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).

2018 Hobey Hat Trick Announced

The 2018 Hobey Hat Trick is set.

The three finalists have been selected for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, named for the former Princeton University hockey and football star, and annually awarded since 1981 to the top player in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey.

University of Denver sophomore forward Henrik Borgström, from Helsinki, Finland, led the Pioneers in scoring this season with 23 goals and 29 assists for 52 points in 40 games. He helped DU to the 2018 NCHC Championship, and played his final game in a 5-1 loss to Ohio State in the NCAA Midwest Regional final on March 25 before signing with the NHL's Florida Panthers.

Harvard University junior forward Ryan Donato led the Crimson with 26-17—43 points despite taking time out to play for the United States in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where he led the Americans with five goals and six points. The Boston native signed with the Boston Bruins after Harvard was eliminated in the ECAC semifinals by Clarkson on March 16, and responded with three points in his first NHL game. 

Northeastern University junior forward Adam Gaudette paced the Huskies with 30-30—60 points in 38 outings, including Northeastern's first Beanpot Tournament crown in 30 years. The Braintree, Mass. native signed with the Vancouver Canucks after the Huskies were eliminated by Michigan in an NCAA Northeast Regional semifinal on March 24.

The 2018 Hobey Baker Award will be presented on April 6 in St. Paul, Minn. (NHL Network, 6 p.m. ET). Last year's winner was Denver defenseman Will Butcher, who then led the Pioneers to the 2017 NCAA title and is now a member of the New Jersey Devils.

Northeastern Downs Michigan State

Michigan State closed out the first half of its 2015-16 hockey campaign with a 2-1 non-conference loss at NCAA opponent Northeastern on Saturday evening at Matthews Arena.

Thomas Ebbing tallied the only goal for the Spartans (5-11-2 overall), with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation. NU had staked itself to a 2-0 lead on a first-period goals from Mike McMurtry, followed by a second-stanza score by Zach Aston-Reese. 

Senior goaltender Jake Hildebrand had 29 saves for MSU, while freshman netminder Ryan Ruck earned his first career victory for Northeastern (3-12-3) with 26 saves.

The game marked MSU's second single-game voyage to the Boston area this fall. The Spartans fell at Boston College, 6-4, on Nov. 13, despite rallying from a three-goal third-period deficit with three consecutive tallies in less than two minutes. MSU also split a two-game series at Princeton last season.

MSU men's basketball head coach Tom Izzo, who secured his 500th career victory against BC last month, was on the Spartan hockey bench for at least part of Saturday night's game at NU. Both MSU's men's and women's basketball teams were in Boston to play Northeastern as part of the Winter Showdown, according to msuspartans.com. The Spartan women triumphed by a 77-51 count over the Huskies on Friday night at Matthews Arena, while the MSU men did likewise with a 78-58 win on Saturday afternoon in the same venue.

Spartan hockey will return to action on Dec. 29 against Michigan Tech in the first round of the 2015 Great Lakes Invitational at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

Boston College Wins Fifth Straight Beanpot Title

Johnny Gaudreau’s scoring string is intact, and so is Boston College men’s hockey’s Beanpot Tournament winning streak after No. 1 BC upended No. 12 Northeastern by a 4-1 count on Monday night at TD Garden. The Eagles claimed their fifth consecutive trophy, continuing their longest-ever streak in Beanpot play, while the Huskies’ heartbreak continued for a 26^th straight February.

This one may have been just as excruciating for Northeastern as some of its other Beanpot losses in recent years, including a 7-6 overtime loss to BC in 2011. After BC’s Kevin Hayes and NU’s John Stevens traded goals over the first 40 minutes on Monday, the Eagles put the contest—and the title—away in the third stanza.

BC captain Patrick Brown notched what turned out to be the game-winner with 5:30 remaining in regulation, before Gaudreau, who also posted an assist on the evening to increase his point streak to 24 straight games, put the puck into an empty NU net with 1:16 left for his 25^th tally of the campaign. Brown then added insult to injury with his second goal of the night, and ninth of the season, with 50 seconds remaining.

Clay Witt recorded 36 saves for the Huskies (16-10-3), who last celebrated on Causeway Street in 1988, while Thatcher Demko made 29 stops for the Eagles (22-4-3), who wore the gold throwback uniforms they first donned at Frozen Fenway last month in a 4-3 victory over Notre Dame.

BC has now claimed 19 Beanpot crowns in all, and five in a row beginning in 2010.  Boston University, which still holds the overall tournament lead with 29 titles, fell to Harvard, 6-2, in Monday’s consolation contest.