Since the Beanpot has featured the same four teams for its entire 70-year history and rotates the first-round matchups on a three-year cycle, the law of averages dictates that Harvard and Northeastern should have previously met in the final about a dozen times.
But it’s never happened before until this year, and Monday’s championship matchup between the two schools will mark the end of one of the Beanpot’s many delightful (depending on whom you ask) quirks.
“It is surprising that Harvard and Northeastern haven’t played yet (in the final),” said Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe after his team’s 3-1 first-round win over Boston University last Monday. “We’ve obviously excited to play a really good team.”
No. 10 Harvard (ECAC Hockey) earned its way into Monday’s final with a 4-3 overtime win over Boston College. It will be the Crimson’s first championship appearance since 2017, when they beat BU 6-3 for the title.
No. 20 Northeastern is in the Beanpot championship for the fifth straight time to the championship game, a streak that started with three straight championships (snapping a 30-year drought) from 2018 to 2020 and a 1-0 loss to BU last year.
Huskies senior forward Aidan McDonough feigned surprise when a reporter noted Northeastern’s dearth of success in the first 65 years of the Beanpot.
“I had no idea that was the case,” said McDonough, tongue planted firmly in cheek. “Wow. (When) I was growing up (in Milton, Mass.) it seemed like everybody in the city was a BC or a BU fan. You go to our home games, you look around the Garden now, there’s a lot more Huskies sweatshirts and jerseys.
“And that’s the way we like it.”
Unlike McDonough, Northeastern freshman defenseman Hunter McDonald — who scored the game winner against BU with his first ever collegiate goal — said he was genuinely unaware of the Huskies’ history of futility over the Beanpot’s first six-and-a-half decades. During a recruiting visit one year ago, it was quickly made abundantly clear to McDonald how much the hockey program and its participation in the Beanpot means to the school.
“It’s pretty special,” McDonald said. “You see random students walking around with Beanpot hats. The whole school’s bought in, the community. It’s a pretty cool experience.”
The teams met previously on New Year’s Day, and it was a bloodbath for the Huskies as Harvard skated to an 8-4 win at The Bright-Landry Hockey Center. Since then, however, Northeastern (14-10-3) has been on a virtual tear, winning six of its next seven, all against teams ranked in the USCHO.com poll.
Keefe said his team needs to focus on what it’s done well since the loss to Harvard for it to have the best chance of success on Monday.
“We have to make a commitment to checking, being really good in the neutral zone,” he said. “We know that they’re dangerous. (When) you play in the Beanpot final, you know you’re playing a really good team.”
A large chunk of the Huskies’ success has been thanks to junior goalie Devon Levi, who hasn’t missed a step since winning the Mike Richter Award last season as the nation’s top goaltender. In 26 starts this season, Levi sports a 2.32 GAA and a .929 save percentage. In Hockey East, he’s currently tops in save percentage (.948 in league games) and second in GAA (1.57).
Against BU in the Beanpot semifinal, Levi made 33 saves, including 15 in the third period.
“He’s the best goalie in the country,” Keefe said. “We’ve got a lot of confidence in him. And you can see our guys want to play in front of him, too.”
Northeastern features three skaters among the top 10 in scoring in Hockey East. McDonough enters the weekend third (12-12-24 in league play) while sophomore forward Justin Hryckowian is fifth (12-10-22) and junior forward Gunnarwolfe Fontaine is 10th (5-12-17).
Both Beanpot finalists play Friday night in a lead-up to Monday’s title tilt. Northeastern travels to Providence while Harvard plays at Dartmouth.
