***Join fellow alumni, parents and friends at Tavern in the Square across from TD Garden before the game at 5:30 p.m. Registration is not necessary.***
BOSTON - In the Beanpot title game for the fifth time in six years, Boston University takes on No. 12 Northeastern for the tournament crown on Monday (Feb. 10) at TD Garden. The game will be televised on NESN, NHL Network and TSN5 with a start time of 7:30 p.m.
BU is looking for its record 31st Beanpot and first since 2015, which was their only title of the 2010s. The Huskies are attempting for their first-ever Beanpot three-peat.
The teams met at Agganis Arena back on Dec. 7 with BU posting a 6-3 home win. Three of BU's final eight contests of the regular season will be against Northeastern, culminating with a home-and-home weekend.
The Terriers are in the final for the 54th time in the Beanpot's 68 years with an overall tournament record of 91-44, including a 33-10 mark against Northeastern.
Twenty-two current BU skaters and two goaltenders have played in at least one Beanpot. Junior Logan Cockerill (2g, 2a), senior Patrick Curry (2g, 2a), senior Patrick Harper (1g, 3a) and junior David Farrance (1g, 3a) each have four points in the tournament.
This will be the 240th meeting between the Terriers and Huskies since they first met during the 1930-31 season. The only team BU has played more games against is Boston College (281).
BU holds a 166-63-10 (.715) advantage, including wins in 14 of the past 22 meetings (14-6-2) but the Huskies are 5-2-1 in the past eight. Last season, the Huskies earned a pair of 2-1 overtime wins over the Terriers at TD Garden in the Beanpot and Hockey East semifinals. BU is 13-4-0 (.765) in the 17 meetings that have taken place at TD Garden.
Northeastern has dropped three of its past four Hockey East games to fall to ninth place in the league standings. The Huskies were tied for first when they faced BU back in December.
Sophomore Tyler Madden is tied for fourth in the nation in points with 35 on 17 goals and 18 assists. Junior Zach Solow (12g, 15a) and senior d-man Ryan Shea (4g, 21a) have tallied 27 and 25 points, respectively. Aidan McDonough has 21 points (9g, 12a), which is tied for fifth among Hockey East rookies.
In goal, graduate transfer Craig Pantano has 15 wins after totaling only six last season at Merrimack. He currently sports a 2.42 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage.
The Huskies boast the fourth-best penalty kill in the nation, operating at a 87.9 success rate.
In a game that will officially go down as a 4-4 tie, Wilmer Skoog's goal in the 73rd minute of play lifted BU to a thrilling victory over then--No. 4 Boston College in last week's Beanpot semifinal round.
Senior Patrick Harper and junior David Farrance each tallied a goal and two assists for the Terriers, with those markers coming 70 seconds apart to erase a late 3-1 deficit. Freshman Robert Mastrosimone appeared to provide the game-winner for the Terriers with 1:42 to play, but the Eagles sent the game to overtime on an extra-attacker goal with just 58 ticks left on the clock.
The Terriers are coming off their first home loss in over two months, as Merrimack left Agganis Arena with a 5-1 win on Friday. BU opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal by Mastrosimone before the Warriors got an equalizer with 2:49 left in the opening period. The second period was the decisive one as Merrimack stunned the Terriers and the Agganis crowd with a pair of shorthanded goals to take a lead it would not relinquish. The Terriers are now 0-3-1 in games between the Beanpot over the past four seasons.
BU is one of three Division I teams with three players among the top 30 nationally in points per game. The other two are fellow Beanpot schools (BC, Harvard). Harper is 10th at 1.29 and Farrance ranks 13th (first among defensemen) at 1.23. Freshman Trevor Zegras is tied for 26th at 1.08, which ranks third among Division I rookies.
