BOSTON – For decades the first two Mondays in February have had a familiar feel.
Sure, the tournament is called The Beanpot, and Monday began the 71st edition of the famous event, but in the last four or so decades, those familiar with the event began to rename it the BU Invitational.
BU, of course, stands for Boston University, a team that has won the tournament 31 times. The dominance of the Terriers, particularly between the years 1973 and 2013 when one Jack Parker served as head coach, was marked.
But since Parker retired, Beanpot dominance hasn’t been as easy for BU. The Terries have won just twice in nine attempts. And despite entering Monday’s semifinal as the third-ranked team in the USCHO.com poll, they were facing the best – No. 1 Boston College – an Eagles team that swept the Terries just 10 days earlier.
At puck drop, you felt like some sort of tide at TD Garden had changed. The massive Boston University crowds of the past existed but felt diminutive to the Boston College contingent of which the student all seemed to travel down the street to the Harvard ticket office and purchase each and every available seat in the Crimson sections.
What always seemed to be a building dominated by the Scarlet and White of Boston University was suddenly overrun by the Maroon and Gold of Boston College.
Cliches in sports exist, though, for writers like myself. So I’ll say it.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Monday, Boston University found a way to beat BU after losing twice less than two weeks ago. The final score was 4-3.
But for Terriers Nation, the score might as well have been 20-3. Sure, the Eagles made a furious comeback that fell short despite what felt like a peppering of the net late. But other than the finish that forced BU fans to up the dose on blood pressure medicines, many moments felt like days of old for BU.
Boston University will play in the finals next Monday for the 56th time in 71 tournaments.
After an initial onslaught by the Eagles that BU survived, thanks in no small part to goaltender Mathieu Caron, it was youth that gave the Terriers an advantage they’d never relinquish.
That seems appropriate if you want to harken back to that Golden Era of the Beanpot under Parker. It was the legendary bench boss who always said that the rookies in a Beanpot often had success on the big stage because they were almost too naïve to feel the pressure.
Okay, so Monday maybe it wasn’t the same situation. Yes, it was the youngest player on the ice who staked BU a 2-0 lead – Macklin Celebrini scoring 2:10 apart in the opening period. But Celebrini is also one of the most recognizable names in the game, the consensus favorite to be the number one overall selection in this summer’s NHL Draft.
“A lot of [young players] thrive in these situation,” said BC coach Jay Pandolfo, who played his college hockey for Parker back in the mid 90s. “Some of them perform better under pressure. They look for those opportunities to strive in those situations and you saw that tonight with Macklin [Celebrini] scoring twice.”
“Those were two good shots by Celebrini right there,” admitted BC coach Greg Brown.
The Terriers found ways to take advantage of Boston College mistakes with Luke Tuch in the second and Ryan Greene in the third turning BC turnovers into BU goals. Those upped the BU advantage to 4-1 as the precious seconds of regulation ticked away.
Yes, BC had a great late push. Gentry Shamburger cut the lead to 4-2 at 8:07 of the third and Gabe Perreault scored his second of the night at 11:24.
But BU found a way to close it out, as they have done so many times in the past on the Garden ice on the first Monday of February.
“Getting swept by BC two weeks ago was tough,” said Pandolfo. “Tonight was a good response by our team.”
Northeastern 3, Harvard 2 (F/OT)
Defending champion Northeastern needed everything it had in hopes of defending its title, scoring midway through the third to force overtime where Gunnarwolfe Fontaine notched the game-winning goal 33 seconds into the 3-on-3 frame to send the Huskies to next Monday’s title game.
Northeastern took an early lead on Alex Campbell’s goal at 7:08 of the first.
But Harvard responded in the second with two goals of its own. Ben MacDonald, whose father Lane was MVP of the 1989 tournament for the Crimson, evened the score at 2:53 of the middle frame. Then Matthew Morden gave the Crimson the lead less than two minutes later.
The game stayed that way until Northeastern captain Justin Hryckowian picked up a loose rebound with 9:17 left in regulation to tie things and force overtime.
