The Northeastern men’s hockey team (13-19-3, 7-14-3 HE) defeated the No. 1 Boston College Eagles (26-7-2, 18-4-2 HE) to advance to the quarterfinals in the Hockey East tournament March 15, 3-1. The upset marked the first time in tournament history that a team seeded No. 8 or lower (Northeastern was seeded No. 9) has beaten No. 1 or advanced to semifinals. The Huskies got their vengeance after a crushing 8-2 defeat Feb. 2 against Boston College at the Beanpot semifinals.
“[I’m] really proud of the way they played and stuck together. We had confidence knowing that if we played a certain way, we’d give ourselves a chance tonight,” head coach Jerry Keefe said after the win.
The game was scoreless through the first period. The Eagles outshot the Huskies 13-7 with eight blocked shots from several Northeastern defensemen. Sophomore goaltender Cameron Whitehead made 13 saves in the period compared to sophomore goaltender Jacob Fowler’s seven.
Through the opening 13 minutes of the second period, the teams appeared evenly matched, the two each exchanging five penalties and 13 shots.
In the 14th minute of the second period, the Huskies broke through. Graduate student defenseman Jake Higgins played a short pass to junior forward and captain Jack Williams in the neutral zone. Williams played a through pass to junior forward Cam Lund into the offensive zone. Lund fired a shot from center ice over the left shoulder of Fowler, putting his team up 1-0.
Two minutes later, Northeastern doubled its lead. Senior forward Cristophe Tellier skated the puck along the boards before firing a shot that was saved by Fowler. Freshman forward Joe Connor jumped on the rebound, flipping the puck under the glove side.
The second period concluded with the Huskies up 2-0.
The third period was another close contest between the teams, with no goals scored through 16 minutes.
In the 13th minute of the third period, Whitehead made a save on an almost sure goal to keep Northeastern up 2-0. Whitehead finished the game with a .968 save percentage off of 20 shots on goal.
The only word we have is: WOW.
📺 https://t.co/YEf3g6g2ww pic.twitter.com/UQPambtdxV
— Northeastern Men’s Hockey (@GoNUmhockey) March 16, 2025
With three minutes to play, the Eagles pulled Fowler to put an extra skater on the ice. In an attempt to take advantage of the empty net, Lund fired a shot from Northeastern’s defensive zone but it struck the crossbar. Forty seconds later, BC was back in the game.
Sophomore forward Ryan Leonard played a pass to graduate student forward Gentry Shamburger in the neutral zone. Shamburger skated the puck into the offensive zone before playing a backhanded pass to freshman forward James Hagens, who slid the puck under the pads of Whitehead.
In the final 30 seconds of the game, Tellier was assessed a two minute minor for hooking, giving the Eagles a two-man advantage. Nonetheless, senior forward Ryan McGuire won a faceoff for the Huskies before blocking a shot and scoring an empty net goal to ensure his team’s victory with two seconds left in the game.
Northeastern will take on the No. 2 tournament seed University of Maine Black Bears (22-7-6, 13-5-6 HE) in the semifinals March 20 in TD Garden.
