BU punches ticket to Beanpot final in 7-1 shellacking of Harvard
The Boston University Terriers started slowly in the early Beanpot. But they ended up in their usual destination -- the championship game.
If it’s the first Monday in February, it’s a safe bet that the Boston University men’s hockey team is feeling pretty good about itself.
In the 72nd Beanpot tournament at the Garden, the Terriers punched their ticket to the championship game for the 57th time. And this time, there was little drama to the proceedings.
Paced by a five-goal second period, the Terriers shook off a brief slow start and crushed Harvard, 7-1. Devin Kaplan and Cole Hutson scored two goals each too lead BU.
BU improved to 15-9-1 while Harvard fell to 7-12-2.
The teams traded goals in the first period. Harvard had the edge in play early, thanks in part to two early BU penalties, the first of which the Crimson capitalized on.
After Cole Hutson was called for hooking on the backcheck, Harvard’s Casey Severo put his team up 1-0. BU goalie Mikhail Yegorov could not get a handle on a loose puck at the top of the crease that Mick Thompson was trying to whack home. The puck eventually came out to Severo on the right side and the Pennfield, New York native knocked it home.
That was as good as it would get for Harvard.
Once the Terriers got their legs going, they spent most of the second part of the period in the Harvard end. They evened it up at 15:37 after a Harvard turnover in the neutral zone was quickly turned into a 3-on-2 for BU. Jack Hughes was forced behind the net, but he made a slick backhand pass out front for Devin Kaplan, who beat goalie Ben Charette low to the far side.
BU held a 12-9 shot advantage in the first.
The Terriers carried the momentum into the second and quickly captured the lead on a beautiful power-play goal from Shane Lachance at 16:35.
After Ben MacDonald high-sticked Cole Hutson, Hutson’s brother Quinn sent a pass down to Lachance at right side of the net. Lachance used the reach that his 6-5 frame blessed him with to put the puck between his legs and then roof it past Charette.
The Terriers kept coming, doubling their lead at 5:59. Lane Hutson made a terrific deke to create a clear path to the net and get a shot on net that Charette stopped. Unfortunately for the netminder, the rebound went off the skate of Crimson defenseman Kyle Aucoin and into the net to make it 3-1.
It didn’t stop there. At 11:24, Jack Harvey made it 4-1 off the rush. It looked like BU might have a 2-on-1 but Harvard defenseman Matthew Morden got back to take away Harvey’s option. Harvey, operating on his off wing on the right side, simply cut to the middle of the ice and snapped a forehand shot to beat Charette.
The Terriers finally made it a blowout with two goals in the final 1:23 of the second. First, Kaplan scored his second goal of the game off a beautiful no-look, wing-to-wing pass from Hughes. Then in a net-front scramble, Quinn Hutson slipped one under Charette with 12 seconds left period. A Harvard defender yanked it out quickly, but video review showed that the puck had completely crossed the line.
The third was uneventful until Harvard’s William Hughes caught Gavin McCarthy up high with a hit, sending the BU defenseman to the room. The officials looked at it for a major but handed Hughes just a two-minute minor.
With Hughes in the box, Cole Hutson added a power-play goal on a rush, slipping the puck through Charette’s five-hole with 5:08 left.
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