Beanpot: Terriers fall short in OT dog fight with No. 13 Huskies
By Brian Lombardo
BOSTON- It was Tyler Madden, the electric freshman who is creating a name for himself with big time goals and even bigger celebrations who ended the game just 51 seconds into overtime to end the Terriers dreams of a Beanpot title in Albie O’Connell’s first season behind the bench.
When news broke a few hours out from puck drop that BU’s leading scorer and senior captain Bobo Carpenter would not be in the lineup for the semifinals against Northeastern, the Terriers knew that without 14 in the lineup their will be a noticeable gap down the middle.
Optimism set in for a young Terriers squad that had just got younger with the subtraction of on of their seniors from the lineup.
Attention turned to who the Terriers were going to have to rely on if they would emerge victorious against the No. 13 ranked team in the country, Jake Oettinger, the junior goaltender who has been a workhorse for BU ever since his freshman year along with Shane Bowers who was assuming Carpenter’s role on the top line.
In addition, the Terriers would need contributions from their freshmen phenom Joel
Farabee who has been one of the hottest scorers in Hockey East since returning from the World Junior Classic.
Northeastern broke open the scoring less than four minutes into the contest when Patrick Schule seemed to get away with a hooking penalty that left Cam Crotty spun around and out of the play leading to a turnover and wide open chance for Schule who beat Oettinger on his blocker side.
Coach O’Connell questioned the non-call on the play that lead to Northeastern’s only regulation goal, “[Oettinger] didn’t really have a chance, [Crotty] got hauled down and the [Schule’s] chance was point-blank.”
Farabee rose to the occasion on TD Garden ice, getting the Terriers on the board late in the first period after collecting a bouncing puck from a Bowers shot and banking it off the backside of Huskies goaltender Cayden Primeau.
That seemed like the only way to get a puck past Primeau, who was solid all night long making 26 saves on 27 shots.
Of course Primeau is no stranger to the Garden ice. The sophomore goaltender won the Beanpot last year for Northeastern, and was in net for the Huskies during the Hockey East Tournament.
Primeau wasn’t the only goaltender who played great last night. Oettinger stood tall through the onslaught of shots Northeastern poured on through the course of the game. His 47 saves on the night were made in succession, allowing the first shot and the last shot of the game past him in the 2-1 defeat.
“Jake was great.” said coach O’Connell “He was calm. He didn’t make a mistake all night. It’s a good sign for our team if he can play at that level.”
O’Connell figured the team would want the play leading up to the OT goal back but summarized the short frame with “a 19-year old kid made a mistake, it is what it is.”
BU will face off with Harvard University next Monday (5PM) in the Beanpot consolation game, meaning that Northeastern will continue on to face Boston College for “all the beans” next Monday at 8 PM.