"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."
.............i'm a bit apprehensive about this game especially after sunday's brutal showing on national TV.we have not fared well against the Irish the last 6-7 years. I can only remember beating them once in fact out there in a close one. ND may have won 4 out of the last five at least..........and gave BC problems even before ND became a national power IIRC
