Beanpot 2025: Second Round Preview | BC vs. Harvard, BU vs. Northeastern

Well well well, we’re back for a second week of Beanpot fun and after an entertaining first round, there’s sure to be some magic when the four Boston schools hit the ice at TD Garden again. 

Let’s break down what you need to know before puck drop first, though.  

How Did We Get Here? 

In last week’s semifinal round, it was a tale of two very different games. 

Game One: Boston University 2, Harvard 1 – OT

Boston University against Harvard for all intents and purposes was supposed to be a walk in the park for the Terriers. As I mentioned in last week’s preview, Harvard has struggled for the majority of the season, both offensively and defensively. They can’t seem to close out games, even when they do get a lead – case in point, the game against BU. 

After two periods of very back-and-forth hockey, especially the opening period (the shots on goal were 8-4 in favor of BU) (followed by a 13-1 SOG second period), early in the final period Harvard’s Angelica Megdanis scored the first goal of her career just 1:42 in. Gabi Davidson Adams dug the puck out in the corner and Megdanis, who was driving to the net all alone in front, neatly put the puck past Shanahan for the 1-0 lead. 

After that, BU continued to pressure, totaling 15 shots on goal to Harvard’s four through 20 minutes, but couldn’t solve freshman netminder Ainsley Tuffy. That was until 55.5 seconds remained in the period, when junior Sydney Healey finally broke through to tie things up. 

Following the tying goal in regulation and into the overtime frame, BU attempted seven shots while Harvard only managed one. Then, 3:43 into OT, it was graduate student Lindsay Bochna who skated in on her own and beat Tuffy over the shoulder to seal the win – and a championship berth – for the Terriers. 

BU deserved to win that game, and the only reason they didn’t outscore Harvard by a dozen was because of Tuffy. The freshman had 39 saves in the loss, and is sitting at a .930 save percentage through 10 starts this season, where she’s still winless (0-8-2). 

Game Two: Northeastern 4, Boston College 2

Then we have game two, which I said last week was going to be tight, hard fought, and low scoring. 

So clearly, I was wrong. 

Northeastern, a team who has struggled to score for the better part of the last two seasons, came into the first period with guns blazing – and were rewarded with three goals for their efforts. 

First was freshman Morgan Jackson, who fired a nasty wrister up and past BC goalie Grace Campbell for her third goal of the season. Then was captain Taze Thompson – who loves to score in the Beanpot – scored 56 seconds later after quick passing from senior Skylar Irving. Then, after a hooking penalty against BC’s Alanna Devlin, senior defender Tory Mariano got in on the scoring action with a power play tally; instrumental considering how lackluster Northeastern’s power play has been to this point. 

Not to be outdone, Sammy Taber clawed the Eagles back into things with a goal of her own with 18.1 seconds left in the period. Heading into the second period, the goal line read 3-1, a marked difference from the team’s Nov. 30th matchup, and far different than what was expected of them. 

In the second, BC’s power play was back in action after Jackson took sat for two for a trip with under six minutes left. Northeastern however, was undeterred, and after Lily Shannon stripped Jade Arnone of the puck in the Northeastern offensive end, the junior skated in and beat Campbell around the pads to make it 4-1 Huskies. 

It took another 23 minutes of regulation for BC to score again, and it was thanks to Gaby Roy on the power play with the goaltender pulled to bring Boston College within two. It was just the fifth power play goal given up by the Huskies, and their second to BC in as many games. Unfortunately, even as the Eagles continued to press, it was just a little too late, and freshman Lisa Jönsson kept them from scoring again to secure Northeastern’s third-straight trip to the Beanpot title game. 

So What Comes Next? And How Did the Teams Do Before This?

Well, it’s exactly the same matchups as last tournament’s consolation and championship games, although the outlook for all four squads is a little different. 

Boston College vs. Harvard – 4:30 PM

First is Harvard, who after the 2-1 loss on Tuesday dropped two more games to RPI and Union over the weekend. The Crimson still are struggling to score, but if Tuffy’s performance last week was any indication, if she gets the start again for Harvard, it might be a hard game for BC. 

On the opposite side, Boston College earned a 3-0 win over Vermont in their lone game of the weekend, although they only out-shot the Catamounts 24-22, below their average of 27.5 shots per game on the season, and far off the 39 they had against Northeastern Tuesday. Campbell had her fifth shutout of the season, and third of the last four games for BC as well in the win against UVM. If their success in the third period against Northeastern, and their performance over Vermont is any indication, it’s once again going to be a struggle for Harvard. 

Boston University vs. Northeastern – 7:30 PM

Then we have the championship game, and neither team had a productive weekend when it comes down to it. 

To start we have Northeastern, who after arguably their best game of the season so far Tuesday, followed it up with their worst two games of the year against Providence in the home-and-home series Friday and Saturday. The Huskies looked listless in Friday’s 5-1 loss in Providence – their first time conceding five goals in a game since February of 2019. They then returned home to Matthews Arena where they played better for portions of the game, but still dropped another decision this time 3-2 to the Friars. 

For BU, the Terriers also had a lackluster weekend, as they lost just their fourth game in-conference; a 2-0 loss to New Hampshire. The Terriers followed up their 41 shot effort from Tuesday with just 26 on Saturday afternoon, with goals in the first and third periods from UNH sinking them. 

What to Expect: 

From the BC/Harvard game, I’m interested to see if Campbell gets the afternoon off for Boston College. The junior has started 20 games so far this season, and considering they’ve got a hard series against Providence coming up next weekend, I wouldn’t be terribly shocked to see Bailey Callaway potentially get the start. 

For what it’s worth, in a very similar scenario last season, Harvard pulled off the upset over the Eagles in a shootout win – which goes down as a tie but still counts in terms of bragging rights. This season however, considering the clip BC scores at (2.9 goals per game) compared to Harvard (1.4), I find it hard to see how the Crimson steal another win here. 

But! If last week was any indication, Harvard has the capabilities to surprise me. They absolutely could pull something off here, they just need to maybe hit the net more than 10 times in a game to do so. They had 14 and 20 on Friday and Saturday (improvement!) so perhaps they do continue to build upon that against BC. 

Then we have the main event (sorry BC and Harvard). Two years at TD Garden, two years where Northeastern and BU end up as the last two standing. 

A season ago, Skylar Irving’s overtime heroics lifted Northeastern to a second-straight title, and now the Huskies are trying to repeat that on TD Garden ice. However in their way is a BU squad that not only beat them 4-0 in October, but who also has been playing some great hockey (Saturday’s game in New Hampshire excluded). 

The Terriers after a strong offensive start to the season, have settled things down a bit though. They haven’t scored more than three goals in a game since Nov. 7th, and they’ve gone 5-4-1 in that stretch. They know how to win games without scoring at a high volume, and in the games they’re not winning, they’re mainly keeping things close. 

Northeastern too has been playing some great hockey, this last weekend notwithstanding. A huge boost is that the Huskies power play is clicking – a welcome sight considering how rough the fall semester was. They did however give up a lot of goals to a Providence team that’s pretty on-par with BU offensively. In the same stretch of time since Nov. 7th, NU is 9-3-0, with two of those three losses coming this last weekend. 

Their third period on Saturday did show some signs of life, though. The Huskies closed in on Providence with an early third period goal to make it 3-2, before being unable to get past Walinski again in the final minutes. 

These two teams also play each other close, and play each other hard. For Northeastern to win, they’ll need a first period like that had against BC last week, and will need to lock things down in better fashion than they did in either game over the weekend. BU on the other hand will need to dig deep to find some scoring. They’ve looked dangerous at points, but they’re going to need their big weapons – Sydney Healey, Julia Shaunessy, and Lola Reid chief among them – to show up and show out in order to get past Jönsson for NU. 

What Makes This Special: 

I have a lot of feelings about this, which will come at a later date I promise, but for now I just have a few things to say.

Last Tuesday, at likely the final Beanpot game at Matthews Arena, fans showed up in droves for the BC/NU semifinal – even with Boston College’s men’s squad playing Harvard at home at the same time. In fact, 3,298 fans attended the second semifinal, the most of any campus-site Beanpot game, and the most for a women’s hockey game at the arena for Northeastern in program history. It was an incredible showing, and that energy was palpable throughout Matthews for the entire game.

TD Garden shouldn’t be any different. When BU and NU played last season, both schools were there in force, and made the final one of the most attended women’s hockey games ever. 

And I see no reason for that record to not be broken this Tuesday. 

There’s a lot of love for hockey in Boston, and there’s a lot of love for women’s hockey in Boston especially. The final round on Tuesday should prove that once again – and it’s going to feature two games that will be entertaining for those who are tuned in. 

Those who are tuned in should include you too. 

The 46th Women’s Beanpot final round will be televised live on NESN in New England with BC/Harvard slated for 4:30 PM. BU/Northeastern will follow, tentatively scheduled for 7:30 PM. For those outside New England, ESPN+ will carry the NESN stream for both games as well.