No. 1 Boston College freshman goaltender Thatcher Demko logged 29 saves and senior captain Patrick Brown netted two goals to trump No. 11 Northeastern 4-1 on Monday night to secure the Beanpot championship.
Neither team could break away from the other in the first two periods. The Eagles (22-4-3) started off the scoring eight minutes, 40 seconds into the first period on a shot by senior forward Kevin Hayes that slid past Huskies goaltender Clay Witt for a 1-0 lead.
BC increased the offensive attack in the second period but failed to score due to several acrobatic saves by Witt. With 1:24 left in the frame, Northeastern (16-10-3) finally scored the equalizer when John Stevens cleaned up a rebound, which ricocheted off Demko.
After the third period got off to a tenacious start, the Eagles scored three goals over the last six minutes to put the game on ice. Brown scored two goals while junior Johnny Gaudreau added an empty-net goal.
The victory was BC coach Jerry York’s eighth Beanpot championship, tying him with Snooks Kelley for the most titles as an Eagles head coach. Hayes was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
Harvard tops BU in Beanpot consolation
Boston University suffered a sizable loss to Harvard in the Beanpot consolation game on Monday at TD Garden, falling 6-2.
The Terriers (8-16-4) initially started off well despite the lopsided score. In the first period, junior Evan Rodrigues scored the lone goal of the period as BU led 1-0 after a period.
The Crimson (8-12-3) wasted no time getting on the board in the second period, as Kyle Criscuolo, Brian Hart and Luke Esposito each found the back of the net in the period’s first seven minutes. Harvard would not relinquish the lead from that point on.
Ahti Oksanen cut the deficit to 3-2 at 8:20 in the third period for the Terriers, but any thoughts of a comeback were thwarted as Esposito scored his second goal less than a minute later. Harvard followed that up with goals by forwards Jimmy Vesey and Tyler Moy to finish the contest.
Crimson goaltender Steve Michalek picked up the win in the contest, saving 25 shots.
UVM tops UNH
A pair of goals from Pete Massar and Mario Puskarich and a 29-save performance by freshman goaltender Mike Santaguida helped Vermont hold off New Hampshire 2-1 on Saturday night.
Santaguida made a pair of tremendous saves in the opening period, taking a shot away from Dalton Speelman and then another from Matt Willows to keep UNH (16-15-1, 8-8-0 HEA) off the board. Through one period, UVM topped New Hampshire in shots 12-8. Both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play.
The second period started off right for the Catamounts. Massar netted his fifth goal of the season to put UVM (15-9-3, 7-7-0 HEA) up 1-0 early in the period. Less than three minutes later, Vermont’s top line continued its success. Senior Chris McCarthy set it up with a pass to the right for Brendan Bradley, who found a wide open Puskarich who bested Wildcats’ goaltender Casey DeSmith for a 2-0 Vermont lead. It was Puskarich’s 13th goal of the season.
A power play goal by UNH’s Nick Sorkin cut the lead in half to 2-1, but that would be all for the Wildcats as Santaguida held up down the stretch, saving all 14 shot attempts in the third period and securing the win for the Catamounts.
Marc Jean-Louis can be reached at [email protected].
