BOSTON - The No. 8 Boston University men's ice hockey team advanced to the championship game of the 72nd Dunkin' Men's Beanpot for the eighth time in the past 10 tournaments with a 7-1 semifinal triumph over Harvard on Monday evening at TD Garden.
BU overcame an early Harvard goal to make it 1-1 entering the first intermission before putting together its highest-scoring Beanpot period in 28 years. The Terriers recorded five goals in the middle period to take a commanding 6-1 lead.
Freshman Cole Hutson recorded two goals and two assists in his Beanpot debut while junior Devin Kaplan notched a pair of goals. Sophomore Shane Lachance, sophomore Jack Harvey and junior Quinn Hutson each had a goal while freshman Nick Roukounakis, senior Jack Hughes and sophomore Gavin McCarthy all had two assists apiece.
Making just his third collegiate start, freshman Mikhail Yegorov turned aside 26 of 27 shots to earn the win in goal.
BU will face the winner of Monday's second semifinal between No. 1 Boston College and Northeastern.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Harvard scored on the first power play of the game as Casey Severo knocked in a rebound at the crease just 5:44 into the contest.
- Kaplan notched an equalizer at 15:47 of the opening period when he finished off a give-and-go with senior Jack Hughes.
- The second period belonged to the Terriers as they scored five goals in the frame while allowing only four shots.
- On BU's first power-play chance, Lachance gave the team a lead it would not relinquish when he went in between his legs at the foot of the slot to beat Harvard netminder Ben Charette at the 3:25 mark of the second.
- Cole Hutson scored just 2:34 later when he skated to the right post and snuck the puck past Charette to make it 3-1.
- Harvey continued the run in the middle of the second with a sharp slot wrister after skating in through the right side to push the advantage to 4-1.
- Two late tallies in the middle period put the game away as Kaplan secured his second career two-goal game at 18:37 and a shot by Quinn Hutson got just over the goal line with 11 seconds left on the clock.
- Cole Hutson finished off his four-point night when he potted a goal at the left post with 5:08 left in regulation.
GAME NOTES
- The last time BU scored seven goals in a Beanpot game was exactly 28 years ago (Feb. 3, 1997) in an identical 7-1 semifinal triumph over Harvard.
- This marked BU's second five-goal period of the season as it also put up five in the second period of a 5-2 win at UMass Lowell on Nov. 9.
- Charette made 22 saves in two periods of work for the Crimson before being replaced by Aku Koskenvuo (9 saves).
- BU went 2-for-3 on the power play while the Crimson scored once on three chances with the man advantage.
- Freshmen Cole Eiserman and Brandon Svoboda each picked up an assist in his first Beanpot game while sophomore Tom Willander also added a helper.
- The Terriers will look to add to their record total of 31 Beanpot titles.
- Yegorov was the Terriers' sixth different starting goalie in their last six Beanpot semifinal contests.
UP NEXT
- BU will return to action on Friday when it visits Merrimack.
- Game time in North Andover is set for 7 p.m.
