Beanpot Finals: Terriers Deny Huskies First Title Since 1988
On Monday, the BU Terriers and Northeastern Huskies faced off in the 63d Annual Beanpot Championship, a game long awaited after being postponed due to snowy weather.
BU was up 3-1 in the third period, but Northeastern stormed right back, scoring two goals 1:35 apart to tie the game up, giving the Huskies’ “Dog House’’ student section life.
“The third period was huge for us, it shifted momentum,’’ said Huskies forward Torin Snydeman. “We showed great resolve being able to come back down two goals.’’
“You could see it in their faces, they scored two goals in a hurry,’’ said Terriers coach David Quinn, who took a timeout to try and settle his team down. “You work so hard to get a two goal lead and all of a sudden, it’s gone.’’
The score would remain the same into overtime, where just nine seconds in, Jack Eichel drew a hooking penalty on defenseman Matt Benning to put BU on a power play, a call Northeastern head coach Jim Madigan would protest to the officials.
On that power play, the Terriers capitalized to seal their 30th Beanpot championship, as forward Ahti Oksanen won a board battle, slid the puck to Evan Rodrigues, who threw it across to Matt Grzelyck. Grzelyck ripped a wrist shot from 35 feet out, using defenseman Kevin Saucerman as a screen to mask the puck as it went over the shoulder of Huskies goaltender Clay Witt.
Grzelyck, junior captain of the BU squad a Boston Bruins draft pick, missed last year’s Beanpot tournament with a shoulder injury he suffered at a practice the month before, creating a special moment for him in the building where his dad works as a member of the Bull Gang.
“It’s obviously a childhood dream, living so close to the [TD] Garden, my dad working here,’’ Grzelyck said. “Although they scored the last two goals in the third, we were confident and we just wanted to make sure we had fun, you never know if you’re gonna come back here.’’
Northeastern hasn’t won a Beanpot in 27 years, and the hard loss was felt by both the coach and the players, with Madigan given a game misconduct when the game ended for arguing the penalty call after the overtime goal was scored.
“The kids are dismayed at how it ended,’’ coach Madigan said. “The referee made a call; we didn’t agree with it.’’
“Obviously we wanted a different result, we gave it our best in the third, came back and gave it our best in overtime,’’ Snydeman said. “Unfortunate the way it ended.’’
The game, BU’s first championship win since 2009, also left a lasting memory for BU senior Evan Rodrigues.
“After the third period, me and [fellow senior] Cason [Hohmann] actually talked to each other,’’ he said. “Our freshman year, we lost to BC in overtime with six seconds left, and we just told ourselves we weren’t gonna lose…We just told each other we were going to make it happen, no matter what it took.’’
BU and Northeastern hadn’t faced off against each other all season, and now play a home and home series this weekend, Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Agganis Arena and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. at Matthews Arena.
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