BOSTON — The No. 3 Northeastern Huskies will not be repeating as Beanpot champions.
Northeastern took home the crown in 2020 and then there was no tournament in 2021 due to COVID-19. The 2022 Women’s Beanpot began Tuesday at Matthews Arena with No. 6 Harvard and Boston University facing off in Game 1, followed by No. 3 Northeastern and Boston College finishing the day off.
Although Northeastern looked impressive on the ice — and even outshot the Eagles 50-25 — they were unable to advance to the championship thanks to a stellar performance by Boston College goaltender Abigail Levy.
The Huskies fought hard and actually even tied the game up with 13 minutes remaining, but the Eagles would get the last laugh.
With the loss the Huskies’ record on the season fell to 21-4-1 — even with a loss that’s nothing to scoff at — and now will turn their full focus to the postseason.
Northeastern head coach Dave Flint understandably was upset after the game, but knows that this loss isn’t the end of the world and actually could have a positive impact on the team in the future.
“In 2018 we lost in the Beanpot and we went back and that was the year we won our first ever Hockey East championship and that started our run,” Flint said. “The Beanpot can catapult you if you win it and it can give you a lot of confidence and it can catapult you. But it also can light a fire under you a little bit too. Although it was one of our goals that now we fell short of, there are some other goals that we can reach.”
The Huskies have seven regular season games remaining on their schedule beginning with Merrimack College on Friday night on the road. Although it was a disappointing loss against Boston College, Northeastern still holds a solid seven-point lead over Vermont in the Hockey East standings.
A Beanpot title is out of the Huskies’ hands this season, but they very well still could be in the running for the National Championship later on if they build off the loss and regroup.
