All three Hockey East teams participating in this year’s Beanpot tournament have a reason to believe the target is on their back.
Northeastern, long the Beanpot’s doormat, is looking for its second three-peat in seven years. Boston College is the No. 1 team in the USCHO men’s D-I poll. And Boston University is the only other team to win the thing during Northeastern’s recent string of success.
It’s a fitting scenario for a tournament whose unofficial slogan has been “throw out the records” for all of its 72 chapters.
“I think when you have success in this tournament, I think teams aren’t going to take anyone lightly,” said Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe. “Because you kind of proven that you know how to play in these big games and you’ve got some guys that have won it before, so they have the experience.”
Northeastern enters the 72nd Beanpot as the two-time defending champion and winners of five of the last six tournaments. Its 5-2 win over BU in the 2018 championship game snapped a 30-year Beanpot title drought for the Huskies. Only BU, which beat Northeastern 1-0 in the 2022 final, has hoisted the coveted trophy since.
The Huskies thrice erased one-goal deficits in last year’s final vs. BU. Jack Williams scored midway through the third to tie the game 3-3, sending it to overtime, where Gunnarwolfe Fontaine scored with just 29 seconds left to lift Northeastern to the title and the Husky faithful into a frenzy. Fontaine also scored in overtime a week earlier in the semifinal vs. Harvard.
Williams, now a junior, said he thinks experience will help Northeastern in its quest for a second three-peat.
“There’s a lot of stress that goes into it,” Williams said. “That was a tough game for us, (but) we showed a lot of resilience in it. We’ve been fortunate to win the last two and we’re looking for our experienced guys to carry that into this year’s.”
BC enters this year’s tournament as the No. 1 team in both the USCHO poll and the PairWise, but also with the longest drought of any of the four teams, having last won in 2016, a 1-0 overtime win over BU. Brown said that while the national rankings are nice, he wouldn’t expect Beanpot opponents to take the Eagles lightly even if they were having a ho-hum season.
“We hopefully expect everyone’s best game anyway,” Brown said. “It is what it is, and we have to be ready for our opponents. We’ve had a tough schedule so far the last couple weeks and it’s staying tough right in our near future, too.”
BU had won four straight games before a weekend sweep at the hands of BC this past weekend. Terriers coach Jay Pandolfo, who has participated in the Beanpot as both a player and a coach, said he was pleased with his team’s performance vs. BC despite the losses. He said playing on a big stage leading up to the Beanpot can only help BU.
“These pressure moments can really help your team and boost your team, especially if you perform well,” Pandolfo said. “You have to, in these moments, be able to perform well as a team. We’ve had some different opportunities this year where I think we’ve handled it pretty well as a team, but this becomes a little bit of a different animal when you get to the Beanpot. (We) have enough guys that have been there, and hopefully they can lead the way. That’s what you’re looking for.”
This year’s Beanpot kicks off Monday with BU vs. Harvard (ECAC Hockey) at 5 p.m., followed by Northeastern vs. BC. The consolation and championship games are a week later starting at 4:30 p.m. All games are on NESN and ESPN+.
