BOSTON — The 2022 Beanpot final officially is set and it may look familiar.
The tournament wasn’t held in 2021 due to COVID-19, but when the four Boston teams last took the ice at TD Garden in 2020, Northeastern and Boston University met in the championship. It would be the Huskies who were able to come away with the title — their third straight — in an electric double-overtime affair. But the Terriers will look to change that this time around.
Boston University punched its ticket to the finals with a 4-3 semifinal victory over Harvard and Northeastern followed it up with a win of their own as they took down Boston College 3-1 in the nightcap.
Over Northeastern’s impressive run they’ve actually defeated the Terriers in the championship two different times. The Huskies began their streak by defeating Boston University in 2018.
The two squads certainly aren’t the same as they were two years ago, but they are familiar with each other. Northeastern and Boston University have faced off twice this season with the Huskies coming away victorious both times, but both contests needed extra time to decide a winner.
Northeastern head coach Jerry Keefe knows winning a fourth straight Beanpot title isn’t going to be a cakewalk and had nothing but praise for BU in his media availability Monday night.
“They’ve gotten healthy,” Keefe said. “They’re a really good team. I didn’t get a chance to watch much of their game tonight so I’ll watch that on tape. But they’re fast, skilled, they’re big, they’re strong and in my opinion they’re one of the top teams in the country when they’re healthy. So we’ll have our work cut out for us but we’re excited for the challenge. Obviously we’ve got a huge game against UMass Lowell on Friday night and then we’ll start preparing for BU right after that.”
It’s sure to be a good one at TD Garden on Feb. 14 with Boston College and Harvard kicking off the action in the consolation game at 4:30 p.m. ET and Northeastern and Boston University finishing the night off with a rematch for all the marbles.
