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.

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

The entrance is fronted with a brick archway, featuring intricately 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 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.

But Matthews' true mission was to serve as the center of the Northeastern hockey program since the program's inception, in 1929.

To many Boston-based hockey and sports fans' displeasure, however, 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, though, 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.

2.2 scoreless innings of relief for Emmet Sheehan in the #WorldSeries last night 🔥

📸 via @MLB https://t.co/Do3XKhV21c pic.twitter.com/1tUp8YvflN
— Boston College Baseball (@BCBirdBall) October 28, 2025

BC football wide receiver Jaedn Skeete appeared to have practiced on Tuesday, according to the team's social media account. Could he play this Saturday? The Eagles' passing offense could desperately need him in order to get back into the win column.

Last week, Bill O’Brien said that junior wide receiver Jaedn Skeete “won't be able to return.”

I guess he meant won’t be able to return for BC’s game at Louisville, because he is officially back at practice, according to this photo from the team’s social media account: pic.twitter.com/fm2NcjXdiH
— Graham Dietz (@graham_dietz) October 28, 2025

Boston College and Notre Dame football have both experienced win streaks against one another in the past 25 years, but the series is currently heavily lopsided toward the Fighting Irish.

From 1999-2008, @BCFootball won seven of eight matchups against @NDFootball.

Since then, the Eagles have lost nine in a row to the Fighting Irish.

This trend, in my opinion, really details the priorities of the two schools in the post-2010 college football era. pic.twitter.com/9CxfnnVrDT
— Graham Dietz (@graham_dietz) October 28, 2025

On this day in Boston College Eagles History:

October 30, 1965: The Eagles forced nine turnovers against VMI, en route to a 41-12 victory.

October 30, 1982: Tight end Scott Nizolek set a school record with 228 receiving yards against Penn State.

October 30, 1999: Frank Chamberlin notched 25 tackles against Syracuse to tie a Boston College record. DeJuan Daniels also returned a kickoff 100-plus yards, but Miami pulled out a 31-28 victory.

Boston College Eagles Quote of the Day:

[On Tony Gonzalez's game-winning catch to beat Notre Dame:] "It was a great catch. He caught the ball going up over the defender and brought it down."

- Tom O’Brien

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