2020 Beanpot Wrap: Northeastern Defeats Harvard 3-1 In Semifinal Game

BOSTON — The Northeastern Huskies officially will try to make it three straight Beanpot titles.

Northeastern defeated the Harvard Crimson 3-1 on Monday night at TD Garden in the 2020 semifinals.

Jack Drury had the the lone goal for Harvard, while Zach Solow, Brendan van Riemsdyk and Ryan Shea accounted for Northeastern’s tallies.

Craig Pantano stopped 27 shots for the Huskies, including 14 in the third alone, while Mitchell Gibson denied 21.

With the win, NU advances to the Beanpot Final on Feb. 10. It will take on the winner of the BU-BC game.

Here’s how it all went down:

TIED AFTER 20
Harvard struck first when it went on the power play after Jordan Harris was whistled for tripping 3:56 into the game. Nick Abruzzese got the puck over to Drury, who went high on Pantano for the 1-0 lead. Northeastern challenged for offsides, but the call stood.

Drury extended his point streak to nine games with the goal.

NU went on its own power play with 8:02 left in the opening period when Harris was slashed by Henry Bowlby, and it took just 22 seconds for the Huskies to tie things up. Neil Shea blasted a puck from the blue line that found its way through traffic before being tipped in by Solow for his 11th of the season.

Things remained knotted after one. Northeastern had the advantage in shots 13-8.

HUSKIES TAKE LATE LEAD
After 11-plus minutes of open skating, NU went on its second power play when Jack Rathbone went off for two minutes for tripping Grant Jozefek.

Another Huskies power play occurred with 2:34 left with the game still tied at 1-1 when Austin Wong was called for elbowing. The Crimson killed it off, but just as the penalty expired was when Northeastern took a 2-1 lead.

van Riemsdyk crashed the net and patiently waited for the pass before firing the puck on net with 29 seconds left in the frame.

Another Harvard challenge proved futile as the goal ultimately ended up counting.

NU still held the advantage in shots 17-14 after 40 minutes.

HUSKIES WIN IT
The Crimson began the third period with the man-advantage after Jayden Struble was called for tripping at the end of the second. But just 15 seconds later, Harvard went on a 5-on-3 thanks to a Mike Kesserling penalty. The Huskies killed off both penalties to maintain the one-goal edge thanks to some strong play from Pantano.

Harvard had some good looks with about eight minutes to go but was unable to convert any chances.

Shea flipped the puck from the Huskies’ zone to the Crimson’s empty net to put the game away 3-1 with 50 seconds remaining.

And that helped seal the victory for Northeastern.