Men’s Hockey: BU Advances To Beanpot Final

By Ryan Owens

The Boston University Terriers (12-13-2, 8-10-1 HEA) squeaked by the Northeastern Huskies (12-12-1, 7-9-1 HEA), 3-2, in a shootout at TD Garden on Monday night.

Cole Hutson scored the winning goal in just the second Beanpot shootout ever, sending his team to the final next week against No. 12 Boston College.

“I really liked our effort tonight, really from start to finish,” said BU head coach Jay Pandolfo. “I thought we deserved that win.”

Terriers Jonathan Morello and Nick Roukounakis scored the other two goals for BU. Dylan Hryckowian and Jacob Mathieu scored for Northeastern.

The win is the Terriers’ first in four games, following a sweep from Providence and a defeat at the hands of Boston College, who they will face in the final.

The Terriers opened the game maintaining the vast majority of possession and offensive zone time through the early minutes of the first period. Despite dangerous chances from Hutson and a breakaway shot by newcomer Tynan Lawrence, the Huskies shut down every opportunity.

The Terriers took a penalty halfway through the frame as defenseman Charlie Trethewey headed to the box for tripping. Northeastern capitalized early, as some tic-tac-toe passing allowed junior Dylan Hryckowian to one-time the puck past BU goalie Mikhail Yegorov, giving his team an early 1-0 lead.

BU was given its first power-play opportunity after the Huskies’ Andy Moore kneed Brandon Svoboda. The Terriers generated little momentum during the advantage, which came and went without much fanfare.

BU had one more dangerous chance before the end of the frame, racing in with a shot and huge rebound to an open net. Northeastern netminder Lawton Zacher was up to the task, jumping to kick the puck away and preventing the Terriers’ final golden opportunity before the first intermission.

The Terriers put on heavy pressure early in the second period, and it paid off as Trethewey skated through the offensive zone and took a shot that deflected off freshman Jonathan Morello, bouncing into the net and tying the game 1-1 less than two minutes into the period.

Northeastern did not take long to swing the game back in its favor, as a pass from Hryckowian to freshman Jacob Mathieu allowed him to reach the slot, ripping a shot past Yegorov to return the lead to the Huskies, 2-1.

Roukounakis put the team on his back not long after that, developing a 2-on-1 opportunity for BU. He opted to shoot, lasering the puck past Zacher and tying the game 2-2 less than halfway through regulation.

“Originally I was looking low,” Roukounakis said of his goal. “The second I looked up, I noticed he was a little bit off his angle. And yeah, the blocker side just had a little more room than I thought.”

BU spent the next several minutes holding the puck in the offensive zone, but a defensive stick at the blue line gave Northeastern the opportunity to break away and try to break the tie once again. It was not to be, as the shot went wide and each team stayed at two goals.

BU found itself with another near chance after a shot on goal left Zacher lying on the ice and the puck sitting in the crease. The Huskies managed to bat it away, and despite the best efforts of the Terrier skaters, they could not capitalize on the opportunity.

The rest of the period went by quietly, with BU dominating offensive zone time while Northeastern generated several odd-man rushes. Neither team converted before the buzzer, and the teams went to the locker room tied 2-2 with 20 minutes left to play.

“It really was from everyone,” Pandolfo said of his team’s effort. “I thought all four lines played well right from the start, I thought all the D played well, Big Mike played well.”

The first half of the final period of regulation saw the teams go back and forth, holding possession in the offensive zone for long stretches and putting up high shot volumes but failing to beat the opposing netminders. With 10 minutes left, the game remained tied.

Terrier Ryder Ritchie picked up the puck on his own blue line, turning the other way and setting up an odd-man rush for BU. The Huskies’ speedy backcheck held up, preventing the chance and stopping what could have been a game-winning play.

Hutson lost his skates on a routine play behind his own net, allowing Northeastern an open shot in the slot. Yegorov made a sprawling save, keeping the game even with seven minutes to go.

Lawrence quickly picked it up and went the other way, skating through the Husky defenders and finding himself at the netfront. Zacher covered the puck to prevent any further damage, and the teams engaged in a shoving match in front of him.

The final minutes of regulation saw each team battling for every inch, playing physical hockey and fighting to gain the upper hand. Neither side was able to score, sending the semifinal into overtime.

The first two minutes of extra time saw the teams trade chances, with their fanbases shaking the building as they rushed down the ice.

The building went quiet when BU’s Cole Eiserman crashed the net, running over Zacher and leaving him injured on the ice. He was able to skate off on his own, and the goalie ultimately returned to his net.

BU took over the offensive zone with 40 seconds left, and Ryder Ritchie beat Zacher—believing he had scored the winning goal. But the goal was waved off, and Gavin McCarthy went to the box for interference.

Despite the 4-on-3 advantage for the final seconds of overtime, BU killed the penalty, sending the game to a shootout to decide who would advance and who would play for third place.

“We had no doubt we were killing that penalty,” Hutson said.

The Huskies’ Giacomo Martino started the shootout, getting stopped by Yegorov. Jack Harvey went the other way for BU, deking past Zacher and beating him on the left side.

Hryckowian took the next shot for Northeastern, holding the puck and ripping it past Yegorov to tie the shootout. Eiserman took the next one for BU, sending it wide of the net.

Mathieu was the third shooter for Northeastern, hitting Yegorov’s pads to leave it to Hutson. The sophomore squeaked the puck past Zacher, just crossing the line and winning the game for BU.

“It’s gonna be big for us,” Hutson said of the win. “Gonna need a big last few games here and hopefully go on a run at the end of the year.”

“We got the job done, we really needed that,” Pandolfo said.