BC Men's Hockey to Play at Historic Ice Hockey Venue One Last Time: The Rundown

Matthews Arena, originally named The Boston Arena, is as extraordinary as hockey rinks come—or athletic facilities in general, for that matter.

Walking into Matthews Arena is like traversing through a time capsule back to the mid-20th century.

The entrance to Matthews is fronted with a brick archway, featuring intricately-designed patterns within the stone arch, and the interior of the building is reminiscent of a classic movie theatre lobby, adorned with old popcorn stands, shelves of candy, and cubbies full of soon-to-be-sold team merchandise.

Technically the world's oldest ice hockey arena, Matthews was the original home of the Boston Bruins, the Celtics, and the Beanpot, which is the annual ice hockey tournament played between four of Boston's elite collegiate ice hockey programs—Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, and Harvard.

Matthews has served as the center of Northeastern hockey since the program's inception in 1929, but it has far outlived any player's or coach's hockey career of that period.

To many Boston-based hockey and sports fans' displeasure, the University made plans to demolish Matthews Arena and replace it with a new multi-purpose athletics and recreation complex, which will feature a 310,000-square-foot facility.

The new site is set to open in September of 2028, according to the Northeastern Global News, but the deconstruction is set to begin this Winter. In the meantime, however, there is still a little bit of juice to be squeezed out of the original facility, and the Boston College men's hockey program will take part in that process on Friday.

The No. 11 Eagles (2-2-1) have a two-game series scheduled with the Huskies at the end of this week, beginning with a home tilt on Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by a road game at Matthews on Friday at 7 p.m. as well.

It will be the last time BC gets to grace the ice of the historic Boston-located sporting venue, but it will remain in the record books forever as a place where intense competitions between some of the greatest hockey players to ever live on the planet transpired.

The Huskies are 3-1-0 and 0-1 in Hockey East play. Thursday's matchup will mark the first conference game for the Eagles, who are coming off a rough, 7-3 beatdown by No. 6 Denver last Friday, this season.

BC Women's Soccer Set to Face No. 7 UVA to Conclude Regular Season

As quick as it comes, it seems to go.

Thursday night, the Boston College women’s soccer season will finish up regular-season play with a road tilt in Charlottesville, Va.

The Eagles (5-7-5, 1-6-2 ACC) have not put together the season they would have wanted after going 5-1-3 between their first matchup of the season, a 4-1 takedown of Stonehill College on Aug. 14, and their 0-0 draw at St. John’s on Sept. 14.

Following that game, BC suffered a winless streak of seven games in a row despite losing or tying all seven by a margin of two goals or less.

The Eagles finally grabbed a 1-0 win at Syracuse on Oct. 19 before falling to Clemson, 1-0, on Oct. 24. 

Sophomore Amalia Dray provided the game-winning goal against the Orange in the 32nd minute on a penalty kick, increasing her scoring total to three (seven total points), and junior goalkeeper Olivia Shippee dazzled in net with her seventh shutout of the year.

BC’s final test could be the program’s toughest yet, as the seventh-ranked Cavaliers (11-2-3, 5-2-2) look to add another check in the win column with a formidable home record of 7-1-1.

BC is averaging 1.18 goals per game this season—20 goals in 17 matchups—while limiting opponents to a clip of 0.76 goals per game. Senior midfielder Sophie Reale leads the Eagles with six goals and 13 points, while freshmen Emily Mara, Sophia Lowenberg, and Milla Lee have all accumulated three goals.

For Virginia, one of the nation’s top programs which ranks fourth in the ACC in terms of conference record, fifth-year attacker Lia Godfrey has spearheaded the offense with 10 goals and four assists, while senior Maggie Cagle has contributed seven goals and four assists.

UVA averages 2.06 goals per game while surrendering just 0.69 goals per game.

Here is The Rundown, your daily stop for all Boston College Eagles news, for Thursday, Oct. 30.

Thursday's Schedule

Women's Soccer at No. 7 UVA, 7 p.m. | Live Stats

Men's Hockey vs. Northeastern, 7 p.m. | Watch | Listen | Live Stats

Wednesday's Results

No athletic events took place on Wednesday, October 29.

Countdown to Boston College Men's Basketball Season Opener

5 days. The Eagles take the court against Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton, Fla. on Monday.

Did You Notice?

• Former BC baseball pitcher Emmett Sheehan pitched a pair of innings and then some, giving up zero runs, in the Los Angeles Dodgers' thrilling Game Three win of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays.