Macklin Celebrini scored two goals for No. 3 Boston University in a 4-3 win against No. 1 Boston College; Justin Hryckowian had three points in a 3-2 overtime win for Northeastern over Harvard in Beanpot semifinals.
BOSTON – The 71st Annual Men’s Beanpot semifinals took place at TD Garden on Monday night, featuring an overtime thriller followed by a smackdown between two of the top teams in the country.
Boston University 4, Boston College 3
The Terriers wanted revenge. After getting swept by Boston College just nine days prior, Boston University had a chance to respond at TD Garden.
They didn’t waste any time.
Macklin Celebrini, the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, scored twice in the first 6:11 for BU. He took the puck in himself and beat Eagles goalie Jacob Fowler stick side at 4:00 before beating Fowler again on a power-play one-timer at 6:11 for an early 2-0 lead.
Celebrini put 12 shots on goal in the two games against BC last week but only one went in, and it came in the final minutes with the game just about out of reach. Monday was a different story.
“You’re not gonna score every shot,” Celebrini said. “You got to keep trying and changing things, practicing different things. We’ve been working a lot in practice of just seeing different looks and just talking it over, and when it goes in, it’s really nice.”
The Terriers eventually built their lead to 4-1 by the third period thanks to goals from Luke Tuch and Ryan Greene, but BC fought back to cut it to 4-3 with 8:36 remaining. The Eagles threatened to tie it down the stretch, but BU held on for the win.
“It’s a good response from our team,” BU coach Jay Pandolfo said. “Getting swept by BC two weeks (nine days) ago was tough. I thought we played very well in the first period, really well. And then I thought in the second period, they started pushing a little bit. We got away from our game, I thought, and then it was huge here when [Tuch] got the big goal for us to go up 3-1.”
Tuch also had an assist, and Quinn Hutson had two assists for BU. Mathieu Caron made 34 saves. Gabe Perreault scored twice for the Eagles, and Fowler made 26 saves.
After Perreault cut it to 2-1 at 6:06 of the second with a power-play goal on the doorstep, Tuch took advantage of a defensive miscue to push it to 3-1 at 11:49. Eagles defenseman Drew Fortescue mishandled a pass from behind the net, which fell right into Tuch’s stick. The senior forward spun around and fired on Fowler to double the lead.
“I was just trying to get on the forecheck,” Tuch said. “I was out there a little bit longer, so I was just trying to buy some time for our guys changing, and I got lucky.”
Greene roofed Tuch’s cross-ice pass to give BU its largest lead at 4:47 of the third, but Gentry Shamburger slammed in Connor Joyce’s centering pass at 8:07 and Ryan Leonard connected with Perreault at the back door to cut it down to 4-3 at 11:24.
“The third was our best period by far,” BC coach Greg Brown said. “We just had a couple turnovers; one in the third, one in the second. It’s hard to win games like that if you have costly turnovers. Full credit to BU, they came out and established their game plan much better in the first than we did.”
The Terriers improved to 30-17 against BC in the Beanpot and advanced to the final for the seventh time in nine years.
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Northeastern 3, Harvard 2 (OT)
The 5 p.m. matchup between the Huskies and the Crimson may have been the ‘undercard,’ but Gunnarwolfe Fontaine delivered the knockout punch 33 seconds into overtime to send Northeastern to its sixth straight Beanpot final.
Fontaine brought the puck in the zone before dropping it back to Justin Hyrckowian, who had two points on the night already. The Huskies captain drew in all three Crimson skaters in the right circle, leaving Fontaine open for the cross slot pass.
“Me and [Hryckowian], I mean we’ve played with each other for three years now,” Fontaine said. “I think we have pretty good chemistry on the ice, and it was just a heck of a pass by him. I just had to put it in the empty net.”
Said Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe: “Well, that’s the Beanpot. You can throw the records away coming into this tournament.”
Hryckowian’s goal and two assists led all scorers, and Northeastern goalie Cameron Whitehead made 21 saves. Harvard goalie Derek Mullahy made 35 saves in the losing effort, and Ben MacDonald and Matthew Morden scored for the Crimson.
“We had nine forwards playing in their first Beanpot. I thought they handled themselves pretty well,” Harvard coach Ted Donato said. “We do have a particularly young team this year, but I think they’ve persevered and I think we’re starting to develop an identity.”
Ryan Healey had a chance to turn the game on its head with the game tied 1-1 at 7:32 of the second period. The Harvard forward dangled through the offensive zone and drew a penalty shot after Northeastern defenseman Vinny Borgesi tripped him from behind. With the ice clear, Healey took the puck down the left side before drifting into the slot and firing on Whitehead, who made the stop to keep it level.
“The penalty shot was huge, to come up and make that save when [Whitehead] did,” Keefe said. “He made a huge save against a really good player, and our team has so much confidence in him, and sure he’s a freshman, but he’s got so much swagger to his game.”
Morden eventually gave the Crimson a 2-1 lead with his first collegiate goal – a long-range shot through traffic – at 4:21 of the third, but Hryckowian tied it 2-2 at 10:43, picking up the loose rebound from Vinny Borgesi’s shot and backhanding it into the open net.
“We know how important the Beanpot is playing in those high-stake moments,” Hryckowian said. “And you feel a little more poised in these situations when you get older and you’ve been through it.”
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Boston University will take on Northeastern for the 71st Beanpot title next Monday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET. It’s the 16th time the two sides have met in the final, with BU holding a 10-5 advantage. However, Northeastern has won four of the past five tournaments. Harvard and Boston College will play in the consolation game at 4:30 p.m.
“We have a hard time with Northeastern since I’ve been here,” Pandolfo said. “They play us very tough. It seems like they’re always at their best playing against us, so we certainly have to be ready.”