We will crown a champion in a new building, a little earlier then usual this year.
The Basics:
• What: The 2024 Beanpot Championship
• Where: TD Garden, Boston, MA
• Who: Northeastern University and Boston University
• When: 8:00 PM January 23, 2024
• How to watch: TV: NESN Plus (in New England), ESPN+ (outside New England)
Season Series: NU 3-0
NU @ BU (4:1), BU @ NU (0:2), NU @ BU (2:1 OT)
Northeastern has continued to have their lower Comm Ave rivals number of late, but the games have been closer than the Huntington Ave residents would like. The last time The Terriers won a game was at Walter Brown in 2021. They also won a shootout in the 2019 Beanpot semifinal, losing in a double OT in the Championship the next year. BU has not won a regular season game at Matthews since 2015.
Beanpot Championship History: NU 2-0
2012: NU 4 BU 3 OT
2020: NU 3 BU 3 OT (NU 4-3 2OT win)
Northeastern is the most prolific team in Women’s Beanpot history and BU the least. The Huskies have won the tournament 18 times, while the Terriers have only appeared in the title game 8 times. BU won as a club team in 1981 and then would not win again until the varsity program did so in 2019.
All Time Beanpot Results: NU Leads series 18-5-4
Outlook
Even though in both occasions that the teams met in the championship NU was the very favored team BU was able to take them to overtime, and with rule changes now if it is not settled ion the 5 minute 3 on 3 OT it will go to a shootout which is chaos.
Predictions
KRACH: NU 61.2% : BU 38.8%
GRaNT: NU 64.1% (2.84) : BU 35.9% (1.59)
Our friends over at BCInterruption have kindly provided us with the odds calculators. Per KRACH NU should win this game a little over 61% of the time. And resident math whiz over there has his own rankings that try to predict the final score. In that metric NU scores almost 2/3 of all goals and the metric predicts a 3-1 or 3-2 NU victory.
NU 3 BU 1
The numbers say NU, the history says NU, the gut says NU, but this his the Beanpot where chaos reigns supreme. The Terriers are led by Tara Watchorn who had lots of success against NU as an athlete, but never tasted victory in the Beanpot. The game its on the biggest stage for Boston even if the teams don’t have the star power that they both have had of late.
Northeastern needs to win this to try and revive what has mostly been a lost season, but a Terrier win could be a program maker for their new coach, so there will be lots to play for and it should be an exciting close game.