Terriers Tenaciousness Takes Them to Beanpot Final

There is absolutely no love lost between the Boston University Terriers and the Boston College Eagles. They do not call it the Battle of Comm. Ave. for nothing, and as they stared across the ice at each other to begin the semifinal tilt, you could feel the tension. What made this game even more strained is that the two teams played each other just two weeks ago at Conte Forum, where the Eagles pulled out the win, beating the Terriers 4-3.

The first period was insanely quick. Just 2:15 into the opener, Patrick Giles, put the Eagles on the scoreboard first, assisted by Marc McLaughlin and Zach Walker. Five minutes later, BU’s David Farrance found himself in his defensive end with a broken stick and in trying to slow down an Eagle ended up taking a tripping penalty instead. It took the Eagles just 12 seconds for Alex Newhook to put the puck on and over Ashton Abel in a strange rebound to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead. Things weren’t looking good for the Terriers, though there was still a lot of hockey left in the opening frame, let alone the game. At 8:34 Logan Hutsko was sent off for BC for high-sticking. The Terriers pulled one back with Patrick Curry going back door on Spencer Knight, off a cross-crease pass from Logan Cockerill who received the puck from Farrance. And now it was a one-goal game. The Terriers got caught with too many men on the ice at 11:50, but they killed that penalty. And as the first period came to an end and the teams went off for the first intermission, the score sat 2-1 in favor of the Eagles.

The second period was a much slower affair with a single penalty—a cross-checking called on BU’s Cam Crotty. And a single goal—David Cotton’s shot caromed off of BU’s Alex Vlasic and past Abel to give the Eagles a two-goal lead going into the second intermission. The Terrier’s skating was somewhat improved in the second, but they continued to be stymied by the Eagles when it came to getting into the offensive zone and maintaining some pressure. Meanwhile, on the other end of the ice, if it wasn’t for Abel, the Eagles could have been leading by more than two goals as Boston College outshot the Terriers 15-9 in the middle frame. There was a breakaway by McLaughlin that Abel stoned, and then a solid tic-tac-toe that gave the Eagles all sorts of time and space just shortly after, that once again Abel was able to gobble up.

The third period saw a definite shift for much of the period in that the Terriers were outshooting the Eagles, though Knight was keeping his Eagles ahead. At 12:26 while the Eagles were in the Terriers end and on the PP, Luke McInnis took a selfish penalty—a completely uncalled for interference penalty (actually he came up behind the Terrier player and slapped his stick right out of his hand). The resulting four-on-four saw the Terriers get within one as Farrance garnered his 12th of the season assisted by Patrick Harper and Curry. Ten seconds later, now on the power play, Harper buried the puck, assisted by Farrance and things were tied up.

Up to that point it looked like Boston College had the game in hand. But those two goals by the Terriers gave Boston University life, and they managed to get the lead at 18:18 of third when Robert Mastrosimone put the Terriers up 4-3, assisted by Trevor Zegras and Harper.

Unfortunately, their joy was short-lived. At 18:34, Curry took a hooking penalty and the Eagles were able to play six on four, having pulled Knight for the extra attacker. At 19:02.1, Cotton got his second of the game and knotted things up once again. And that’s where things would be when the horn sounded at the end of regulation.

Per NCAA protocol, there was a five-minute overtime—just as with any other collegiate hockey game—in which neither team was able to score.

Things got a bit strange at this point. As far as the NCAA was concerned, this game ended in a tie. This is the first time in Beanpot history that the official record would show a tie. In reality, the teams went off for a full intermission and then returned to play a second full 20-minute sudden death overtime period—though none of the shots, stops or final goal would show in the NCAA record.

As the second overtime continued, it was clear that both teams were exhausted. Some uncharacteristic turnovers and fanned shots by both teams spoke to what they had already given to get to the point they were at. Ultimately Wilmer Skoog would send the Terriers into happiness and the Eagles into disappointment.

“Yeah. Honestly, you know, after the first and second, we didn’t have too much going but um, we sort of spoke to the group in between the second and third and we just spoke about resiliency and doing it for the guys who only have one Beanpot left. And then we got that four-on-four and then that power play. Those two special teams were huge for us. And then after that, Zee [Zegras] makes an unbelievable play to a Mastro [Mastrosimone] coming in. And it’s 4-3, and it’s a wild game and there’s a lot of hope and a lot of a lot of fun spirit within the group. And we just felt that we were going to take it home,” shared BU’s Harper after the game.

What the third period of the game showed was how penalties can really hurt a team.

“You know we had a really good lead. We took an unnecessary penalty which gave [BU] some life and they capitalized on the four-on-four and then the ensuing five-on-four. Tough because we had a power play with a nine and something left in the game. If you learn anything from the game tonight, it’s that you know you just can’t take penalties late in the game. You gotta keep your composure. I thought the six-on-four goal, again Terriers took a penalty late in the game, and we had a chance to capitalize on them and I think we both have very good power plays so, you know, you take a penalty you’re playing with fire,” said BC’s head coach Jerry York.

In the end, the Terriers tenaciousness gave them the win and they will meet Northeastern University’s Huskies on Monday, February 10th, to see who lifts the Beanpot as champion.