Harvard, BU To Play For Beanpot Title
The Beanpot provides a unique stage for the city of Boston to showcase its pride and dedication to college hockey.
The duck boats are gone and the confetti has been swept up. All of New England is still riding high from the Patriots’ Super Bowl victory. But Boston has another type of sports buzz mounting, and it all comes to a head next week.
The 65th annual Beanpot Hockey tournament features the Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University and Northeastern University men’s ice hockey teams as they fight for Boston hockey supremacy. It is now down to two as Harvard and Boston University will meet in the championship game at the TD Garden at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, February 13th.
The tournament got off to a great start when the Harvard Crimson beat the Northeastern Huskies 4-3 in the first game last Monday night. With some possible tournament nerves, neither team was able to put a goal on the board in the first period. Harvard opened the scoring in the second on a re-direct, only to have Northeastern answer with a power-play goal to knot the game. The Crimson lit the lamp three-straight times in the third to give them a 4-1 lead. The Huskies would not go quietly, cutting the deficit to 4-3 with 1:33 left in the third period. The comeback ultimately fell short, as Harvard was able to hang on and advance to the final.
In the second semifinal last Monday, the Boston University Terriers took on the Boston College Eagles. This was surely a match that the rest of the college hockey world was watching as well, considering it featured two top-10 teams in the No. 3 ranked Terriers and the No. 7 Eagles. BU got off to an early start and scored less than five minutes into the game. The Terriers would not look back as they led all the way en route to 3-1 victory, punching their ticket to the Beanpot championship.
The No. 3 Terriers’ reward for beating BC? A game against Alex Kerfoot and the No. 4 Crimson for all the marbles in Boston. Harvard will seek its 11th Beanpot title, having not won the championship since 1993, a 24-year drought. Boston University, led by freshman sensations Clayton Keller and goalie Jake Oettinger, finds itself in a familiar spot, appearing in its 30th Beanpot final in the last 35 years. A win would yield the 31st title in school history.
A consolation game featuring Boston College and Northeastern will take place at 4:30 p.m. on Monday before the championship game (also at the TD Garden).
The Beanpot provides a unique stage for the city of Boston to showcase its pride and dedication to college hockey. The tournament brings together fans of all generations to take in a night filled with emotion and tradition – and that’s something all Bostonians can be proud of, regardless of their alma mater.
Tickets for the championship game can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com.