn (20 pts.), and Vermont (18 pts.).
 
Merrimack finished the season with 14 points and missed the 2018 playoffs.
 
CATAMOUNTS AT THE 2017 HOCKEY EAST TOURNAMENT
In last year's tournament, the sixth-seeded Catamounts won games two and three over Providence College at Schneider Arena to advance to the semifinals for the first time in program history.
 
In the semifinal against Boston College, Jim Plumer's squad took part in the longest game in Women's Hockey East semifinal history. It took 3:03 of the second overtime period for Boston College to put the game winner past Madison Litchfield '17, who made 49 saves in the loss.
 
SENIORS CRACK PROGRAM ALL-TIME MARKS
Captain Taylor Willard has played 143 career games since arriving in Burlington prior to the 2014-15 season. She has only missed a single game in her career and currently sits tied for sixth all-time in games played and tied for fourth in assists (41). Additionally, she is tied for sixth all-time in points (62) and is the program's all-time leading scorer among defensemen.

Senior defenseman Amanda Drobot has missed just a single game in her Catamount career, tallying 143 career games to this point of the season. She sits tied for sixth with teammate Willard in career games played. Drobot also has 38 assists in her career, placing her in a tie for seventh in the program record book.
 
SCOBEE ANCHORS THE CATS
Sophomore goalie Sydney Scobee has played the last 12 games for Vermont between the pipes. In that span, she has recorded a 2.14 goals against average and a .934 save percentage while Vermont has gone 5-5-2 against quality opponents.
 
On the season, Scobee finished the year with 26 starts, a 2.48 goals against average, a .927 save percentage, and a 9-13-2 overall record. She also recorded three shutouts on the season.
 
She ranks 22nd nationally and sixth in Hockey East in save percentage and only 14 NCAA goalies recorded more than three shutouts in the 2017-18 season.
 
PICARD PUTS ON HATS
Sophomore Ève-Audrey Picard became the first Catamount in Division I program history to record three hat tricks in a season and the first in program history to record hat tricks in back to back games.
 
The Québec product now has 30 goals and 25 assists for 55 points through 68 career games. She is tied for eighth in program history in points and game winning goals (5), tied for sixth in goals, and has the second best scoring rate in the Division I era (0.81 points per game).

NEXT UP
The 2018 Hockey East Championship semifinals and final will be held Mar. 3-4 at Northeastern's Matthews Arena.
 
The Windjammer and Upper Deck Pub is the presenting sponsor of the 2017-18 women's hockey season