BOSTON — For the first time since 2015, the Beanpot is heading back to its most frequent home on Commonwealth Avenue.
It took more than 55 minutes for the ice to be broken Monday at TD Garden, but Boston University sophomore Dylan Peterson scored with 2:48 left in regulation to lift the Terriers to a 1-0 win over Northeastern for their record 31st Beanpot Tournament championship.
All it took was one, but that one was tough to get against Northeastern’s T.J. Semptimphelter who was playing in only his sixth collegiate game with sophomore Devon Levi off representing Canada in the Olympics. The freshman stopped 69 of the 71 shots he faced (.972 save percentage) — including 28 in the final — over two Beanpot games to claim the Eberly Award as the top goaltender in the tournament.
The victorious Terriers, who have won seven straight games and are 13-1-1 in their last 15, were in a similar situation with sophomore Drew Commesso (Norwell, Mass.) still playing for the United States, but Vinny Duplessis pitched his second shutout in a span of four starts with 19 stops.
“He was the man tonight,” fourth-year head coach Albie O’Connell said.
The title marks BU’s first under O’Connell, whose team had been on the losing end in four of the previous five tournaments including two against the three-time defending champion Huskies.
“The crowd was electric, the Beanpot is back,” O’Connell said. “It was a tight game, but it wasn’t so defensive that it was boring. It had a lot of chances, a lot of big hits, great saves, some 2-on-1s. It was a hard-nosed, up-and-down game with two teams going at it.”
Why BU won
The words of Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe were simple. The better team won.
The Terriers held a 29-19 shot advantage in the game, but that margin only shrunk during the final period, including a late-game stretch with Semptimphelter pulled. Northeastern managed just nine shots over the first two periods combined.
“The better team tonight won,” he said. “We didn’t deserve to win that game. I’m not sure why we didn’t play well, but we didn’t. When you don’t play well in big games, you usually don’t win them. … I kept thinking we were going to find our legs and start to make a push at some point, but it just wasn’t there tonight.”
Perhaps the Huskies’ best chance came from Tyler Spott less than eight minutes into the game, but Duplessis sprawled to make the stop on the junior defenseman charging down the slot.
There were certainly other opportunities, but they were too sporadic to allow for any push. The Terriers were faster to loose pucks and played with aggressiveness and physicality that is needed in a big game. BU has not lost in regulation since the Red Hot Hockey contest against Cornell at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 27.
“There were a lot of plays that could have gone the wrong way if we weren’t playing the right way, but I thought the guys did a really good job of playing a championship-type game,” O’Connell said.
“I think the win will definitely give us some confidence in a big game that we have to show up and play a certain way.”
O’Connell pointed to a difference in the team’s play at the faceoff dot as compared to the November game in New York, which presented another tournament-type atmosphere.
BU’s overall defensive effort was even more impressive considering it came without one of the team’s top defenseman in junior assistant captain Alex Vlasic, who was out due to illness after having played all 29 previous games this season.
“You could argue that he’s our best player, but I don’t think there was a lot of concern on our end because (John) Copeland (Wellesley, Mass.) played well and I thought (Cade Webber) stepped up and (Joseph Campolieto) had probably one of his better games,” O’Connell said of a defensive corps that also included the steady pair of Domenick Fensore and Ty Gallagher, as well as fellow junior Case McCarthy.
“...On balance, they played really well. I thought they managed the puck, especially at the offensive blue line.”
Play of the game
Winning a 1-0 game takes a complete team effort, but an unsung hero made a play and Peterson was the ultimate difference maker.
The title of unsung hero goes to junior Jamie Armstrong (Warwick, R.I.) who took Fensore’s chip up the boards, sped down the left wing and fed a crashing Peterson at the doorstep to complete a 2-on-1 rush.
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“They obviously have a really good goalie (Semptimphelter), he was good down low,” Peterson said. “Army picked it up and I didn’t know he had that patience in him. He walked that guy and put it right on my tape. … He made an incredible play and I just put it in the back of the net.”
Though he has been bumped to the fourth line and worked through injuries in recent weeks, Peterson has been a key contributor for much of the season. His eight goals are fourth on the team.
Injuries have been a story of BU’s season with the likes of top junior center Jay O’Brien (Hingham, Mass.) also missing time, but having Peterson — who was an initial invite to the U.S. World Junior squad in December — and others healthy bodes well for the stretch run.
“Dylan played terrific, he’s one of our best forwards,” O’Connell said. “He hasn’t had the best health this year and he’s had to manage some situations, but he’s always been very professional with how he’s acted. … Not many guys are as athletic in college hockey, so he’s able to skate and he’s got a ton of talent.”
Peterson became BU’s first MVP honoree in the tournament since goaltender Sean Maguire in 2016.
“The game was obviously up and down, but I think (captain Logan) Cockerill expressed a lot between last Monday and this one that we just stay composed, play as a team and don’t stray away from the things we’ve been working on all week,” Peterson said. “I think we managed it really well.”
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Looking ahead
When BU exited the month of November with a 4-9-2 record, it was hard to imagine the team being in this situation with just four games to go in its regular season.
Following an incredible run that includes an overtime loss to Vermont on Jan. 21, the Terriers are firmly inside the NCAA tournament bubble with a No. 14 Pairwise ranking.
“At the start of the year I think we thought we had a really good roster and had a chance to be a good enough team to win the league,” O’Connell said. “We had full faith in the group, but I think it was just getting the group organized and getting the right guys in the right seats on the bus, and then getting the guys back from injury. I think we got in a rhythm.”
Departures from the roster may have brought the group closer together. Injuries have healed. The best hockey has come at the absolute right time.
“We just have confidence and faith in each other,” Peterson said. “We roll four lines pretty much every game throughout the games and I think all of us just have fun and believe in each other. … I’ve never experienced the Beanpot before, so it feels great winning and knowing how much we deserve that.”
