By Eoghan Kelly, News Staff
In the 2011 Beanpot championship game, the men’s hockey team and Boston College played one of the tournament’s closest and most exciting games ever, with the Eagles eventually pulling out a heart-stopping 7-6 overtime victory.
In Monday night’s semifinal rematch, it was a completely different story.
United States College Hockey Online (USCHO) No. 5 Boston College quickly eliminated any thought of revenge for the Huskies, winning handily, 7-1, at TD Garden Monday night. Northeastern remains without a championship in the tournament since 1988. Northeastern and BC have met in 41 Beanpot games, and with this year’s loss, the Huskies fall to 9-32 overall.
“They out-played us, they out-coached us, they wanted it more than us,” head coach Jim Madigan said after the game. “Right from the get-go, they just took it to us and we couldn’t get going … We just didn’t play to their tempo at all.”
The blow-out came as the Huskies (11-12-3 overall) fell victim to a number of familiar woes.
Northeastern’s special teams once again proved to be its Achilles heel. The Huskies’ power play, ranked seventh-worst in the country, allowed a pair of shorthanded goals to junior winger Steven Whitney in the second period, while senior forwards Barry Almeida and Paul Carey each added a power play goal against NU’s futile penalty kill unit in the third.
Meanwhile, six BC (17-10-1) skaters registered multi-point games, including freshman forward and Northeastern de-commit Johnny Gaudreau, who had two goals and an assist.
But worst of all, Madigan said, was that the Huskies buried themselves in an inescapable hole early on.
“[BC] just beat us to pucks,” Madigan said. “We turned it over, we were sloppy in our own zone, we were sloppy in front, we were sloppy on the power play. But they just wanted it more.”
Turnovers forced the Huskies to play from behind early in the first period. Carey opened scoring 5:14 into the game after the Northeastern defense coughed the puck up at its own blue line. Gaudreau pounced on the loose puck and sent the pass to Carey, who whistled it over the glove of junior goalie Chris Rawlings.
“I cut towards the middle, and Paul [Carey] was just screaming and I knew where he was,” Gaudreau said. “Nice little drop pass and he ripped it in.”
Minutes later, Gaudreau added a goal of his own when he capitalized on a fanned pass by sophomore defenseman Luke Eibler and slid a backhander five-hole on Rawlings for a 2-0 lead.
The Huskies made a game of it less than three minutes later. With both Whitney and junior forward Chris Kreider in the penalty box for roughing minors, Northeastern took advantage of the five-on-three power play. Sophomore defenseman Anthony Bitteto one-timed a feed from freshman forward Ludwig Karlsson past BC junior goalie Parker Milner to cut the lead in half.
Karlsson now leads the team with 24 points, while junior forward Garrett Vermeersch’s assist on the goal gives him 16 points in his last 15 games.
“When it went 2-1, I thought if we could obviously get the second goal, then we‘d settle things down,” Madigan said. “I thought that gave us a life, only down a goal having not played well. But they took it to us in the second period and it just continued.”
BC blew the game open in the second and third periods, scoring five unanswered goals and outshooting Northeastern, 31-13.
The Huskies struggled to produce any offense, due in part to having their second- and sixth-leading scorers, forwards junior Steve Quailer and sophomore Cody Ferriero, out of the line-up. Neither Madigan nor the Northeastern Sports Information Department have made any statements or released any information on the status of either player.
“They’re down two really top-end players in Ferriero and Quailer,” BC head coach Jerry York said. “You take those two out of your line-up and that affects you in a lot of different ways. That’s probably one of the contributing factors.”
The Eagles scored three times in a span of only six minutes and 20 seconds in the game’s middle frame. Whitney gave BC a two-goal lead when he finished off a pass from Almeida on a two-on-one rush at 6:51. Gaudreau tapped home the rebound off a shot that Rawlings mishandled for his second of the game barely two minutes later, and Whitney added a fifth goal when he roofed the puck over Rawlings following another two-on-one at 13:11.
“They’re a very good team,” Madigan said. “They put a lot of pressure on you, so they’re coming all the time, regardless if you’re on the power play, you’re a man down, five on five … They’re just coming and they’ve got a high skill level and a lot of confidence in their players.”
Northeastern managed to stay out of the penalty box until late in the second period, but a pair of undisciplined penalties would cost the Huskies in the third.
Sophomore goalie Clay Witt started the third period in place of Rawlings. He stopped 15 of 17 shots but with sophomore center Braden Pimm in the box for hooking, Almeida put a rebound of a shot by junior defenseman Brian Dumoulin past Witt. Carey deflected a shot by sophomore defenseman Isaac MacLeod past Witt with 2:40 remaining to bring BC’s lead to six.
The Eagles will play Boston University in the championship game Feb. 13 after the Terriers dismissed Harvard, 3-1, in Monday’s matinee semifinal. It will be the 21st time that the two teams meet in the championship game with BU holding a 12-8 all-time lead. BC will be playing for its fourth Beanpot title in five years and 17th overall.
Northeastern will meet Harvard in the consolation game with the afternoon match-up marking the third consecutive year the two sides have met in this phase of the tournament. The Huskies will be playing in their fourth consolation in the last seven tournaments, the last resulting in a 4-1 win over the Crimson Feb. 8, 2010.
Northeastern head coaches making their Beanpot debut are now 0-8.
Now, Madigan said, the Huskies must focus on the daunting finish to their Hockey East schedule. Though Northeastern has sole possession of the eighth and final playoff spot with 16 points, only two points separate from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Northeastern will travel to the University of New Hampshire Friday night, where a win would boost the Huskies into sixth place in Hockey East if Providence College losses.
Madigan said, with only seven league games left, it’s now time for the team to focus on their conference standing.
“Now that we’re in the Beanpot consolation final, our focus now continues to be Hockey East and playoff spots,” Madigan said.
