Hockey Shifts Lines Vs. Irish

Coming off its worst performance of the season in a 5-0 drubbing against Boston University, the No. 3 Boston College men's hockey team looks to rebound against the No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish tomorrow in South Bend, Ind., at 7:30 p.m.

While the Eagles have been struggling of late with losses in two of their last three games, the Fighting Irish have not lost since Oct. 15, a span of eight games. Head coach Jerry York spoke at length about the challenges presented by Notre Dame and how good the Fighting Irish are.

"They're a good club," York said. "They were in the Final Four last year, and they returned most of their players from last year's team, so we've had a chance to watch them a little bit. They resemble some of the teams in Hockey East, but they are still a unique team. It should be a game with two real rivals going at it. BU has been our chief rival since we've been playing them for so long, but Notre Dame is definitely a rival to Boston College in all sports."

One point of concern that York mentioned was the decrease in scoring numbers in the last several games. After being held to two or fewer goals just once in the first nine games, the Eagles have failed to score more than two in any of the three previous games. They are also coming off their first shut out of the season, and there is obviously some room for concern. York is not content to watch his team struggle and has made some changes in his line combinations that he hopes will spark some offense.

"We're switching up the lines a little bit this week," York said. "Pat Mullane is going to go with Paul Carey and Barry Almeida. Destry Straight is going to switch with Pat and be on a line with Johnny Gaudreau and Steven Whitney. And we're also going to have a pretty good battle for a spot on the fourth line between Tommy Atkinson and Quinn Smith. We haven't had a chance to see Quinn in a game yet but he's closed the gap quite a bit. Cam Spiro's involved in that, too, so that's something we'll have to decide as the week goes on."

On the defensive side, the Eagles are still without junior Patrick Wey. His absence has been felt. With Tommy Cross and Brian Dumoulin playing as much as they are and without a solid option at sixth defenseman, there is some concern in the BC locker room about how to handle the blue liners in coming weeks. York spoke a bit about these worries but also mentioned something positive to come out of the injury to Wey.

"In back-to-back games, the defensemen's minutes are something we're very concerned with," York said. "In this particular game we'll have some time to recover since we don't play the next night. And Issac MacLeod has really stepped up. He's played really well since Pat went down, and that's been one of the positives of that injury. He's had to get more ice time and he's playing a lot better."

York has been using Brooks Dyroff on defense since Wey went down, even though he is listed as a forward. However, Dyroff did not see the ice against BU even though he did dress for the game. York spoke about the sixth defenseman issue and reaffirmed his trust in Dyroff going forward.

"He's still our best option out there for our sixth defenseman," the coach said. "He didn't get a chance out there against BU. But he's there if he's needed. He is willing to do whatever we ask."