The No. 3 Boston University men’s hockey team will head to the championship game of the 65th Beanpot Tournament after defeating rival No. 7 Boston College, 3-1. The team will take on No. 4 Harvard next Monday for the trophy.
With the victory, the Terriers (19-7-2) sweep the Eagles (18-10-2) in regular season matches for the first time since the 1994-95 season.
“It’s been a while since we beat Boston College in the Beanpot,” Head Coach David Quinn said. “We’ve had three great games with them. We’ve been fortunate enough to come out on the winning end of it.”
Quinn said all three meetings against their rival could have gone either way, but Monday night at TD Garden, the Terriers had a clear advantage.
The offense wasted no time getting to business. Just over four minutes into the game, freshman forward Patrick Harper skated up the boards with the puck, swooped around the back of the net and left the puck on the doorstep for sophomore forward Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson to fork into the net past Eagle goalie Joseph Woll.
Harper leads the team in assists with 18 and has proven to be a playmaker. He wasn’t the only one creating chances in the first frame, though.
With about two minutes, remaining senior Nick Roberto got hold of the puck while on the penalty kill and took it nearly the whole length of the ice before passing to junior Chase Phelps who swung and missed. Still, the play took time off the Eagle power play, which went 0-4 on the night.
Special teams proved essential for the Terriers in the second stanza. On their second power play of the night, sophomore Bobo Carpenter skated to the top of the circle. He passed across the ice where an open freshman defenseman, Chad Krys, stood waiting. Krys buried the puck in the net for his fourth goal of the season.
Freshman goaltender Jake Oettinger had little work to do in the first period, but saw significantly more action in the second. The Eagles returned from the locker rooms with new energy. They recorded 17 shots over the course of the period, while BU only had five. The most important BC shot came from the hands of senior Austin Cangelosi.
Nearly seven minutes into the middle frame, the Florida-born forward took advantage of a mess in front of the net. Oettinger sat left in the crease. A BC player tumbled in front of the netminder and a BU defender stood in front of both of them. As the puck tumbled out of traffic, Cangelosi scooped it into the gap to put the Eagles on the board.
“I thought the second period got a little sloppy,” Quinn said. “We got up 2-0. I thought maybe we dropped our guard a little bit, but we weathered the storm.”
After scoring, the Eagles carried momentum. They continued to pelt Oettinger with shots but they couldn’t convert before the Terriers took the game back into their own hands.
Freshman forward Clayton Keller received the puck from sophomore defender Charlie McAvoy and dashed down the ice on a breakaway. He zipped towards goal and backhanded the puck between Woll’s pads. The twist? BU was on the penalty kill. Keller is now for the national lead with Mike Vecchione of Union College for most short handed goals (4).
The Illinois native now has a point in 15 consecutive games. Keller said the pass from McAvoy made the play possible.
“He found me breaking for the breakaway,” Keller said. “Joe Woll is a guy I’ve played with ever since I was about 10 years old, so I know his game a little bit. I was lucky enough to slide it five hole.”
Early in the third, the Terriers seemed to have scored an insurance goal thanks to the quick hands and persistence of sophomore forward Ryan Cloonan. Freshman Patrick Curry put a shot on net, and Woll seemed to make the save, but Cloonan poked the puck through. However, the play was overturned after replay showed that Woll had possession of the puck.
Much of the third was played with nine or fewer players on the ice. The Eagles gave up three penalties, none of which the Terriers could capitalize on.
Quinn said he was frustrated with their inability to take advantage of those situations but was impressed with the penalty kill.
“Obviously statistics are important,” said Quinn. “Power play percentage is important. But the timing of power play goals is probably more important. We had chances to put this game away and we didn’t. We’ve got to get back to doing the things we were doing in December and early January when… we were clicking around 38 percent.”
On Monday night, though, the Terriers were clicking on all cylinders.
