By Jack Hodge and Jake Sauberman, news staff
Four teams, one title. The Beanpot encapsulates Boston collegiate hockey for two weeks a year, and this year it holds an even greater meaning to Northeastern University (NU). Hosted at Matthews Arena, the women’s Beanpot tournament kicked off with a Huskies victory over Harvard University. They started out the week with a dominating 6-0 win at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), before skating away with their first Beanpot win against Harvard with a score of 4-1.
Northeastern started strong in their game against UNH, taking the lead just 39 seconds in. Senior forward Hayley Scamurra was responsible for the 1-0 lead with her strong wrist shot sailing the puck right over the UNH goalie’s glove.
Scamurra pushed her team for another goal at 19:18 in the first period. She passed it to junior forward Denisa Krizova who took a powerful one-timer and brought the Huskies lead to 2-0. This goal was also Krizova’s 50th of her collegiate career, making her one of only 22 players in the program to have reached this milestone.
The Huskies started slow in the second period until sophomore forward Kasidy Anderson picked up a pass from freshman forward Bailey Coyne and snapped a shot inside the left post with 5:25 remaining in the period.
In the third period, the Huskies solidified their lead and brought home the win. Anderson scored her second goal of the game with a pass from junior forward Shelby Herrington. Later in the period, freshman forward Matti Hartman scored with a quick wrist shot at the left post. A final goal by senior forward Hayley Masters gave the Huskies their third shutout against UNH with a score of 6-0.
The long-awaited debut of the Beanpot tournament opened Tuesday, and the Huskies wasted no time jumping on the board against Harvard. Junior forward Halle Silva started off the game converting a rebound into a goal just a minute into the first period.
“We are trying to focus on starting the game quicker and to jump on them 1-0 during that first shift was important to set the tempo of the game,” head coach Dave Flint said to GoNU.
Senior forward Paige Savage scored another goal with a quick wrist shot later in the period bringing the score to 2-0 going into the second period.
Harvard attempted to reclaim the lead with a goal from junior forward Lexie Lang late in the second period.
“They got some momentum there with that goal,” Flint said of Harvard’s pushback in the second period. “They were really pressing us after that but we battled through it and I think we did a really good job of getting that momentum back.”
The Red and Black regained that momentum with another goal by Savage, making it her first multi-goal performance of the season.
In the third period the Huskies finalized the score with a shot from junior forward McKenna Brand finding the back of the net assisted by both Krizova and Scamurra. After the game, Scamurra was full of praise for this line.
“We just communicate really well whenever we’re on the ice or off the ice we are always talking to each other,” Scamurra said.
This communication paid off, as it brought Brand her NCAA-leading 22nd goal of the year and the Huskies a 4-1 win against Harvard.
The Huskies will celebrate senior night as they take on Providence College Friday at Matthews Arena. The Beanpot tournament resumes on Tuesday as NU plays in their fifth championship game in six years.
Photo by Jerry Yu
