2022 Beanpot Tournament PREVIEW

Just the Facts:

The Times:

TODAY

BU vs. Harvard - 5pm EST

BC vs. Northeastern - 7pm EST

NEXT MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14th

4:30pm - Consolation Game

7:30pm - Beanpot Championship

The Place: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

Where to Watch: NESN

Tourney Preview

It’s Beanpot time once again! And each team is once again bringing their own baggage and hope to the premiere Boston-based College Hockey tourney. Usually there’s always something of a barn burner on each night, so let’s get reacquainted with each team!

Boston College Eagles (10-12-4, 8th in Conference, Unranked)

This is going to be a year for the Eagles to hope for an upset, or hope that the Lady Eagles bring home the Women’s Beanpot instead. They’ve been kinda...eh...this year, 6-6-0 in their last few games and ultimately stuck in neutral. Still, they’re capable of making any game a close one, and it’s a fools errand to let them hang around, what with guys like Marc McLaughlin and Jack McBain lurking around the offensive zone.

Boston University Terriers (14-10-3, 3rd in Conference, 20th Ranked)

BU is one of two Ranked teams in the tourney, and they’re coming into this on a hot streak, spreading the wealth on offense (but Rob Mastrosimone and Dominick Fensore doing a little more wealth spreading than others), and having won 4 of their last 5 and getting some strong play out from Drew Commesso in net. This could be considered a down year for the Terriers after being ranked 10th overall to start the year, so a beanpot win would be huge for them to start a swing towards getting back there. And they’re gonna need to put their best effort forward because their initial opponent is...tough.

Harvard University Crimson (12-7-2, 3rd in Conference, Unranked)

Ah yes! The home of a bunch of future Harvard Graduates.

Absolutely horrifying.

Anyway, Harvard’s a damn good team. It says something about the ECAC’s top of the conference that a team that hasn’t even seen ten losses yet could be third in the conference and unranked entirely, but that’ll probably change after the next couple of weeks. New Jersey’s own Alex Laferriere has been the key to their success as of late, and Nick Abruzzese has been their key playmaker up front, but don’t count out their Defense; Henry Thun has been a playmaking machine, with 15 assists in 20 games. Expect them to come out flying.

Northeastern University Huskies (17-8-1, 6th in Conference, 15th Ranked)

Ah yes...The Huskies. The current measuring stick of the Beanpot.

Ever since finally breaking through in 2018, the Huskies have held a deathgrip on the title; three of the last four Beanpots have been won outright by the Huskies, and they’re looking to retain their title. If you’re wondering about the “6th in conference” thing, you should know that Northeastern does have some rotten luck against their fellow Hockey East contenders. Always gotta watch out for that Merrimack game...

Anyway, while they’re currently champs, they’re currently missing the keyest piece of key pieces: Devon Levi. Levi is currently representing his country in Beijing, and so they turn this year to Freshman goalie TJ Semptimphelter, who has been pretty good in limited competition, to lead them to their 4th consecutive Beanpot. Whatever happens in their game against BC is sure to be appointment television; ESPECIALLY if Semptimphelter puts on a performance.

The games start SOON, so you can use this as a gamethread if you so desire. GOOD LUCK to everybody playing this year!