BOSTON, MA – For the second night in a row, the Beanpot championship game went into double overtime as the third-ranked Northeastern University Huskies took down the ninth-ranked Boston University Terriers by a final score of 4-3 in the 42nd Women’s Beanpot final, thanks to Lauren MacInnis’ game-winning goal.
“I think the light should shine on the hockey players that played here tonight,” Durocher said. “Fantastic young ladies play on both teams, and I think throughout the year they’ve proved to be highly competitive teams.”
The Terriers (20-6-4, 14-6-3 HEAW) jumped out to an early lead on the penalty kill as junior forward Kristina Schuler forced a turnover at the blueline and broke in all alone on Northeastern junior netminder Aerin Frankel before deking and beating Frankel with a backhand.
The Huskies (25-3-2, 21-2-0 HEAW) answered late in the first, though, as sophomore Chloe Aurard broke in on a two-on-one opportunity before selling BU junior goaltender Corinne Schroeder on the pass and beating her low to the glove to tie the game at one apiece.
Before the halfway point of the second period, Aurard picked up her second tally of the night to put Northeastern up, 2-1, after she found herself all alone with the puck in the high-slot after a defensive lapse of a faceoff in the BU zone.
Shortly after, Huskies senior defender Skylar Fontaine took a contact to the head/roughing penalty after taking down Terrier senior defender Breanna Scarpaci, earning a five minute major and game misconduct, while Scarpaci earned two minutes for cross-checking.
After the two minutes of four-on-four, and with the Terriers on the power play, Abby Cook wired a one-timer through the traffic in front of the goal and past Frankel to tie the game, 2-2.
With less than 10 minutes remaining in the third, redshirt senior captain Sammy Davis went to the box for the Terriers, putting Northeastern back on the power play. On the ensuing advantage, Schroeder could not quite cover the puck and freshman forward . Jess Schryver was able to jam it past her to give the Huskies a 3-2 lead.
As the clock ticked to the lower numbers late in regulation, Schroeder went to the bench for the extra attacker. With all sorts of pressure in the Northeastern end, freshman defender Nadia Mattivi teed up Cook at the point, whose blast ricocheted in front and through Frankel, before Davis was right there on the doorstep to put it home and tie the game at 3-3 with 22.8 seconds to go.
Both teams traded chances throughout the first two overtimes, and as it looked like two periods of overtime might not be enough, Northeastern went back on the power play as sophomore Courtney Correia took a body-checking penalty.
On the power play, Aurard drove to the net and fired a sharp-angle shot on Schroeder, but the puck pin-balled in front of the goal before squirting loose to the slot, where MacInnis was to send it into the goal and give Northeastern their first Beanpot since 2013.
“I’m pretty sure you witnessed a classic hockey game there, two teams that played their hearts out,” Durocher said. “[The players] displayed an awful lot of talent, compete, toughness, and made their institutions proud, win or lose.”
After following up a goal and an assist in the semifinals against No. 10 Harvard, Aurard’s two goals and one helper were enough to earn her Beanpot MVP. Frankel was awarded the Bertagna Award as the tournament’s best goaltender.
With the late comebacks, extra time, and back-and-forth nature of both games, the men’s and women’s Beanpot finals were eerily similar as Northeastern swept the 2020 Beanpot over BU.
“We decided we were gonna follow suit from the men’s game last night,” Northeastern head coach Dave Flint said.
It was kind of funny how it paralleled what happened [on Monday],” Durocher said.
The Terriers will return to action this weekend in a home-and-home set with the University of New Hampshire Wildcats, beginning on Saturday at 2:00 pm at the Whittemore Center in Durham, NH.
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