Beanpot : Night 1 – Game 1

The 47th annual Women’s Beanpot kicked off last night at Walter Brown Arena on the campus of Boston University. These were the semifinal games and featured Harvard “at” Boston College in the early game and then Northeastern at Boston University in the nightcap.

The fans were lively for both games, and the crowd grew into a record-setter by the end of the NU/BU contest. If someone tells you that no one cares about women’s hockey, please point to the new attendance record set last night at Wally B with 2281 enthusiastic fans on hand. Hopefully that leads to a sellout at TD Garden for the next round on 1/20 (get your tickets!).

I’m going to break this into 3 blogs, so buckle up buttercup

• The First Game
• The Second Game
• Brownie’s Overall Thoughts & Gripes

First Game:

In net for the Crimson was sophomore Ainsley Tuffy facing off against Eagles senior Grace Campbell. This was kind of a student vs. the teacher scenario as they overlapped at Shattuck St. Mary’s. Even if they weren’t sharing a goalie room, I’m sure they are very familiar with each other’s games.

BC opened this one up with some gas and Tuffy faced 6-8 shots in the early going as Harvard tried to get their legs going. The Eagles had the only power play of the opening period but were unable to get one past Tuffy, and if you ask any coaching staff, they’ll tell you that a good PK can be a big momentum swing. The kill seemed to energize the Crimson as the game opened up and Harvard drew first blood.

With time winding down in the first, Morgan McGathey picked up a loose puck high in the BC zone and drove down the right wing with 2 defenders giving chase, she then pulled the puck inside on a BC defender and beat Campbell on the backhand. A great individual effort and what a net drive!

A Boston team with a number 4 driving the RW and getting tripped going to the net? Hmmm, why’s that sound so familiar? I don’t know if McGathey will ever see this, but if the Harvard social media team doesn’t have you taking a pic with the Bobby Orr statue next week at the TD Garden someone clearly missed the boat.

With about 7mins gone in the 2nd, BC tied it up off the stick of Ava Thomas. A turnover deep in the Harvard zone was corralled by Emma Conner who (cool as a cucumber) laid the puck cross-crease for Thomas for the back-door tap in. Tie game.

Thomas had another bid late in the middle frame when the Eagles dominated a Crimson power play, but Tuffy shut the door.

The physicality ramped up through the 2nd as the neutral zone became treacherous to navigate, but the teams headed to the 3rd all knotted up. In the final frame both sides found another gear as there were plenty of good looks and grade A chances but no one could solve the other’s net minder.

That was until Kaley McDonald called game for Harvard. McDonald pinched down the LW wall and gathered a loose puck at the circle and drove the net. Moving laterally from below the dot, she took a stride above the bottom of the circle and went far-side bardown for her first of the year,

Snipe City meet your new Mayor Kaley McDonald.

The rest of the period was very physical as Stripes was uneven at best, and lost control of the game at worst. (This is what we call foreshadowing). A Hail Mary penalty challenge by the BC coaching staff didn’t come to fruition as Harvard hung on until the final horn.

Harvard advances to the Beanpot Championship.

Some notes from the rink:

• BC’s Sammy Taber comes as advertised. Slick puck handling, great vision and she factored in every zone. On the first BC power play she set up in the deep LW corner and generated at least 3 great scoring chances that the Eagles were unable to capitalize on. What a dynamic player.
• Both goalies were excellent in this one and gave their teams a chance to win. It was an outstanding net minder matchup.
• Harvard’s Ella Lucia was great all game but was especially monstrous in the last shift. She won 2 crucial face-offs deep in her own zone after BC pulled the goalie, had at least one gigantic block late and juuuuuuuust missed the ENG. Watch out for her next week and the rest of the way.

For NU/BU please navigate to the next blog.

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