2016 Edition Was One for the Ages

By: Marisa Ingemi

Historic would be the best way to describe the 2016 Beanpot tournament.

The first round had excitement in its own right, with Boston College knocking off Harvard in a one goal game and Boston University slowing down a red-hot Northeastern team to set the stage for the two rivals to meet in the title game.

That title game did not disappoint.

It was the 22nd time the Battle of Comm Ave was the championship match-up in the Beanpot tournament. It was the first time BC had been victorious since 2014, the tail end of a five-year run.

The game heading to overtime was not a rarity; six of the past 11 championship contests have needed a fourth period to determine the winner, including BU’s win over Northeastern the season previous.

It was, however, the first time the final score had ended at 1-0.

Alex Tuch scored the game winner for the Eagles on a wrist shot less than two minutes into the overtime period.

In a game with lights-out hockey being played, the TD Garden itself suffered a power outage in the first period that stopped the game for about a half hour while the arena lighting had to be fixed and rebooted.

As would be expected in a 0-0 game heading into overtime, most of the game was dominated by the goalies, with BU’s Sean Maguire and BC’s Thatcher Demko giving stellar performances.

Early on, Maguire was tested as BU was outshot 12-2 to open the game, and the BU senior kept the Terriers in the game.

That’s when the power outage occurred, and BU came out of that break with plenty of opportunities to get one past Vancouver Canucks prospect Demko, including a 5-on-3 but the Terriers couldn’t take advantage of power play chance.

The goalies combined for 52 saves in the opening two periods, but it was Demko who would get the victory as he held the high-powered Terrier offense without a tally for the remainder of the game.

This year, the Terriers and Eagles match up against each other to open the tournament in a rematch of one of the most exciting games in the history of the Beanpot.