BOSTON — Boston University claimed its 30th Beanpot championship Monday night at TD Garden with a thrilling 4-3 overtime win over Northeastern.
Terriers defenseman and Boston Bruins prospect Matt Grzelcyk scored twice, including the game-winner 51 seconds into overtime to give his team its first Beanpot crown since 2009.
“Well, No. 1 he’s a great player,” BU head coach David Quinn said of Grzelcyk. “He’s not a great player by accident. He’s improved his shot dramatically because he spends a lot of time working on it.
“When you have a guy who’s been known to be an elite player for a long time with that kind of work ethic and personality, he sets such a great example. He’s as likable of a kid as you’ll meet, and when you add all of that up, you have a guy his teammates have a lot of respect for, the coaching staff has a lot of respect for, the trainers and equipment people, the people around campus. That’s what makes him a great leader.”
BU started to pull away from Northeastern in the second period and built a 3-1 lead going into the final 20 minutes of regulation.
Northeastern trimmed the deficit to 3-2 with a goal from leading scorer Kevin Roy at the 9:18 mark, and then it tied the game a minute and a half later when defenseman Dustin Darou — who scored the game-winner in the semifinal against Boston College — jammed the puck past Terriers goalie Matt O’Connor in a wild scramble in front of the net.
A lot of teams would have been rattled after working so hard to build a two-goal lead and having it disappear in a span of just 95 seconds. But as Quinn noted, his team has played in plenty of high-pressure moments late in games.
“Unfortunately for us, we’ve been in that situation all year long it seems, every game we play is tied with 10 minutes to go,” Quinn said. “It was nothing new to us. There was an awful lot of familiarity with the situation, and I thought we settled down after that.”
BU freshman forward Jack Eichel drew a penalty just nine seconds into overtime, and it didn’t take long for the Terriers to capitalize on the opportunity.
They won a battle along the boards and the puck bounced to the stick of senior forward Evan Rodrigues, who quickly passed the puck over to Grzelcyk at the left point. The Terriers captain sniped a wrist shot past Northeastern goalie Clay Witt to start the BU celebration.
The 2013-14 season was a difficult one for BU, and Grzelcyk in particular. He missed a lot of the season with a shoulder injury, one that required surgery. He wasn’t able to play in the Beanpot or the Terriers’ Frozen Fenway game.
Grzelcyk, who was selected by the Bruins in the third round of the 2012 NHL draft, has bounced back in impressive fashion this campaign, and Boston University is benefiting greatly. He now has six goals in his last eight games, which has helped the Terriers go 5-2-1 in that span and widen their lead atop Hockey East standings with a 13-4-3 record (20-6-5 overall).
“It’s been a tough stretch in the Beanpot for us,” Quinn said. “Just to see the way these guys enjoyed the victory and how much it meant to them and how much they put into it, I just felt so good for our players, in particular our seniors because they’ve been through a lot.”
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@TerrierHockey
