FOURTH GAME IN SEVEN DAYS: Tonight's game marks the end of a very busy week for the Terriers. The schedule began with last Friday night's game at New Hampshire. Then, on Sunday, the two teams met again at Brown Arena. After having two days off, the Terriers were at Merrimack Wednesday night and finish off the week tonight at the Volpe Complex.

Brian Collins

A BREAK OUT GAME: Wednesday night's 4-1 win here was a break out on a couple of different accounts. The four-goal total was the B.U.'s highest since they tied Providence, 5-5, on January 11th, which was a span of four games…Two of the team's four goals came on the power play marking an end to a six-game stretch during which they were 2-for-35 (.06 percent). In fact, it had been eight games since they scored more than one power play goal…Finally, junior Brian Collins (Shrewsbury) had his first multiple-goal game of the year. Collins was the team's top returning scorer from last year with 14-16-30 points in 37 games. Two years ago, as a freshman, he had 12-12-24 and was the team's top-scoring freshman. However, this year, he had been struggling with just 6-3-9 entering Wednesday night's game. He did not have more than one point in any of the team's first 23 games. It all changed on Wednesday night when he scored twice on the power play and had his first game-winning goal of the year.

JANUARY ENDED ON A WINNING NOTE: With Wednesday night's win, the Terriers closed out January with a winning record. They finished the month with a 4-3-1 record, as they have now had a winning record in each of this season's four months…Their wins have come in a weekend sweep of Boston College on the 18th and 20th, a 3-2 decision to open the month on the 4th, Wednesday night's 4-1 win over Merrimack. On the down side, they were swept by New Hampshire last weekend and lost to Northeastern, 3-0, on the 6th. B.U.'s only other decision was a 5-5 overtime score at Providence on the 11th.

FINAL REGULAR-SEASON MEETING: Tonight's game marks the final regular-season meeting of the between the Terriers and Warriors. Below is a recap of the previous games.

SERIES HISTORY: Tonight marks the 64th time since the 1964-65 season that these two teams will be playing, and the Terriers hold a decided edge with 51 wins. The Warriors have 9 victories, and there have been 3 ties …In the last six games, the Terriers are 3-2-1. In the three wins, the Terriers have given up just one goal, and it came in Wednesday night's 4-1 victory. They blanked the Warriors, 3-0 at Walter Brown Arena on November 4, 2000 and 4-0 last October 28th…The first game between the two teams was played on December 11, 1964 at the old Boston Arena, and B.U. skated to a 13-2 win…The two teams have played every year since the 1989-90 season.

AT THE VOLPE CENTER: Including Wednesday night's game, these two teams have played 21 games in North Andover, and B.U. holds a decided edge with 15 wins. The Warriors have 4 victories, and there have been 2 ties…Merrimack has enjoyed its greatest success here in the last five games, as it has a 2-2-1 record during this stretch.

John Sabo

BEST VS. THE WARRIORS: Of this year's Terrier team, senior Mike Pandolfo (Burlington) has enjoyed the most success against Merrimack. In 11 career games vs. the Warriors, he has 6-6-12. Junior John Sabo (Harding Township, NJ) is next with 2-6-8 in eight games, while Chris Dyment (Reading) is third with 3-3-6 in 10 games... Sabo does lead the team in scoring at the Volpe Complex with 2-4-6 in four games.

GOALIES VS. MERRIMACK: Both Sean Fields (Edmonton, ALTA) and senior Jason Tapp (Kelowna, BC) have seen action against the Warriors…Their combined record against them is 4-3-0 with a 2.16 GAA and an .906 save percentage. Fields comes into tonight's game with a 3-1-0 record along with a 1.00 GAA and a .955 save percentage. Two of his wins have come via shutouts. Last year, he blanked Merrimack, 3-0, with 25 saves on November 4, 2000. He became the first Terrier freshman goalie to post a shutout in his first collegiate game since Scott Cashman shut out Merrimack, 8-0, on November 4, 1989. Fields' other shutout over the Warriors came earlier this year. He picked up his third career win against them on Wednesday night with a 22-save performance. His only loss to them came last March 2nd when he had 17 saves in the 3-2 defeat…Fields is 1-0-0 with a 1.00 GAA and a .957 save percentage at the Volpe Complex. Tapp has a career record of 1-2-0 with a 3.72 GAA and an .843 save percentage against the Warriors. His last decision against them was on November 3, 2000 when he had 21 saves in a 5-4 loss…His win over them was on November 6, 1999 when he had 18 saves in a 4-2 victory…His record at the Volpe Center is 0-2-0 with a 4.60 GAA and an .820 save percentage.

TOPPED LAST YEAR'S WIN TOTAL: With their 4-1 win over Merrimack on Wednesday night, the Terriers notched their 15th win of the season, surpassing last year's season total. A year ago, the Terriers were 14-20-3.

501 GAMES SINCE 1989-90: Tonight's game marks the 501st game for the Terriers since the 1989-90 season. That means that over the past 12-and-a-half years, the Terriers are averaging 39.92 games a year. During this time, they have amassed an impressive 321-140-39 mark for a .680 winning percentage. They have played in the NCAA Tournament in 10 of the 11 years and advanced to the Frozen Four in seven of those years. They won the Division 1 championship game in 1995, while they played in the title game in 1991, 1994, and 1997. They have also won nine Beanpots, four Hockey East tournament championships, and six Hockey East regular-season titles. Below is how the Terriers have done during the past 12-plus years.

FIELDS TOUGHEST IN SECOND PERIOD: The Terrier goalie has been the stingiest in the second period. In 20 games this year, he has yielded just 12 goals in the middle period. His next best period has been the first during which he has given up 16 goals. In the third period, he has been victimized 24 times.

ONE-GOAL GAMES: Thus far this year, the Terriers have been involved in 9 one-goal games, and they are 7-2 in those decisions. Their only losses were a 3-2 decision to UMass/Lowell on December 1st and a 4-3 overtime decision on Nebraska/Omaha on December 21st. Their one-goal wins have been over RPI, Northeastern, Maine, Yale, UMass/Amherst, Northeastern, and BC. The Maine and Yale games needed overtime to determine a winner.

COME FROM BEHIND: In 13 of the team's first 24 games this year, the opponent has scored first. In those 13 games, the Terriers are 7-4-2, while they are 8-3-0 when they score first.

IN THE NATIONAL POLLS: As a result of being swept by New Hampshire last weekend, the Terriers slipped from sixth in both the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine and U.S. College Hockey Online polls to 10th in the USCHO.com and 11th in the USA Today poll. In the former, they finished with 245 points, just 25 points behind 9th-place UMass/Lowell. In the latter, they earned 114 points, only 7 behind 10th-place Cornell…This is the Terriers' lowest spot in the polls since October 15th when they were 11th.

4-5-1 VS. TOP 15: The Terriers are 4-5-1 vs. teams that are ranked in the Top-15 this week. They are 0-2-1 vs. New Hampshire, which is first in the nation in the USA Today poll and second in the USCHO ranking; 1-0-0 vs. Maine, which is 6th in USCHO and 8th in USA Today; 0-1-0 vs. UMass/Lowell, which is 9th in both polls; 1-1-0 vs. Cornell, which is 10th in USA Today and 11th in USCHO; 1-1-0 vs. Nebraska/Omaha, which is 13th in both polls; and 1-0-0 vs. Harvard, which is 14th in the USCHO ranking and tied for 14th in the USA Today poll …The next three-highest vote getter is Northeastern, and the Terriers are 2-1-0 against the Huskies.

ROAD WARRIORS: After playing four of their first five games at home, the Terriers have been in an extended travel mode. Dating back to their November 9th game at Maine, the Terriers have played 13 of their last 19 games on the road. Since their trip to Maine, their only home games were against Cornell on November 24-25, UMass/Amherst on 12/9, Northeastern on 1/6, BC on 1/20, and New Hampshire on 1/27.

Brian McConnell, who is the team's top-scoring freshman, is second on the team overall in scoring on the road.

RECORD AWAY FROM HOME: Thus far this year, the Terriers are 9-4-1 on the road. They have wins at Vermont, Maine, Yale, Harvard, UMass/Amherst, Nebraska/Omaha, Northeastern, Boston College, and Merrimack, while their losses have been at Boston College, at UMass/Lowell, at Nebraska/Omaha, and at New Hampshire. Their tie came at Providence. In the 14 games, the Terriers have outscored their opponents, 51-40…Individually, Mike Pandolfo leads the way both in goals with 12 and in points with 19. Sophomore Frantisek Skladany (Martin, Slovakia) who missed both games at Nebraska/Omaha and the game at Northeastern, has a team-leading 9 assists in 11 road games and is third in scoring with 12 points. Freshman Brian McConnell (Norfolk) is second in scoring with 6-7-13 in 14 games…Sean Fields is 8-3-1 with a 2.72 GAA and an .901 save percentage, while Jason Tapp is 1-1-0 with a 3.29 GAA and an .860 save percentage. Fields has wins over Vermont, Maine, Harvard, UMass/Amherst, Nebraska/Omaha, Northeastern, BC, and Merrimack, while his losses have been to BC, UMass/Lowell, and New Hampshire. His tie was vs. Providence…Tapp's win came at Yale, and his loss was at Omaha. The two goalies have a combined 2.95 GAA and an .891 save percentage in the 13 road games…In special teams' play, B.U. has converted on 14-of-65 power play chances for a .215 percentage, while they have killed off 59-of-69 chances by their opponents for an .855 percentage.

NO SOPHOMORE YEAR JINX: The sophomore class has been one of the keys to the Terriers' success this season. A year ago, the group of Frantisek Skladany, Gregg Johnson (Windsor, CT), Kenny Magowan (Kelowna, BC), Mark Mullen (Dorchester), and Steve Greeley (Scituate) combined for 17 goals and 21 assists for 38 points. This year, this same group has 20 goals and 36 assists for 56 points. Skladany is tied for second on the team in both goals and points, as senior Mike Pandolfo is the only Terrier with more goals (15) and points (26). In the meantime, Magowan leads the team in assists with 11…A year ago, they had 15 percent of the team's 109 goals, 12 percent of the 181 assists, and 13 percent of the 290 points. This year, they have 24 percent of the team's 82 goals, 26 percent of the 141 assists, and 25 percent of the 223 points...Here is a breakdown of the group's points this year, and what they had last year.

FIELDS ALSO IN CLASS: Sean Fields is also showing he doesn't believe in the sophomore-year jinx. A year ago, Fields was 6-8-1 with a 2.53 GAA and a .904 save percentage. Coming into tonight's Merrimack game, he has been the Terriers' goalie of record in 20 of the first 24 games, as he did not play against Yale (11/13), the first Cornell game (11/24), the second Nebraska/Omaha game (12/21), and the second Northeastern game (1/6). His record to date is 13-5-2 with a 2.58 GAA and a .905 save percentage. SCORING BY CLASS: Here is a breakdown of scoring by each class and the percentage of the team totals each represent

PANDOLFO NEEDS 5 FOR 100: Terrier senior captain Mike Pandolfo comes into tonight's game needing just 5 points to reach 100 for his career. In 137 games, he has 58-37-95. Other notes on Pandolfo · He has at least one point in 17-of-24 games this year. Only once this year has he gone as many as 2 games without a point. · He has one three-point game (vs. UMass on 12/7) and 7 two-point games. · He has at least one goal in 12 games. · He has 3 two-goal games, the most recent coming vs. Northeastern on Jan. 4. · Scored his 50th career goal vs. UMass/Lowell on 12/1.

Mike Pandolfo

PANDOLFO AMONG CONFERENCE SCORING LEADERS: With his goal and 2 assists in the sweep of BC on January 18-20, Mike Pandolfo finally climbed into the Hockey East leading scorers' list. He added an assist vs. New Hampshire last Sunday (1/27) as he maintained his spot among the leaders in league games only. In 15 Hockey East games, the Terrier senior has 7-8-15, which ties him with 2 others for 13th place. However, his overall point total of 15-10-25 leaves him just one point shy of being listed among the leading scorers in all games. His 15-goal total, though, is the seventh-highest total in the league.

FIELDS ALSO AMONG THE HOCKEY EAST LEADERS: Sean Fields continues to be ranked among the Hockey East goalie leaders this week. Fields is sixth in the league in GAA in league games only with a 2.46 in 14 games. New Hampshire's Michael Ayers leads the league with a 1.84 GAA in 9 games. In all games, Fields is also 6th in GAA in all games played with a 2.66 GAA in 19 games. UMass/Lowell's Cam McCormick, who has played in 13 games, is first with a 1.29 GAA.

IN HOCKEY EAST TEAM STATISTICS: Here is how the Terriers rank as a team in both league games only and in all games.

KILLING PENALTIES: The Terriers have done an outstanding job killing penalties this year as is evidenced by their being first in Hockey East in penalty killing in all games and second in league games only. In the last 20 games, they have given up just 12 power play goals in 102 chances for an .882 penalty-killing percentage…They have given up two power play goals in just 4 games this year. Northeastern (11/2) and Harvard (11/20) each was 2-for-4, Nebraska/Omaha (12/21) was 2-for-11, while Providence (1/11) was 2-for-7. By comparison, Merrimack (0-for-4 on 10/28 and 0-for-7 on 1/30), New Hampshire (0-for-4), Maine (0-for-3), Cornell (0-for-4), UMass/Amherst (0-for-5) on 12/9, Nebraska/Omaha (0-for-4) on 12/20, Northeastern (0-for-2) on 1/6, and BC (0-for-4 and 0-for-4) in both games on 1/18 and 1/20, and New Hampshire (0-for-5) on 1/25 were shut out on their power play attempts.

THE CAPTAINS: This year's Terrier co-captains are Mike Pandolfo and Chris Dyment. Pandolfo is the younger brother of former Terrier and now New Jersey Devil Jay Pandolfo. The older Pandolfo was the captain of the Terriers' 1995-96 team. This marks the second time that brothers have served as a Terrier captain. Actually, the record belongs to the Meagher family, as three of them have been Terrier captains. Terry Meagher started the string when he was co-captain of the 1975-76 team. Rick was the co-captain of the 1976-77 team. Finally, Tony was the captain of the 1979-80 team…Last year, Dyment was an assistant captain of the Terriers.

Head Coach Jack Parker

NOTES ON JACK PARKER: The veteran Terrier head coach is now in his 29th season. Including this year's 15-7-2 start, his career record is 645-322-63 for a .657 winning percentage.

PARKER VS. THE WARRIORS: The Terrier coach comes into tonight's game with an all-time record of 44-8-3 (.824) vs. Merrimack. Parker was 4-0-0 vs. Tom Lawler, 5-0-0 vs. Bruce Parker, and 29-5-1 (.843) vs. Ron Anderson. Since the 1998-99 season when Chris Serino took over the coaching reigns, Parker was 5-3-2 (.600) vs. Merrimack, while he is 1-0-0 vs. interim coach Mike Doneghey…He is 15-4-2 (.762) at the Volpe Center.

PARKER VS. HOCKEY EAST: Including this year's 9-5-2 record, Parker has an all-time record of 365-178-45 (.659) against Hockey East teams.

BY THE MONTH: As noted below, the Terriers were 3-0-0 in October, 5-2-1 in November, 3-2-0 in December, and 4-3-1 in January. Here is a closer look at how the team and individual players performed each month.