It’s officially Beanpot season.
The 43rd women’s Beanpot is set to begin Tuesday night with Boston University taking on Harvard to kick off the semifinal round at 4 p.m. ET, followed by Boston College and Northeastern dropping the puck at 7:30 p.m.
Northeastern is the reigning champion after taking down BU in an electric double-overtime class in 2020. There was no tournament in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The No. 3 ranked Huskies have to be considered the favorites heading into the tournament. Through 25 games this season, Northeastern has built an impressive 21-3-1 record and has a commanding seven-point lead in the Hockey East standings over Vermont.
Boston College hasn’t been as lucky so far this season. The Eagles are 14-11 entering the tournament and currently are fifth in the Hockey East standings — 16 points behind Northeastern.
The teams already have faced off three times this season with Northeastern coming out on top each time. The Huskies swept a home-and-home series from Oct. 29-30 and outscored the Eagles 7-2 in the process. They followed it up with a 5-0 win over BC on Jan. 18 at Conte Forum.
Northeastern has been led this season by forward Maureen Murphy. The senior has racked up 30 points so far this season with 15 goals and 15 assists. Fellow senior forward Alina Muller is second on the team with 29 points — although she’s played eight fewer games than Murphy — but will be unavailable for the Beanpot as she travels to Beijing for the Winter Olympics.
Junior forward Hannah Bilka has led the way for the Eagles so far this season with 22 points of her own on 10 goals and 12 assists. Freshman forward Abby Newhook and senior winger Kelly Browne are tied for second on the team in points with 21 each.
Boston College actually has had the upper hand against Northeastern the last two times these two squads faced off in the Beanpot. The Eagles took down the Huskies in the third place match during the 2019 event and also downed Northeastern in the 2018 semifinals.
It’s sure to be an exciting one when these two teams hit the ice Tuesday night at Matthews Arena.
