Women’s Hockey: Terriers take on Harvard for Beanpot title

By: Brian Lombardo

BU will take to the ice at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center on the campus of Harvard University to face the Harvard Crimson Tuesday night to battle for what could be their second ever Beanpot tournament title.

Of course we all remember the year BU won their first right?

1981.

When the Terriers won their first Beanpot title they weren’t yet a Division I varsity program. That was only the third year of the Beanpot Tournament.

Seemingly everything has changed for the Boston University women’s hockey program since then. They’ve won nearly every other thing they could besides a Beanpot, since becoming a Div-1 program a part of Women’s Hockey East.

The Terriers are no stranger to the Beanpot title game. In fact, since their first and only title in 1981, they have been to the title game six times.

How They Got There?

No. 8 BU beat No. 3 Northeastern in a thrilling shootout by a score of 4-3 last Tuesday. Reagan Rust netted the shootout winner in the fourth frame. The teams traded scores through the second and third periods and then a goaltender battle continued from there. Aerin Frankel made 25 saves in the game, and Corinne Schroeder made 31 total saves with six of them coming in the third period.

Harvard defeated No. 7 Boston College 4-1 to punch their ticket to the title game. The highlight of the game was Crimson goaltender Lindsay Reed’s 52 saves to keep the Eagles offense at bay. Brooke Jovanovich scored twice for Harvard in the win.

The Matchup

While this will be Harvard’s 29th Beanpot title game appearance (14 titles) in program history, this will be their first appearance since 2015, when they won the Beanpot by defeating the then ranked No. 1 BC Eagles. That was also the last time Harvard hosted the tournament.

Experience may lie with BU as this is their second consecutive Beanpot title game appearance. The Terriers lost to BC last year, 4-3, but they’ve returned a good portion of the team from last season.

Expect the same goaltenders that won in the first round to go on Tuesday night. Schroeder for BU and Reed for Harvard.

In addition, both teams are riding high into the championship game. Over the weekend BU beat Holy Cross 7-1, and Harvard won two games on the road (5-1 win at Union and 2-1 win at Rensselaer).

The game is setting up to be another clash of two of the hotter teams currently in the nation. While Harvard may not be having a phenomenal year record-wise, they’re undefeated since Feb. 1 (5-0) and outscoring opponents 20-5.

BU is unbeaten since Jan. 6 (9-0-1). Scoring from all across the lineup is what has catapulted the Terriers back into the national rankings.

Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. and the game can be seen on NESN+. In addition, you can tune into WTBU’s call of the game on mixler.com/WTBUsports and follow @WTBUSports on Twitter for full updates.