In hindsight maybe we should have seen this score coming.
Consolation Game
Boston College 4 Harvard 1
This game was opposite of last year which had drama and upset. This year Boston College took care of business against the Crimson. The Eagles would score three times in the first and Harvard never competed after that.
Championship Game
Northeastern 4 Boston University 0
A rematch of last year’s title game at the Garden, but this one went a little bit differently.
This game was announced at 13,279 which is the 5th highest college game on record and the highest involving any eastern team, all the games ahead were at Wisconsin. This is the largest crowd for a women’s hockey game in New England and set program records for both participants. This tops last year’s title game which was at 6th overall.
While the Huskies had some good chances early BU wasn’t quiet but neither team could find the net until midway in the first when Lily Yovetich was able to create a deflection off the stick of a Terrier that gave Grace Callahan no chance to save the puck.
The second was very back and forth but both goalies stood tall. It wasn’t until the final minutes when Lily Shannon capitalized on a rebound to give NU an insurance goal. Jaden Bowden would follow up 40 seconds later to end the scoring in the middle frame.
The Terriers would not go quietly in the third but were never able to solve Lisa Jönsson as she went on to win both Top Goalie and MVP honors. BU would outshoot the Huskies in the final frame but Northeastern would be the one adding the empty net exclamation mark to the delight of most of the record crowd.
Special teams was a big factor for a game that saw no special teams goals. BU was held spotless on their two power plays and were actually able to get more shots when they were short handed. The Huskies had multiple extra skater advantages in the final minutes as BU as getting desperate and lost some composure.
This was Northeastern’s record setting 20th Beanpot, having won 4 of the last 5, the lone blemish was a shocking first round upset at home to BC in 2022. This was the first multiple goal win in a championship since 1997.