BOSTON — All is right in Boston again.
Three days shy of exactly two years since Northeastern beat Boston University to claim its third consecutive Beanpot championship, the venerable tournament returned to TD Garden on the first Monday night of February.
As it turned out, the 69th edition of the Beanpot will conclude with the same pairing. The Huskies and Terriers earned semifinal-round victories by a single goal, setting up the 15th-ever title meeting between the teams.
BU scored two goals in the first and second periods to edge Harvard, 4-3, while Northeastern held on for a 3-1 win against Boston College. The Huskies have an opportunity for the tournament’s longest championship streak since the Eagles won five in a row from 2010-14.
Here’s our look at the two games:
1.) Unsung goalies
The return of the Beanpot looked quite a bit different as all four schools lost significant pieces of their rosters to the Olympic teams of the U.S. and Canada, including BU goaltender Drew Commesso (Norwell, Mass.) and his Northeastern counterpart Devon Levi.
BU’s Vinny Duplessis shook off Harvard’s pair of late second-period goals to post a zero in the third for his second straight victory following a Friday shutout of Maine. The sophomore has some experience in the form of eight starts, including five last season, but the Beanpot stage offered his biggest test.
Making the most of the moment didn’t faze him.
“I didn’t really say anything. Vinny is a pretty confident guy,” BU coach Albie O’Connell said. “I think he’s been in situations from junior hockey, even here. He’s been pulled here. He played in some big games when he got a chance last year. … He was pretty poised at times going out to handle the puck and gave us an opportunity to win the game.”
“Vinny is a gamer, he’s not someone you’re going to go up to and tell him what to do,” said BU captain and fifth-year Logan Cockerill, who scored the game’s opening goal. “He’s a goalie. Sometimes he’s in his own little world before the game, but he just wants to play. I think all three of our goalies like the moment. There’s not much you say.”
On the opposite end, Northeastern freshman T.J. Semptimphelter played just two collegiate periods in a blowout loss to Massachusetts before Levi departed for Beijing. He made the most of his first-time opportunity, stopping a career-high 41 pucks, including 17 in the third period.
The New Jersey native and former Boston Junior Bruin came up big early and often, making multiple post-to-post stops when BC tried to respond to goals by Huskies sophomores Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (East Greenwich, R.I.) and Sam Colangelo (Stoneham, Mass.). Semptimphelter also made four stops on a late power play to help clinch the game.
“T.J. was outstanding tonight,” Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe said. “When you’re a coach on the bench and he makes a big save, you can just hear the whole group get excited. I heard his name an awful lot from his teammates. He was athletic, confident. He competed. I thought BC went to the net hard and there were some scrums, but I love how he hung in there.”
2.) Why Boston University won
A perennially strong power play helped the Crimson gain life in the second period as its deficit trimmed from 4-1 to 4-3 with a pair of quick-fire goals, but BU held strong through a scoreless third period to advance to its sixth title game in the last seven tournaments.
In the end, the Terriers’ fast start was too much to overcome. Though Harvard quickly responded to Cockerill’s opening goal, BU opened up the three-goal edge with the help of two man-advantage goals of its own. The team’s overall speed was noticeable on those plays.
“I thought they put us on our heels and we dug a hole that was too big for us to come out of,” Harvard coach Ted Donato said. “A lot of that was due to us being a little bit too passive, which had to do with BU’s speed and skill. …
“The first (power-play goal) was (Jay) O’Brien (Hingham, Mass.) walking downhill, so maybe we could have put a little more pressure on him. … But, I think overall we needed to be a little bit more aggressive everywhere on the ice.”
O’Brien continued to be a catalyst for the Terriers, scoring himself in the first period before assisting on a beautiful redirection goal by Ethan Phillips in the second. The top-line center has now logged multiple points in four different games during the 2022 calendar year.
BU’s second power-play goal was an extra special one for junior UMass Lowell transfer Matt Brown, whose mother died last week. Brown had missed the team’s Jan. 30 game against Providence.
“He’s a passionate guy, probably has a heavy heart right now … so I was really happy for him,” O’Connell said. “He played really hard and can obviously be a difference-maker for us. He drew a penalty and scored a goal. He was involved, which we need him to be.”
https://twitter.com/PatDonn12/status/1490829655255154688
3.) Why Northeastern won
Even in the midst of the longest winless streak in the Jerry York (Watertown, Mass.) era of BC hockey (0-9-1 in past 10 games), the victors in the nightcap knew it wouldn’t be an easy finish. The Eagles pressured throughout the third period, holding an 18-9 advantage in shots on goal, but only managed one goal from Patrick Giles on a give-and-go at the 5:15 mark of the frame.
But, the Huskies’ goals were the results of dogged pressure and power-play success. The win was NU’s first in the head-to-head series since the 2019 Hockey East Championship, but its fifth in a row in Beanpot play.
Playing in his first Beanpot game, Fontaine got his club on the board 8:05 in, following up his own shot after a feed from freshman center Jack Hughes (Westwood, Mass.). Fontaine, who matched the team lead with five shots and also had an assist for a two-point night, was one of several players whose effort stood out to Keefe.
“I thought he was outstanding all night,” Keefe said. “I loved how hard he came back through the middle of the rink, he was physical and … there was no way he wasn’t going to put that through the net. We needed him to be really good and he came through.”
Colangelo accounted for the eventual winner — his fifth goal in an eight-game span — on a second-period advantage, firing home a one-time shot from the bottom of the left circle. He took the feed from junior Aidan McDonough (Milton, Mass.), a fellow winger who has had a penchant for similar-looking goals throughout his career.
“We want guys that are hungry, that can one-time pucks,” Keefe said. “Seeing (McDonough) do it every day, our guys learn from that. Sammy sees that, works on it and sees how he’s having success, just like McDonough watched guys like Adam (Gaudette) on video when he came in. That’s why they’re in those spots.”
Freshman center Justin Hryckowian, the leading faceoff man in Hockey East who went 21-8 at the dot Monday, finished the scoring on his own rebound with 14 seconds left.
4.) Finally, the tradition continues
A crowd of 15,535 fans watched the doubleheader, marking the return of the city’s battle for college hockey bragging rights.
The atmosphere was particularly electric for the night game as both BC and Northeastern filled up more than a half-dozen full sections in the balcony of the Garden, but the excitement was felt by all four teams.
“It reminds me of some of the Beanpots in the past,” BC coach Jerry York said. “We had a stretch there where the crowds were down and then COVID came and everything, but this was the atmosphere that we all expect from the Beanpot.”
After losing an entire season last year, Donato said this Beanpot was a special one.
“I think there’s certainly a lot of appreciation and gratitude to even have the chance to play in the Beanpot this year,” Donato said. “Last year was a tough one for everyone, certainly not being on campus and playing. … I think it did make this year more special.”
The Beanpot always tends to include an unsung hero or two stepping up. The first two games of this one proved no different.
Coming from New Jersey, Semptimphelter's appreciation for the tournament grew quickly as he took the net.
“Coming in, I was just excited to have this unbelievable opportunity and I just wanted to make the most of this position that I’m in,” Semptimphelter said. “I haven’t been able to play in front of fans for the past two years because of COVID, so it was awesome.”
