NU over BC

Last night the Northeastern Huskies won the Women’s Beanpot Consolation Game over the Boston College Eagles 3-2 at the TD Garden. This was the 3rd Beanpot to be played in “The House That Bergy Built” and the first time that the Huskies have played in the early game. For the Eagles when playing the Beanpot on Causeway Street, all they’ve known is the early game as the team hasn’t competed for the title since 2023.

In net for the Eagles was Grace Campbell who has had a front row (back row for the goalie?) seat as BC has gone 1-4 over her last 5GP. The Shattuck St. Mary’s product has done all she can despite her team’s recent record, as her .927%SV puts her in the Top 20 in NCAA D1. At the other end of the sheet it was The Big Cat: Lisa Jönsson who has faired better over her last 5 starts (3-1-1) albeit with a slightly lesser .925%SV behind the NU defense.

The game opened up with a decent pace, but neither team had a decided advantage in terms of zone time or puck possession. There were a lot of unforced turnovers and neutral zone play until Northeastern started to assert themselves approaching midway of the opening period. That assertion coincided with a good dose of nastiness ramping up between the squads. I mean what do you expect when these 2 teams are facing off for the 3rd time in about 6 weeks? It looked like the first period was going to wind down with a clean score sheet until the Eagles punched one home.

Sammy Taber is HER. Holy smokes what a talent. Taber dog-walked a back checking forward in the neutral zone before driving the net and dragging a NU defender before getting off a shot on her backhand from in tight. Jönsson made the initial save but Taber stayed with it and tucked the rebound home for the first strike of the game. The clip below doesn’t do justice for the amount of speed she generated dropping into the zone.

It looked as if the sides would retire for the first with the Eagles up by a goal, but then Éloïse Caron entered the chat. A great tandem forecheck by Lily Shannon and Stryker Zablocki forced a turnover behind the BC net. Zablocki gathered the puck and carried around to the RW and tried for a wide wrapper on Campbell. The BC net minder made the save but the rebound popped to her right and Caron was there to tuck home the loose change. What’s that expression? Good things happen when you go to the net.

And another look.

In the 2nd the Huskies carried the play for good portions of the period but were unable to get another one past Campbell. And then someone turned on the “Chippy Button” as the nasty ramped way up. Many post whistle scrums, a lot of barking between the squads and you could feel the tension from the 9th floor. Ava Thomas had a clean breakaway with less than 7mins to play but Jönsson denied her bid.

It looked as if the sides were going to head to the 2nd intermission knotted at 1 but Zablocki gave the Huskies their first lead of the game with about 2mins to play. Alessia Baechler carried the puck over the BC blue line and found Allie Lalonde in the high slot. Lalonde put a heavy wrister on net and the puck trickled through Campbell for Zablocki to punch in from the right post. Again: good things happen when you go to the net.

And hey Stryker, Lalonde was just trying to celly with you, there’s no need to dump your center like that. Here’s another look.

In the final frame, the game opened up and there was more back and forth between the sides. Thankfully, Stripes put the whistles away (they were clearly saving all their calls for the Championship Game) and let the ladies play. A turnover in the neutral zone led to Caron finding Shannon in the offensive zone and The Captain called game with a wicked wrister from the LW circle that beat Campbell over the glove far side. That was Shannon’s 16th goal of the campaign putting her one ahead of Thomas for the Hockey East lead.

BC didn’t give up the fight and were generating chances on Jönsson throughout the final period. This game, despite the scoring, turned into a bit of a goalie duel. Unfortunately there are no clips available of Campbell but she played on her head for the entire 60 last night and kept the Eagles in this one. Here’s one of Jönsson (even though I think her save on Thomas was better)

But it was Taber who said she didn’t hear no bell (or in this case horn).

With less than 3 seconds remaining, the Cushing Academy product got her 2nd of the night. Emma Conner kept the puck in along the RW wall and found Thomas at the RW circle. Thomas showed off her stick handling/skating/control by dragging the puck on her backhand while pivoting around a defender and juggling the puck on her blade before putting a shot on Jönsson. Through a pile of players Taber grabbed the loose puck and tucked it under the bar on her backhand. Filthy.

BC kept the goalie out for the ensuing face-off but there just wan’t enough time to generate anything else for the Eagles.

Up next for the Eagles is a home and home with the UNH Wildcats while the Huskies have a home and home? (@Bentley in Waltham) vs. UConn.

Some observations from the rink:

• BC’s Tricia Piku plays with a lot of jam and it was on display last night. Really like her game. She can suit up for Team Brownie any day.
• Speaking of jam, NU’s Jaden Bogden was impacting the game in all zones last night and I believe led both squads with posts hit. I see a bunch of those falling the other way and Bogs having a scoring breakout.
• Lastly, a quick stick tap to the Northeastern seniors as they end their Beanpot games undefeated on TD Garden ice.

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