By: Neil Simmons | Follow me on Twitter / X: @NSimmz
For the first time since 2016, the Beanpot will feature a Battle of Commonwealth Avenue final, as Boston College and Boston University beat down their competition on Monday night. The Terriers opened the festivities with a 7-1 carpet bombing of Harvard, while BC cruised to an 8-2 beatdown of Northeastern in the nightcap.
After falling behind early and finishing the first period tied at one, BU quickly pulled away with five second-period goals to put the game beyond doubt and qualify for their fifth final in the last six Beanpot tournaments. It was a tough night for the Crimson and Bruins prospect Mason Langenbrunner, who finished a minus-two in 19:46 of ice time, second on the team behind captain Ian Moore.
In the second game of the night, Teddy Stiga opened the scoring 46 seconds into the game, and BC never looked back, qualifying for their first Beanpot final since 2019. The Eagles had eight different goal scorers and 17 of 20 skaters recorded at least one point on the night, including Boston Bruins prospects Andre Gasseau and Oskar Jellvik.
Jellvik recorded his second assist in as many games in the second period, taking an entry pass from the blue line down to the goal line and firing it back to a streaking defenseman at the dot for a wide-open shot that picked the top corner. The helper marked the sixth time this season that Jellvik has recorded points in consecutive games.
Not wanting to be left out, Gasseau notched BC’s next goal midway through the third period. Following behind Gabe Perrault’s solo zone entry, Gasseau drove to the top of the crease and stashed home the against-the-grain feed into a wide-open net for his ninth goal of the year. While Gasseau’s marker didn’t have any bearing on the overall result with the game well in hand, it was significant in that he broke a nine-game goalless streak, last scoring against UMass-Lowell on December 6th. He has now reclaimed a tie atop the Bruins NCAA prospect goal-scoring race with Ryan Walsh of Cornell.
Dean Letourneau was one of the three Eagles who did not factor in the final scoresheet, but it was not due to a lack of effort. Letourneau made his presence felt through dogged forechecking on the fourth line to create BC’s second goal of the first period. As an added benefit to the lopsided score, Letourneau finished the night with just over 13 minutes of ice time, his highest since November 10th against Maine. He also tied for the team-high with five shots on goal and a few Grade A chances, but the prophecy of the #Deanpot will have to wait another week.
The Comm Ave rivals will face off on Monday, February 10th, at TD Garden. This is a quick rematch for these two squads, less than three weeks after BC swept their weekend home and home series. It is worth noting that the Eagles also swept the series last season before being toppled by the Terries in the Beanpot first-round rematch.
Leave a Reply