2016 Beanpot Notes: Huskies’ Title Drought Continues; BU Goaltending Improving

BOSTON — Northeastern’s senior class has come close to ending the school’s lengthy Beanpot drought, but those players ended their careers without a championship after Monday night’s 3-1 loss to Boston University in the semifinal at TD Garden.

“I’m disappointed for our seniors, who’ve never had the opportunity to win this tournament,” Huskies head coach Jim Madigan said.

“It’s a great tournament. To not be able to walk away with a championship, I’m disappointed for them. They went to three Beanpot finals. It would’ve been nice to get to a fourth and win it this year.”

Northeastern hasn’t won the Beanpot since 1988, the longest title drought of the four participating schools. Harvard’s last triumph came in 1993, while Boston College and Boston University have dominated throughout the tournament’s history.

The Huskies lost in the final to Boston College in 2013 and 2014, and their best shot at winning came last year when BU crushed their dreams in overtime. This time around against the Terriers, it was a one-sided affair. BU controlled the center ice, created more scoring chances, were first to loose pucks and won the majority of the 50-50 battles.

Northeastern will now play Harvard in the consolation game. It will be their ninth consolation round meeting since 2000.

— Northeastern goalie Ryan Ruck played very well and kept his team in the game despite facing 33 shots. He made 31 saves, the best coming in the second period when he pushed from right to left and robbed BU forward Matt Lane with a spectacular glove save.

It’s easily the best save of the tournament so far.

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— BU forward Charlie McAvoy had a sensational first period. He scored at 16:40 to give BU a 2-0 lead, and soon after he hit Danny O’Regan with a crisp pass through the neutral zone to create a breakaway scoring chance.

The Terriers had a great first period as a unit, too. They attempted 16 shots, eight of which hit the net. Seven of them came from the high-danger area around the Northeastern crease.

— BU had scored first in two previous meetings with Northeastern this season, and the Terriers won both games. They’re now 6-0-0 when opening the scoring, while the Huskies dropped to 1-11-4 when allowing the first tally.

— Terriers goaltender Sean Maguire nearly pitched a shutout, but Huskies forward John Stevens scored on a rebound at the top of the crease late in the third period to put Northeastern on the scoreboard. Maguire finished with 24 saves on 25 shots.

It was another encouraging performance from Maguire, who struggled earlier in the season.

“We knew there was going to be some growing pains (for the goalies) when the season started,” BU head coach David Quinn said.

“We weren’t getting great goaltending, but you could see them both making progress as the season went on. … Sean struggled early, probably bottoming out up in Merrimack, where we pulled him after giving up four goals on 14 shots. Since then, he hasn’t looked back. He’s kept a great attitude. He’s played some great hockey in the last month and a half, and there really wasn’t much of a decision to play him (Monday night).”

Quinn would not reveal his starting goalie for the Beanpot final. Maguire certainly deserves the opportunity after Monday’s display, though.

— This was expected to be one of the most competitive Beanpot tournaments in recent memory given the quality of the teams involved. For the first time since 1997, three of the four schools entered the Beanpot ranked inside the top 10 of the latest USCHO poll. The only team not ranked is Northeastern, but the Huskies entered Monday night with the nation’s longest active win streak at six games.

Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@BU_Tweets