Men’s Hockey: No. 19 Terriers ready for battle with Harvard in Beanpot semis
By Patrick Donnelly
When the Boston University Terriers square off with the Harvard Crimson in the 69th Beanpot semifinals on Monday, it will be the first Men’s Beanpot action in 728 days, and the first meeting between the two teams in 797.
The No. 19 Terriers (14-10-3, 10-6-3 HE) last played the Crimson on Dec. 3, 2019, a 5-2 win at Agganis Arena, just two months before taking Northeastern to double overtime of the Beanpot finals before the Huskies claimed their third straight title.
“Just feeling the energy from our group, I know everyone’s excited that the Beanpot’s going off and we’re back at it,” BU head coach Albie O’Connell said. “Glad that we had a good result on Friday [with a 4-0 win against Maine], leading into the Monday game with some confidence, and hopefully keep the chains going and moving in the right direction.”
The Terriers will be without their starting goaltender, sophomore Drew Commesso, who is with Team USA at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Similar to BU, the other three programs are missing key players, who are off representing their respective countries. Harvard will be missing two of their top producers in sophomore forward Sean Farrell (USA) and junior forward Nick Abruzzese (USA). Northeastern will be without their starter, sophomore Devon Levi (Canada). BC will be without their top scorers, senior forwards Marc McLaughlin (USA) and Jack McBain (Canada), as well as their top defenseman, junior Drew Helleson (USA).
“I think the way we look at it is: we lost our goalie, and we got to get one of our other goalies ready to play,” O’Connell said. “Each team is losing really key guys. Obviously, if guys are going to the Olympics and representing their country, they’re high-profile players. I know that Harvard lost a couple forwards. BC lost three [players] ,and Northeastern lost their goalie.
“Each team lost some pretty key components, especially when both starting goalies for us and Northeastern are gone. That puts a lot of pressure on that second guy to to get it done, and it’s also a good opportunity for some guys to step up in our situation and those other schools.”
BU comes into the tournament as one of the hottest runs of any team in college hockey, winning four straight and going 10-1-1 in their last 12 games.
“We’ve been a lot more consistent in our details. Our defensive competitiveness, our back-checking and our shot-blocking has really improved,” O’Connell said. “Offensively, guys gained some confidence, and I think our goalies started to gain some confidence. So, really they both went hand in hand. So I’m really happy with the push that we’ve made.”
Offensively, the Terriers have been paced by junior forward Robert Mastrosimone, who has 21 points (11 goals, 10 assists) in 26 games this season, followed by junior forward Wilmer Skoog (nine goals, 11 assists) and junior defenseman Dom Fensore (four goals, 16 assists) with 20 points in 27 games each.
Sophomore goaltender Vinny Duplessis is expected to start in Monday’s semifinal. On the season, he is 2-2-0 with one shutout, a .920 save percentage and a 1.80 goals-against average. Junior Ashton Abel appeared in both Beanpot contests in 2020, allowing eight goals on 53 shots, officially.
“[Duplessis] is a competitor, and he’s excited for this opportunity,” O’Connell said. “So, I think that’s one of the biggest things that we feel comfortable as a group, that he’s a guy that really wants the chance to do it.”
Duplessis is coming off a 27-save shutout in a 4-0 win against Maine on Friday.
“It’s not just all on me,” Duplessis said Friday. “It’s going to sound cliche, but the team played really well in front of me. We played really hard. I mean, I guess it’s great for my confidence, but it doesn’t matter what I do today. It’s a new game. It’s a new game on Monday. So I’ll get ready just like I did.”
Mastrosimone has one goal in the Beanpot on his career, as does Skoog, although his double overtime goal against BC does not officially count towards the records, along with Alex Vlasic’s assist. Senior forward Ty Amonte scored in overtime against Harvard in 2018 to propel BU to the finals, and senior captain Logan Cockerill has two goals and three assists for five points in the tournament.
“It’s a war out there. It’s like the last playoff game of the year, if not better than that,” Skoog said after last Sunday’s 5-2 win against Providence. “We know it’s going to be a packed TD Garden, and every team is going to come out like it’s their last game. So, we have to be men out there that night. That’s kind of our message.”
Due to the pandemic, just the junior and senior classes at the four schools have experience playing in the Beanpot, aside from upperclassmen transfers, like BU’s Jay O’Brien, Max Kaufman and Joseph Campolieto. O’Connell said experience and advice from coaches and players that have been there before will be key.
“I think it’s just being ready to skate and free of mind. So that’s the biggest thing,” O’Connell said. “You can really overthink it. You can put yourself in a spot where you’re getting yourself too amped up, and kind of lose a lot of energy and slow yourself down.
“When we get there, our captains will keep the group loose. I’m very confident of that. … Between [Amonte] and [Cockerill], guys that have been very good in the Garden in their own right, hopefully they can pull from their experience. I imagine that the message is going to be pretty good. It has has been good for a while, but it’s going to be pretty good in the coming moments of tomorrow.”
Scouting Harvard
Harvard (12-7-2, 9-5-2 ECAC) is on a two-game winning streak, having won three of their last four games (3-0-1).
“Just from what I’ve looked at from [Harvard], it’s going to be be really competitive,” Skoog said. “Following our structures is going to be a big part. So, I think we’re going to focus more on ourselves, but obviously, look at them and see what we have to adjust to fit their game better.”
Aside from Abruzzese and Farrell, junior defenseman Henry Thrun (4-17–21 in 21 games), sophomore forward Alex Laferriere (11-9–20 in 21 games), first-year forward Matthew Coronato (9-8–17 in 20 games) and senior captain Casey Dornbach 4-13–17 in 20 games) have led the way offensively.
In goal, junior Mitchell Gibson has a 10-6-1 record with a .911 save percentage and a 2.09 GAAA this season. Similarly to Abel, Gibson allowed eight goals on 53 shots between two games in 2020’s Beanpot.
For the Crimson, Abruzzese (two assists) is their leading scorer in the Beanpot, along with senior forward R.J. Murphy (two goals). Dornbach has one goal in the tournament, and senior forward Baker Shore and senior defenseman Marshall Rifai each have assists.
“They’re fast. They can skate,” O’Connell said of the Crimson. “We’re going to have to really be ready to skate. They’re highly competitive, highly skilled, and have a really good power player. Not shocking. [Head coach] Teddy [Donato] always has a good power play. They’re going to be a really tough challenge.”
The last time BU and Harvard met in the Beanpot semifinals was Feb. 5, 2018. Amonte, then a freshman scored in double overtime to lift the Terriers to the final against Northeastern, where they ultimately fell to the Huskies.
The other game on the card
Looking at Monday”s second semifinal, BC is winless since the start of the 2022 calendar year. The Eagles (10-13-4, 5-9-3 HE) have lost three straight and are winless in their last nine games (0-8-1).
Behind McBain and McLaughlin, senior defenseman Jack St. Ivany has produced 20 points (four goals, 16 assists) in 25 games, trailed by sophomore forward Nikita Nesterenko (five goals, 14 assists) and senior forward Brandon Kruse (three goals, 15 assists) with 18 points each in 26 and 27 games, respectively.
Between the pipes, senior goaltender Eric Dop has an .888 save percentage and a 3.10 GAA, in addition to a 7-10-4 record in 22 appearances this season. Sophomore Henry Wilder has also struggled with a 3-3-0 record, an .890 save percentage and. a3.07 GAA in seven showings.
McBain is BC’s active leading scorer in the Beanpot with three goals in the tournament, while McLaughlin has an assist. Of Eagles who will be playing in this year’s event, senior forward Patrick Giles has two goals.
Meanwhile, the No. 16 Huskies (17-8-1, 9-6-1 HE) are coming off a 5-4 win against Vermont on Friday, ending a three-game losing streak.
Junior forward Aidan McDonough has been their most prolific scorer this season, leading the team in goals (17) and points (24) in 25 games. Behind him are freshman forward Justin Hryckowian (5-14–19 in 23 games) and sophomore forward Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (5-12-17 in 26 games).
Levi has had a record-setting season in net for the Huskies his season, leading to his selection to team Canada, while freshman netminder TJ Semptimphelter has seen action in just three games, going 1-1-0 with a .921 save percentage and a 2.60 GAA. Third goalie Evan Fear, a junior, has played in just one game, allowing two goals on nine shots.
In the Beanpot, McDonough leads Northeastern with a goal and two assists. Senior captain Jordan Harris has an assist, and scored the Beanpot-winning goal in double overtime against BU in 2020, although it did not officially count towards the record books, like Skoog’s goal versus BC. Senior defenseman Julian Kislin also has an assist.
History and recent trends
O’Connell, who played four seasons at BU from 1995-96 to 1998-99 in the midst of a six-year winning streak in the Beanpot, was part of one of four classes at BU to win four straight Beanpots. Winning it as a senior was his favorite memory from the tournament.
“If you’re a senior, especially being the captain having won three in a row, we didn’t want to be the class that ended [the streak],” O’Connell said. “I actually played pretty brutal in the last game. It was probably my one of my worst Beanpot games. Talk about overthinking it. I just felt like there was a lot of pressure, and I just I stopped moving my feet. I had a really kind of a poor game, but the team the team played very well and we ended up winning. [Goalie] Michel Larocque kind of stood tall in that game.
“That would be my favorite just because you wanted to go out the right way. We had a young team and only had three seniors that year. So it was a nice way to go. All of them are great. Don’t get me wrong, but a lot of fun during it and a lot of fun after. Good memories of it, but it was more relief the last time.”
In the previous 68 editions of the tournament, BU has reigned supreme with 30 titles. The Terriers have made it to five of the last six championship meetings, but have not won since 2015 in what could potentially become a seven-year drought, the longest of any team in the Beanpot. BC has 20 Beanpot championships, last winning in 2016, against BU. Harvard has 11, the last of which came in 2017, against BU. Three-time defending champion Northeastern has six titles to their name, with the first and third of this winning streak coming (you guessed it) against BU.
As a result of the winless streak, BU’s senior class is on the verge of going without a Beanpot championship during their time on Comm. Ave.
“I don’t think they put any more pressure [on themselves],” O’Connell said. “I think I know they want to win it, like any other senior. I think they want to go, you know, in a similar fashion that I wanted to. They wanted to be in a spot where you end on a good note especially at the Garden in February.”
Puck drop between BU and Harvard is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Monday. The nightcap between BC and Northeastern is set for 8 p.m., although it could be delayed if BU and Harvard run long, a reason why O’Connell prefers the earlier semifinal.
‘Really excited for the opportunity, and really excited to play first game because you know what time it starts,” O’Connell said. “So it’s a lot easier to prepare for. … There’s been many a time where [the second game] doesn’t go off on time.”
Monday’s winners will advance to next week’s championship matchup at 7:30 p.m., preceded by the 4:30 p.m. consolation game.
Be sure to stick with WTBU Sports (@WTBUSports) all week during the Beanpot as Daniel Multz (@DanielMultz) and Joe Pohoryles (@Joe_Poho) will have the call of both games on Mixlr, Patrick Donnelly (@PatDonn12) will be on hand for photos, and Owen Gund (@OwenGund) will have complete written coverage, following both games.
Featured Image: Then-freshman forward Ty Amonte (3) makes a check on a Harvard player in the Beanpot semifinals on Feb. 5, 2018. Amonte would score in double overtime to send the Terriers to the finals. Photo by Matt Dresens.