BC Wins First Men's Beanpot Since 2016

Boston College shook off an early deficit and rebounded for a 6-2 victory over Boston University last night in the 2026 Beanpot Tournament championship game at TD Garden in Boston. It was BC's 21st Beanpot men's crown all-time, in the 300th meeting overall between the two Commonwealth Avenue rivals, and first Beanpot championship since it also defeated BU in the title tilt in 2016.

After defending champion BU took an early 1-0, lead, BC responded with five consecutive goals, three of them on the power play. Andre Gasseau scored two goals for the 14th-ranked Eagles (16-9-1 overall), and Lukas Gustafsson notched the eventual game-winner from the point on a man advantage. Will Vote also scored twice for BC, including an empty-net insurance tally in the final two minutes of regulation, while Ryan Conmy collected four assists. 

Louka Cloutier stopped 27 shots in net for the Eagles, and also earned the Eberly Trophy as this year's top Beanpot goaltender with a .950 save percentage. BC's James Hagens took home Beanpot MVP accolades after registering two assists last night, and five points over two Beanpot contests. Mikhail Yegorov finished with 32 saves for BU (13-14-2), which got goals from Brandon Svoboda and Cole Eiserman. The Terriers and Eagles will meet again on Feb. 27-28, in a home-and-home series in Hockey East conference play.

Harvard took last night's Beanpot men's consolation contest with 4-1 victory over Northeastern. The Crimson won this year's women's Beanpot, defeating BU in overtime at TD Garden. 

 

Minnesota Outlasts Ohio State, 6-3

Brodie Ziemer scored two goals, including the game's lone power-play tally, and Brody Lamb notched a goal and an assist as Minnesota defeated host Ohio State, 6-3, last night in the lone NCAA Division I men's hockey game on the schedule.

Following a scoreless opening period at Value City Arena, Minnesota held a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes. After Max Montes tied the game for OSU early in the final frame, Lamb scored less than two minutes later to put the visiting Golden Gophers ahead for good. Minnesota then added two empty-net goals in the final two minutes for the final margin.

Michigan State transfer Luca Di Pasquo made 32 saves in net for Minnesota (8-9-1 overall, 4-3-0 Big Ten), while Kristoffer Eberly stopped 22 shots for the Buckeyes (5-10-0, 1-6-0), who have lost six straight contests. The two teams close out their two-game Big Ten series tonight in Columbus (6:30 p.m. ET, BTN).

ADDENDUM: Jake Karabela's goal just over a minute into overtime broke OSU's losing streak and lifted the Buckeyes to a 6-5 victory over the Golden Gophers on Friday. Karabela also assisted on Adam Eisele's tying goal midway through the third period that forced the extra session. Eberly stopped 14 shots on the evening for OSU, while Nathan Airey finished with 32 saves for Minnesota. The Buckeyes also finished 2-for-3 on the power play, and won 41 of 59 total faceoffs.

 

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).

BC Wins 4th Straight Beanpot

BC does it again.

Boston College won its fourth consecutive men's Beanpot Tournament title last night with a 6-3 victory over Hockey East rival Northeastern at TD Garden in Boston, in the 61st edition of the annual event.

Sophomore forward Johnny Gaudreau scored twice for the Eagles, including an insurance goal late in the third period after the Huskies had pulled within a goal.

Following a scoreless first period on Monday night, BC scored four of the five goals in the middle 20 minutes, including senior forward Stephen Whitney's tally with 0.4 seconds remaining in the period.

Shades of my senior year at BC 22 years ago, at the now-demolished Boston Garden, when the late Mark Bavis scored a last-second second period goal to give Boston University a three-goal lead en route to an 8-4 win over the Eagles in the 1991 title game. No Beanpots for BC in my four years at the Heights, but no less than eight Causeway Street crowns since then, including last night's.

Whitney, who also posted two assists last night, was part of an Eagle senior class that went a perfect 8-0 in Beanpot play, including last week's 4-1 semifinal triumph over Harvard. Also going four-for-four in Beanpot titles were classmates Patch Alber, Brooks Dyrof, Issac MacLeod, Pat Mullane, Parker Milner, and Patrick Wey. Team captain Mullane scored an empty-net goal last night to clinch the victory, assisted by Milner, who made 20 saves and also earned the Eberly Trophy as the Beanpot's top goaltender this year (best save percentage).

Northeastern freshman forward Kevin Roy was named 2013 Beanpot MVP after scoring five of NU's six goals in the tournament, including all three goals in last week's 3-2 semifinal win over Boston University. The Huskies last won a Beanpot in 1988 when they defeated both BC and BU that year. Harvard defeated BU, 7-4, in yesterday's consolation contest.

BC now has 18 Beanpot championships to its credit, and gets back to Hockey East action on Friday when it takes on Merrimack.