Beanpot Championship Preview

Last night was the opening night of the Beanpole. Every hockey fan should be aware of this event, especially those of you in New England. Every year the tournament is aired on NESN. It features Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University, and Northeastern University. The four major colleges in Boston. Every year it's the first two Mondays in February (although this year the first round was held on a Tuesday due to a snow storm). I'm sure as many of you are aware, Boston is an absolute hotbed for college hockey. This year Harvard and Boston University faced off in the early slot, winner goes to the championship. In the second slot, it was Boston College versus Northeastern. 

Harvard vs. Boston University

This was an insane game. The whole time BU and Harvard were trading goals. Going into the game BU was ranked 3rd in the nation and Harvard was at 6. So just based off that, it was bound to be a good game. Add in the fact that it's a classic Boston rivalry, it was an incredible match up. Neither team could pull away, or get any space. At one point in the second period, BU held a two goal lead before Harvard answered. The game then went 42 minutes without a goal, which is insane. They played an overtime without any scoring until two minutes into the second overtime BU junior Danny O'Regan punched their ticket to the Beanpot Chamionship.

Northeastern vs. Boston College

This was obviously going to be a great game as well. Any time you've got two Boston schools facing off it's going to be a battle till the bitter end. In this one we had the unranked Northeastern Huskies taking on the number 11 Boston College Eagles. Don't let those numbers dictate how you thought the game was going to go though, because in the Beanpot, everyone has a chance to win. The first period of this game was a gritty defensive battle with neither team being able to put the biscuit in the oven. The Eagles are lead defensively by their freshman stud Noah Hannifin, the Huskies are lead by offensively by their junior stud, Kevin Roy. Soon into the second period the Huskies broke the tie. That opened the flood gates for both teams. Soon after, Destry Straight tied the game up. Later in the third period, the Huskies took the lead on the Power Play. A few minutes later, the Eagles tied it up with an incredible goal from Ryan Fitzgerald.

The game remained tied until the Huskies took the lead with 2:14 left in the game. Unfortunately BC couldn't tie it up. 

Next Monday February 9th, we'll see Northeastern and BU face off to win the Beanpot. The Terriers have not won the Beanpot since 2009 and the Huskies have not won the Beanpot since 1988. I expect both teams to be hungry for the W. It is guaranteed to be a great game. Boston College will be taking on Harvard in the consolation game at 4:30.