Beanpot : Night 1 – Game 2

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

Yeah I copied and pasted the first 3 paragraphs for this. Get over it.

Game 2:

In the late game, BU and Northeastern met (again). For those keeping score at home; outside of the regular season matchups these 2 squads have faced off in the last 2 Beanpot Championships (Northeastern won both) and also the last Hockey East Championship (BU won that). So to say these teams are familiar with each other in big moments would be a bit of Just an understatement.

In net for the visiting Huskies was sophomore Lisa Jönsson and down the other end of the sheet was junior Mari Petersen. Again like the early game, this was set up to be another goalie battle and it didn’t disappoint.

BU broke the ice when they put one past Jönsson early in the first period. NU couldn’t clear the puck out of their zone and a turnover along the LW wall proved fortuitous for the Terriers as Lexie Bertelsen tucked home the night’s first geno from in close on the NU net.

Just past midway of the opening frame Northeastern got one on the board from who else? Lily Shannon. I mean you don’t lead Hockey East in points, goals and assists by accident. Kristina Allard carried the puck down the RW wall into the corner and then moved the puck to Shannon out front. The NU captain outmuscled the BU defender to tuck home the equalizer for the Huskies.

That score held through the end of the first period and through the middle frame. The 2nd period was very uneven with neither team getting sustained offensive zone pressure and while the pace of play was still lightning fast, the play itself was very choppy and sloppy with many turnovers from both sides.

In the 3rd it was more of the same, albeit without the sloppiness in regard to puck possession. Both sides were hunting every loose puck and the game came down to foot races and goaltending. You could feel the tension ratchet up through the final 20mins and for a Beanpot game, you’d have it no other way.

Throughout the game play was very physical and those in the crowd that have been to Hockey East games were nervously wondering when Stripes was going to put their finger on the scale and how they would influence this one. Well it turned out they waited until overtime to get involved. After nearly 50mins of “letting the ladies play” and watching both games escalate to the near point of losing control, Stripes called a “slash” in OT to put BU on the power play.

Now look, I’m not taking anything away from BU. They won the game and they had to deal with plenty of non-calls/questionable calls throughout this game too. I’d be willing to wager, that a program with as many high quality athletes (and people) that BU has, they’d have preferred to keep the on-ice officials the heck out of the way of a fantastic game.

But we know better in Hockey East. Stripes has to have their shine.

So, with BU on a 4:3 power play Maeve Carey punched the Terriers ticket to the Beanpot championship. BU had possession and the high cycle going in the NU zone before the Healey sisters turned Wally B into a backyard ODR to set up the GWG. Sydney Healey moved the puck to her sister Keira Healey who then found Carey walking down the right side of the slot. Carey put the puck on net through a screen and put the Terriers into the late game next week.

BU advances to the Championship Game next week.

Some notes from around the rink:

• I want to talk about the Welcke sisters. Man, are they fun to watch. They were hunting the puck all night and involved in every zone. Luisa Welcke was a monster on the wall and the forecheck and Lilli Welcke went an unbelievable 17-20 at the dot. Not a surprise that they’ll be skating in Italy.
• Speaking of face-offs, that was the first point made in the post game press conference. NU got walloped at the dot all night.
• Allard and Jules Constantinople were my standouts on the back end for Northeastern. They gave it all they had.

Navigate for my Thoughts and Gripes

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