The 2024 women’s Beanpot was about more than hockey

Catherine Foulem stepped onto the ice of TD Garden just before 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening. In that moment, she was a part of history. 

The senior forward took it all in: people banging on the glass, kids trying to exchange trading cards for pucks — everything 44 years of Beanpot teams before her dreamed of. 

“It’s something you only see the NHL do,” Foulem said. “It was honestly incredible, probably the best experience I’ve ever had.”

A smile appeared on her face, despite the heartbreaking overtime defeat her team had suffered less than a half hour prior. 

The result didn’t matter. 2024 marked the first time the women’s Beanpot took place at TD Garden. It marked the first time a women’s college hockey player entered a crease at TD Garden. It marked the most fans to ever attend a women’s hockey game in New England.

Tuesday night’s game comes in the wake of a renaissance of women’s athletics. Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark makes SportsCenter highlights nightly. 92,000 fans stuffed Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium for a volleyball game, breaking world records. Fans came in droves to support the inaugural games of the new Professional Women’s Hockey League. 

Tuesday was no different. 

“Three weeks ago, I was thinking, ‘If we can get seven or eight thousand fans in there, it would be pretty cool,” Northeastern head coach Dave Flint said postgame. 

The official number: 10,633.

Since 1954, men’s hockey teams competed in the Beanpot year-in and year-out, watching the Boston Garden change to TD as the likes of Jack Eichel and Johnny Gaudreau lifted their own Beanpot trophies. Meanwhile, for 44 years, women’s hockey teams have been pushed to the side, left to play the annual tournament at campus arenas. 

“We always talked about how cool it would be to play in the Garden,” Northeastern’s Gwen Philips said, continuing, “but we thought, ‘Oh, it would be kinda dead.’”

“F— BU.” “Safety School.” “Sieve.”

It sure didn’t sound any different than the 70 men’s Beanpots that came before, and it didn’t look much different either. 

Flint thought back to a time “not long ago” — a time when ESPN prioritized paintball over the women’s college national championship. 

“I looked around like ‘Wow, I can’t believe this,” Flint said. “It’s come a long way.”

BU head coach Tara Watchorn played for the Terriers from 2008 to 2012. The Beanpots she participated in took place at Walter Brown Arena, Matthews Arena, Bright Hockey Center and Conte Forum. 

In her first year as head coach of the Terriers, Watchorn was able to see her team take the ice at TD Garden.

“I’ve always believed that if you make an environment like this, fans will come,” she said.

So, in another 44 years, will this Beanpot be remembered for Foulem’s game-tying goal in the waning seconds of the third period? Goaltender Callie Shanahan making sprawling save after sprawling save? Irving ripping the game-winner in the Huskies’ first rush of overtime?

A Beanpot championship that was otherwise unremarkable outside of the final 90 seconds will be retired to the annals of Beanpot’s past. However, this chapter of the tournament will be bookmarked because of TD Garden’s lower bowl with empty seats few and far between, the six young girls wearing their own hockey jerseys in the front row cheering “Go BU” and the roar of a crowd the players on the ice never imagined would happen. 

While the 2-1 Northeastern victory may be forgotten, the latest harbinger in the dawn of women’s athletics won’t be.