Northeastern Claims Both 2023 Beanpot Crowns

Northeastern University is both king and queen of the Beanpot tournament for 2023.

The Northeastern men defeated Harvard University, 3-2, in a shootout on Monday night at a sold-out TD Garden in Boston, the first shootout in Beanpot history, although for NCAA tournament purposes the game is officially a tie contest. The Huskies still secured their fourth Beanpot title in the last five years following a 30-season drought. It was also the first time the Huskies and Crimson had met in the final in the tournament's 70-year history.

Gunnarwolfe Fontaine scored the opening and tying goals in regulation for 16th-ranked NU, sandwiching his scores around a pair by Harvard's Matthew Coronato. Aidan McDonough notched the decisive goal in the shootout for NU. Devon Levi, who stopped the two shots he faced in the shootout, made 32 saves for Northeastern (14-10-5 overall), and earned the Beanpot MVP award plus the Eberly Trophy as the tournament's top goaltender. Mitchell Gibson finished with 27 stops for the No. 9 Crimson (17-6-2).

The Northeastern women followed suit a day later with a 2-1 win over host Boston College in the 44th women's final, held at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill. A second-period goal by tournament MVP Maureen Murphy stood up as the game-winner, after Mia Brown had staked the No. 5 Huskies to a 1-0 lead in the opening stanza. BC's Hannah Bilka made it a one-goal game late in the third period with an extra-attacker tally.

Gwyneth Philips stopped 27 shots for NU (28-2-1), earning her the the Bertagna Award as the tournament's most outstanding goaltender, while Abigail Levy made 34 saves for the Eagles (18-13-1).

NHL, NCAA and Hockey East Make Summer Moves

 

Things have certainly been changing for college hockey so far this year.

In addition to new recruiting rules and an upcoming new conference, the biggest alteration to date is that Joe Bertagna (Harvard) will be stepping down as commissioner of Hockey East after the 2019-20 season, following 23 years at the helm of one of NCAA Division I hockey's top leagues. The conference has won six NCAA men's titles under his watch, four of those by Boston College, with the most recent national crown coming from Providence in 2015. A former goaltender at Harvard, Bertagna previously worked in administration for the ECAC before taking over Hockey East.

Several former NCAA players have also been on the move in the NHL following the conclusion of the 2018-19 campaign in June, including one who played his last year of college this season. Here's a sampling of those moves, through trades or free agency:

- Phil Kessel (Minnesota) from Pittsburgh to Arizona
- Joe Pavelski (Wisconsin) from San Jose to Dallas
- Jacob Trouba (Michigan) from Winnipeg to the New York Rangers
- Jimmy Vesey (Harvard) from the New York Rangers to Buffalo
- Dakota Joshua (Ohio State) from Toronto to St. Louis
- Alex Kerfoot (Harvard) from Colorado to Toronto
- Gustav Nyquist (Maine) from San Jose to Columbus
- Anthony Stolarz (Omaha) from Edmonton to Anaheim
- Cam Talbot (Alabama-Huntsville) from Philadelphia to Calgary
- Steven Santini (Boston College) from New Jersey to Nashville

Among NHL free agents who re-signed with their original clubs, Anders Lee (Notre Dame) inked a seven-year, $49 million deal to remain as captain of the New York Islanders.