Beanpot Title: #1 B.C Routs Harvard, #5 Northeastern Holds off B.U in Semi-Finals.
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38th Annual Women’s Beanpot Tournament: The Battle for Boston.
Boston – Tuesday night marked the 38th annual women’s Beanpot, this year held at Walter Brown Arena home of the Boston University Terriers. The Beanpot in short is a local tournament with four NCAA Division I hockey programs, battling for bragging rights for the City of Boston… oh and some trophy! All jokes aside, ask any hockey player from the New England area this is THEE tourney of the year, unless you make the Natty but that’s different! Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern and Harvard all part take in the yearly tournament and have since the inaugural contest in March of 1979.
This year the field is highlighted by the #1 ranked Boston College Eagles and the #5 ranked Northeastern Huskies. Both teams are led by arguably the best two players in all of women’s college hockey. Alex Carpenter for the Eagles has built off an impressive junior campaign where she was awarded the nations top honor in receiving the 2015 Patty Kazmaier Award. Kendall Coyne for the Huskies has improved drastically since last season and now playing her final year as well, would like to get Northeastern some hardware other than a Beanpot Championship.
Northeastern drew Boston University, the “primetime” game with an 8pm start. BU has not been the same since the departure of their senior class last season, most notably Marie-Philip Poulin to the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. Boston College would face off against Harvard in the other semi final, the same team that handed the Eagles their first loss in last years Beanpot championship. The Crimson not only gave the Eagles their first loss on the season but their last as well in the NCAA Frozen Four where Harvard would move on to the National Championship against Minnesota.
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#1 Boston College Scores Five in First, Rout Harvard!
The Boston College Eagles fueled by redemption, earned their right to play for a sixth Beanpot championship. The Eagles received five first period goals and defeated defending Beanpot champions Harvard 8-0 Tuesday night.
Defense proved to be the key as BC would get first period scores from three defenseman Kaliya Johnson, Toni Ann Miano, and Megan Keller to go into the first intermission ahead 5-0. The Crimson had only given up more than two goals twice this year and both came in losses against top 10 teams (#10 Minnesota-Duluth 4-2, #5 Clarkson 5-2).
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The Eagles would not get complacent with the lead and continued to break down the Crimson defense and put shots on net. Following the five scores in the first, Emerance Maschmeyer was pulled by head coach Katey Stone.
“She’s (Maschmeyer) been unbelievable for us all year and there was no way I was going to pull her during the period because I don’t feel like she deserved that by any means. A lot of those goals weren’t her fault…”
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The Eagles would come out in the second period and continue their dominance on the ice. BC out shot Harvard in the first two frames 38-7 and would get a tallies from Lexi Bender and Megan Keller would notch her second of the game to make the lead 7-0. Five of the first seven goals for the Eagles came from the defense; Benders goal in the second made her the fourth different defender to score.
“I can’t say enough about how well our team played today,” BC head coach Katie Crowley said. “I think we put a full 60 minutes together. I was really happy with that full 60 minutes. There were very few times where I thought we made mistakes, so as a coach, I cant complain about that. I thought it was a great game for us.”
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Katie Burt posted her 10th shutout of the season in the win, pushing her career total to 20. This is the second straight year Burt has posted double-digit shutouts, last year she matched Molly Schaus ’11 with the program single season record. This shutout also moves her one back of Schaus to tie the program record at 21.
Boston College will play for its sixth Beanpot title next Tuesday night; the Eagles won titles in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2014. This is the 15th championship appearance for BC, the Eagles went 0-8 in their first eight appearances, since then they have gone 5-2 in the last seven.
So which team will they play? Northeastern or Boston University?
Northeastern missed the title party last season, as the Huskies were knocked out in the first round by Boston College. It marked the first time in four years the Huskies would not play for the championship. Kendall Coyne has had a sensational career at Northeastern and this season is proving to be the best yet. Her play against Boston University, scoring 20 career goals against the program, two of which came tonight, is the most against any opponent for the forward.
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The Huskies defeated BU 7-1 in their only matchup of the season, the Terriers kept Coyne of the goal chart but Northeastern got seven goals from seven players to take that late October matchup.
Tuesday, the Terriers struck first! Midway through the first Rebecca Russo got a feed from Rebecca Leslie and snuck it past Brittany Bugalski. The Terriers would out shoot Northeastern 13-6 in the first and controlled momentum going into the intermission. Coyne was being pressured in the frame, and could not slip away from the Terrier defense.
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The second period was dominated by the Huskies; Northeastern clearly disgusted with their play in the first came out in the second and controlled puck possession early and often. It was only a matter of time when Coyne would break through and off of the face off she would rifle one past Erin O’Neil to tie the game at one 2:51 into the frame. NU wouldn’t let up, the team would go on to out shoot BU 19-5 in the second period and with 5:03 remaining Lauren Kelley would get deep into the attacking zone and gave the Huskies a 2-1 lead.
“Whoever paid for a ticket tonight got their money’s worth” Said head coach Brian Durocher. “We saw a lot of talented players, competitive players, and great hockey. I feel bad for our seniors who gave it a great run and did their best to get to the championship…” BU’s lone title came in 1981, a 4-0 defeat of Boston College.
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The third would be the most entertaining period as both teams battled it out in an electric atmosphere. Northeastern had a strong student section and fan presence and could be heard around the arena. While the host and home team Boston University welcomed their pep band and a strong following as well.
For the first 10 minutes BU peppered shots on Bugalski but some amazing saves by the freshman goalie kept the Huskies ahead. In transition Coyne would get a pass from line mate Denisa Krizova and did the rest putting it past O’Neil to double their lead. BU would make an attempt at a comeback scoring a 6 on 3 power play goal, pulling O’Neil; BU’s Alexis Crossley saw an opening and took it. BU would fall 3-2 to the Huskies.
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“One thing we talked about before the game was preventing turnovers in the neutral zone and we were turning the puck over in the neutral zone…we were getting caught three low, giving up odd-man rushes, defenders making bad pinches, so we had to clean all that stuff up.” Said head coach Dave Flint.
Northeastern is appearing in their fourth Beanpot in the last five years and hold the most titles in tournament history with 16.
In 1979 the inaugural Beanpot tournament was held at Matthews arena, Boston College and Northeastern faced off in that championship contest. The Huskies would go on to win the game 3-1 over the Eagles and claim 15 of the next 20 Beanpot titles. Head to head in Beanpot championships meetings, Northeastern holds the advantage 4-1, losing the most recent meeting in the 2014 tournament title match.
This season the two teams have met twice with the Eagles handing the Huskies two of their four losses on the season. It was two completely different contests the BC hosted NU in the first matchup of the season and for a battle of top 5 teams it was all you would expect. Kendall Coyne would start the scoring with a power play goal, but BC would quickly tie it when Tori Sullivan scored under two minutes later.
The second period saw back and forth actin but no scoring! Bugalski and Burt both played extremely well. Midway through the third Meghan Grieves pulled away and gave the Eagles a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately for BC fans it was short lived as Hayley Scamurra came down ice off the face off and tied the game at 2. About two minutes later Kaliya Johnson put on a sniper from the point, through traffic and scored. It would be the game winning goal but the Eagles would win 4-2.
This was an exciting game and lived up to all the hype! The Eagles proved some critics wrong and actually sent Northeastern reeling following the loss. The Huskies would lose two of the next three, once to Harvard and again to Boston College this time at home.
BC Defeats Northeastern 4-2 (BC Athletics/YouTube)
Eight days later, BC visited the Huskies at Matthews arena, their lone visit to NU this season. The Eagles offense was clicking on all cylinders on this afternoon Kali Flanagan started the scoring in the first off a nice set up from Andie Anastos. Kenzie Kent would score 40 seconds later to double the tally and give the Eagles some much-needed momentum on the road.
BC would score three goals in the second period Dana Trivigno, Anastos and Kent would all add scores in a three minutes span for the Eagles and Northeastern could never regroup.
BC Defeats Northeastern 6-1 (Northeastern Athletics/YouTube)
History favors Northeastern, Recent History favors Boston College… Come out/ watch/ follow catch this championship game it will definitely be one to watch! The Consolation game begins at 4:30 and features host BU vs. Harvard. Northeastern and Boston College is set to drop the puck at 7:30p Et. Prediction:
Boston College Def. Northeastern 4-2
BU Defeats Harvard 2-1
Follow Luis Sanchez on Twitter @Luis_MyW