Another year, another story, and yet still no Beanpot glory for Huntington Avenue. With Monday’s 5-2 loss to perenial power Boston University, Northeastern fans will have to wait another year – the 17th in a row – for another crack at a Beanpot title. Strong goaltending has long been the key to Beanpot success, and BU netminder Sean Fields (35 saves) outgunned his Northeastern counterpart Keni Gibson (26 saves) at the FleetCenter. Fields made a number of game-saving stops, including a third-period sprawling pad save on a Mike Morris one-timer from just outside the crease, while Gibson allotted the Terriers a few admittedly soft goals. “I thought Sean Fields had himself a real good game tonight, he made some huge saves on some of our better players,” NU coach Bruce Crowder said. “I don’t think Keni had one of his better efforts tonight and he realizes that.” Gibson did have some tremendous stops, but understood he should have made a few more. “I felt I made a couple of saves to keep the team in it, but I had kind of a slow start and lost my feet a couple of times,” he said. “Lucky bounce or not, there were a couple I should’ve had right off the bat. I came back from a couple of those goals to give the team a chance, but I should have had those from the beginning.” BU coach Jack Parker saw the continued strong play of Fields (who shutout Maine last week) as the most encouraging sign for his struggling club (8-10-6). “I think the big difference in the game was the goaltending,” Parker said. “That’s not to disparage Keni, but our goalie played great. He made a couple of huge saves in the third period that really could’ve gotten them going. “The good aspect of the game for us is not to be in another Beanpot final, although we’re happy to be there,” he added. “The great aspect of it is that we looked like a hockey team and started making plays. And even though we lost our focus a little in the third period, we then came back and regained our composure. Most importantly, Sean Fields has put together some pretty good games. This was his best game in awhile.” Northeastern (7-13-4) scored first, when senior Eric Ortlip picked up the rebound of a Donny Grover shot and sliced it past Fields’ right arm just over a minute into the game. Forty-five seconds later, though, BU senior Steve Greeley netted a wrist shot from the left wing for his first goal of the year. Three minutes after that, BU’s Brad Zancanaro put a shot on goal that trickled through Gibson’s pads and over the line a second before the junior netminder could swipe it back. Freshman Yale Lewis evened the contest, and seemed to give Northeastern some momentum, when he buried his fourth goal of the year at the 17:40 mark of the first period. That momentum, however, was short-lived. Fifty-seven seconds into the second period BU’s Jekabs Redlihs wheeled around the right side of the net and slid a soft backhand shot along the ice that caught Gibson out of position. Northeastern had a number of close chances offensively, but was unable to connect for the rest of the game. Halfway through the second period, the puck popped out to NU sophomore Brian Swiniarski with Fields out of the net, but a BU defender prevented him from scoring and the puck squirted to center ice where Zancanaro had an unsuccessful breakaway on Gibson. In the third period, the puck caromed off the boards and in front of the net with Fields again out of the crease, but Northeastern couldn’t convert the chance. “We didn’t have it tonight in a lot of ways,” Crowder said. “We had some good scoring chances and we weren’t able to make a dent. I just don’t think we were crisp in our passing and our execution.” Brian McConnell netted an insurance tally for BU with 1:34 left in the second frame when he ripped a powerplay one-timer past Gibson on the right post. “We blew an assignment on the penalty-killing,” Crowder said. “Anytime you give the fourth [goal] and all the sudden it’s a two-goal lead, with the way Fields was playing, those goals are tough to make up.” Ryan Whitney closed scoring with an empty netter at the 19:37 mark for BU. Northeastern will face Harvard, a 4-1 loser to Boston College, next Monday at 5 p.m. in the Beanpot consolation game. BU, which has been to the finals an amazing 20 times in the last 21 years, will face BC at 8 p.m. Monday at the FleetCenter. Earlier in the week, Northeastern lost what Crowder described as the “worst performance of the year,” in a 4-2 road loss to UMass-Amherst. Swiniarski and junior Jon Awe scored the Northeastern goals. NU takes on UMass-Lowell in a key game Friday at Matthews Arena. Lowell, which recently had to forfeit nine games due to the use of an ineligible player, is now four points ahead of Northeastern in the Hockey East standings.