The Boston University men’s hockey team (17-10-3, 11-6-3 Hockey East) defeated Northeastern University (19-9-1, 10-6-1 HE) 1-0 in the Beanpot championship game Monday night at TD Garden.
In front of a roaring crowd, the Terriers managed to snap a seven-year title drought, the longest of any program, and claimed their 31st title, the most out of any of the four participating schools.
Sophomore forward Dylan Peterson scored the lone goal of the game with 2:48 remaining in the third period to give the Terriers the late lead. Peterson was named tournament MVP after scoring his eighth goal of the season and the biggest of his collegiate career.
“It’s pretty special,” Peterson said in the post-game press conference. “It feels great but it feels better just knowing that we won that game and how much we deserved it. It’s a great moment.”
The two sides met twice prior this season, and the Huskies took the extra point in either overtime or the shootout in both meetings. Additionally, the Huskies eliminated the Terriers in the last three Beanpots, including the 2018 and 2020 championship games.
But the Terriers were able to exorcise those demons with a complete team effort in what was, on both sides, one of the best college hockey games of the year.
“They really performed in a pressure environment, a loud building,” BU head coach Albie O’Connell said in the post-game press conference. “There were a lot of plays that could have went the wrong way if we weren’t playing the right way.”
Both sides traded great chances and exchanged extended periods of pressure that was met evenly by strong defense and stellar goaltending by both BU and Northeastern. Despite BU’s strong shot margin of 29-19, the game could not have felt more even.
And then it happened. Junior defenseman Domenick Fensore broke the puck out to junior forward Jamie Armstrong who fed Peterson at the netmouth for a tap-in, go-ahead goal with just under three minutes to go in regulation.
“[Fensore] made a really nice play, got the puck out,” Peterson said. “[Armstrong] picked it up…he walked that guy and put it right on my tape. Bunch of credit to [Armstrong] there, he made an incredible play.”
In classic Beanpot and college hockey fashion, the atmosphere at the TD Garden Monday night did not disappoint. The respective fan bases of both teams filled the seats of the Garden and their energy and anticipation was palpable and grew as the game progressed.
“National anthem through the end of the game was electric. It was a great atmosphere,” O’Connell said. “A good game for a spectator…even just with one goal it was pretty exciting.”
Both sides were missing notable players for the championship game. The Huskies were without freshman forward Justin Hryckowian and the Terriers without junior defenseman Alex Vlasic and starting goaltender Drew Commesso, who is in Beijing competing with Team USA at the 2022 Olympics.
“You could argue that he’s our best player,” O’Connell said of Vlasic. “There wasn’t a lot of concern on our end because [John Copeland] played pretty well and I thought he played a really good game tonight.”
This will likely be Vinny Duplessis’ last game as the starting goaltender, with Commesso set to return to the lineup following the conclusion of Olympics hockey Feb. 20th — the last potential game that Commesso could play for Team USA will take place five days before BU’s next contest.
In his short time as the starting goalie for BU, Duplessis posted some impressive numbers. The Quebec City native led the Terriers throughout that stretch with a 4-0 record, a .957 save percentage, a 1.00 goals-against-average and two shutouts. Duplessis stopped all 19 shots he faced in the championship game.
“Vinny’s been really good,” O’Connell said. “Vinny’s a competitor and if you watch how he preps for practice, games, how much work he puts in, and he’s really focused…he’s really professional in how he operates.”
There are very few members of this Terriers’ team who have ever won a trophy in college hockey. The last championship that BU captured was the 2018 Hockey East conference championship — only seniors Logan Cockerill and Ty Amonte were members of that team.
Both Amonte and Cockerill elected to return to BU this season for a fifth year to play in games like this and attempt to bring another championship to Comm. Ave.
“They deserve it more than anybody,” Peterson said about his captains. “They’ve been great leading by example and the rest of us following in their footsteps…just happy for those guys.”
If defeating Northeastern to win the school’s first Beanpot title in seven years and the 31st in school history was not enough, the win also has major implications for the NCAA tournament.
Entering the night, BU sat in 17th place in the USCHO Pairwise rankings –– the best metric to predict who will qualify for the NCAA Tournament. With the victory, the Terriers jumped into 14th place, passing Providence College, the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Northeastern, and Clarkson University.
Northeastern head coach Jerry Keefe said he was well aware of the impact the game had on the Huskies’ Pairwise rankings.
“It wasn’t good,” he said.
O’Connell said his team got into a rhythm in their second-half turnaround, resulting in a Pairwise rankings upgrade.
“Now we know how to win as a group and guys really want to win,” O’Connell said.
The Terriers will now take some well-deserved time off and will not play again until Feb. 25 where they will have a two game home-and-home series against Boston College in the second-to-last weekend of the regular season.
BU has done what many may have thought impossible at the end of the first semester. This victory marks the high point of their season so far and the run that they have been on since the beginning of the second semester.
“It feels great, there’s no other way to describe it,” Peterson said. “I’ve never experienced the Beanpot before but I’m really excited just to experience the next couple of days.”
For complete BU hockey coverage, check out the Boston Hockey Blog and follow along with @BOShockeyblog on Twitter and @boston.hockey.blog on Instagram for updates.
