With his empty net goal last night, Boston University senior forward Jack Baker has planted himself atop the list of Beanpot scoring for this incarnation of the Terriers, with nine points on six goals and three assists. Baker, a native of South Boston, also scored a goal against Boston College in BU’s 5-3 first round win against Boston College.
The highest BU scorer for this year’s tournament was senior forward Mike Pandolfo, who notched two goals and two assists to push his career totals to three goals and four assists in eight games.
The Icedogs’ win was the BU hockey program’s 100th on Causeway Street. The Terriers were 84-41 at the Boston Garden, and have gone 15-3 and won five Beanpot championships at the FleetCenter.
Perhaps by playing there so often, a bit of the so-called Garden Magic wore off on the Terriers, who were given a fortuitous bounce by the FleetCenter ice early in the third period. When Bryan Miller dumped the puck into the Northeastern zone, the puck hopped over the stick of the Husky defender and right to Pandolfo, who took advantage and slipped the puck past an out-of-position Keni Gibson.
BC goalie Matti Kaltiainen’s shutout was the first of his career and was the Eagles’ second blanking of the Crimson this season. On Nov. 25, Tim Kelleher stopped 23 shots in BC’s 1-0 victory over Harvard at Kelley Rink … Kaltiainen earned the tournament’s Eberly Trophy after earning the highest save percentage over two games. Kaltiainen stopped 42 of 46 shots for a .913 save percentage over the two-night event, beating out BU’s Sean Fields (.893) and Northeastern’s Keni Gibson (.888). Harvard used two different goaltenders, so neither was eligible for the award …
Kaltiainen’s award marks the eighth time an Eagle has been honored with the award and he is the second Eagle to win the award in as many years. Scott Clemenson won it after BC stopped BU’s string of six straight Beanpot championships last year … After losing six straight games in January, the Eagles have won three of their last four in February to push over the .500 mark (15-13-2).
The Icedogs are now 25-7 all-time against the Huskies in the Beanpot, a mark that includes nine straight wins. Nine times the teams have met in the ‘Pot championship game, with the Terriers holding a 6-3 edge … Oh, how far the Beanpot has come. Last night’s championship game was a rematch of the first-ever Beanpot game, played Dec. 26, 1952, before a Boston Arena crowd of 3,882. The Terriers won that night to advance to the title game a day later, when they lost to Harvard, 7-4 … BU head coach Jack Parker is now 71-29-2 against the Huskies all-time, making Northeastern the team against which his clubs have had the most success … BC junior forward Anthony D’Arpino’s second-period goal was the first of his career, coming in his 55th game.
Fields picked up his third minor penalty of the season, a slashing call, in the first period … In the eight games before last night’s contest, BU had killed off 32-of-34 penalties. Last night they gave up two power play goals in five penalty killing situations. Northeastern has had better power play success against BU than any other team this season, converting 5-of-18 chances. The Huskies’ rate of success (.277) is double BU’s season average (.139) … For the championship game of the golden anniversary Beanpot, Parker said he was somewhat expecting a big game from sophomore forward Steve Greeley, partially because it was another Greeley – ‘Pot hall of famer Walt Greeley – who won the initial MVP award in 1952.
Nick Cardamone and Jeff Cormier contributed to this report.
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