BOSTON — As Mr. Brightside blared throughout the TD Garden speakers with just over five minutes remaining in the third period, Boston College fans hollered in celebration.
On the other end of the upper bowl, Scarlet and White jerseys were scattered across the once full sections of the Dog Pound. BU fans had already flooded the exits minutes earlier. In the 300th Battle of Comm. Ave, the Terriers gave them little to cheer for.
BU was dominated on special teams and thoroughly outplayed over the final 45 minutes, as Boston College skated to a 6-2 victory in the Beanpot final on Monday night. The No. 14 Eagles (16-9-1) captured their first Beanpot title since 2016, avenging losses to the Terriers in the last two tournaments.
“They were the better team,” said head coach Jay Pandolfo. “It’s just disappointing.”
In what has been a season to forget for BU (13-14-2) after immense expectations — the Terriers were ranked second in the nation in the preseason — its best, and potentially only real chance for a trophy, fell by the wayside at the hands of its biggest rival.
The Terriers now sit at 29th in NPI, with the Hockey East tournament their only realistic path to the NCAA tournament. And given how this group has continued to play all year, a tournament run has become more and more unlikely.
“I cannot get this group to play the same way, period to period, shift to shift. It’s been all year,” said a resigned Pandolfo. “It was really nothing new tonight.”
BU started strong, with sophomore forward Brandon Svoboda opening the scoring 2:15 into the contest. He followed up on a Gavin McCarthy shot from the point and slid the rebound past freshman netminder Louka Cloutier.
The Terriers dominated the ensuing stretch, earned two power-play chances within the first 10 minutes, and held an 8-2 edge in shots on goal and an 18-6 advantage in total shots through 14. BU, however, failed to pad its lead, coming up empty on both man-advantages, with sophomore forward Cole Eiserman missing a pair of high-end chances.
“If we went down 2-0 quick, that would have been really hard,” said BC coach Greg Brown. “The penalty kill’s probably what kept it close until we got our legs under us. So that was huge.”
BU’s much-maligned power play — ranked 48th in the nation at 16 percent — was a struggle once again, only scoring on its fifth and final chance late in the third period when Eiserman scored on a one-timer from the top of the right circle. His goal, which cut the Terrier deficit to two, didn’t elicit much celebration.
“We had power plays and didn’t capitalize. You can just tell that deflates the bench a little,” Pandolfo said.
BC evened the score at 15:02 of the first period, scoring 38 seconds into its first power play chance of the night. Junior Ryan Conmy skated down the right side and found senior co-captain Andre Gasseau, who lifted the puck past sophomore goaltender Mikhail Yegorov.
“Clearly got our bench a jumpstart, and from then on we played with much more urgency, much more confidence,” said Brown.
The Eagles found their groove after that, recovering over the final five minutes of the first period and dominating the second. BC outshot BU 16-8 in the middle frame.
Yegorov made an outstanding glove save at 10:42 to deny senior co-captain Brady Berard’s backhand on a 1-on-0 breakaway, set up by a Terrier turnover.
“We really started turning pucks over, and couldn’t get anything going on the forecheck,” Pandolfo said. “They just kept coming back at us.”
BC eventually found the go-ahead tally when junior Will Vote, brother of former BU women’s hockey forward Christina Vote, tipped home a Lukas Gustafsson shot from the point at 14:54 of the second.
The Eagles added on just under two minutes later, taking advantage of a tripping penalty against freshman Ryder Ritchie. Gustafsson scored from the point just 13 seconds into the power play.
“In the second, we completely, completely got away from it,” said Pandolfo.
Ritchie took another costly penalty 5:32 into the third period, cross-checking Conmy into the boards. Gasseau scored just four seconds into the man-advantage, following up on a rebound after Conmy unleashed a shot from the circle.
BC went 3 for 4 on the power play, only going scoreless on a shortened one-minute man-advantage after freshman Ben Merrill was sent to the box for hooking midway through a Terrier 5-on-4. BU’s kill ranked 10th in the nation at 84.9 percent entering Monday’s championship game.
“We had some missed assignments,” Pandolfo said. “We just didn’t execute the way we’ve been executing.”
Eiserman’s power play goal cut the deficit to two, but sophomore forward Dean Letourneau responded just over a minute later to seal it, receiving a pass from classmate Teddy Stiga and backhanding a puck past Yegorov.
Vote tacked on an empty-netter from the neutral zone at 18:39 of the third period.
“Our team’s having a tough time sustaining the same type of play for the whole game,” said Pandolfo. “It’s a really disheartening game.”
