In a tense battle throughout, BU bests Northeastern in a shootout to advance to Beanpot final vs. BC

College Sports

The two programs had combined to win the last seven Beanpots.

By Andrew Mahoney, The Boston Globe

February 3, 2026 | 11:15 AM

4 minutes to read

If possible, Monday night’s first round Beanpot clash between Northeastern and Boston University seemed to carry even more weight than usual.

Both teams had seen their chances of making the NCAA tournament as an at-large bid dim as they struggled in January after promising first halves, and viewed the contest as a way to salvage the season and, perhaps, serve as a catalyst for the remainder of the schedule.

So it was only fitting that 60 minutes of regulation and 5 minutes of three-on-three overtime would not be enough to settle things with the teams tied, 2-2.

But it was the Terriers who prevailed in the shootout, Cole Hutson’s shot hitting the left pad of Northeastern goaltender Lawton Zacher (36 saves) and slowly trickling across the goal line to send BU into next week’s championship game against Boston College.

Hutson’s shot was BU’s third attempt after Jack Harvey scored five hole and Cole Eiserman’s shot missed the net.

“From my angle, it looked like low glove was open on the first two shots, and when I got there, it just wasn’t there,” said Hutson, who took MVP honors in last year’s tournament. “So I just kind of made up a move, and it went in.”

The overtime session provided plenty of drama when BU forward Cole Eiserman collided with Zacher with 2:32 remaining. Two minutes later, the Terriers thought they had the game won when Ryder Ritchie buried a shot with 33 seconds left, but Gavin McCarthy was whistled for interference. The Huskies could not capitalize on the man advantage, setting up the shootout.

The Huskies struck first on Dylan Hryckowian’s power-play goal 9:20 into the first period. NU was on the man advantage after BU freshman Charlie Trethewey was whistled for tripping at 8:17 and took advantage, keeping BU hemmed in its own zone with some nifty passing. Vinny Borgesi sent the puck to Amine Hajibi, who was stationed to the right of the net. Hajibi kicked it back out to Borgesi, who then fired a no-look pass to his left to Hryckowian for the one timer past Mikhail Yegorov for his team-leading 15th goal.

The Terriers got their first power play at 12:23 when Northeastern’s Andy Moore was called for kneeing Brandon Svoboda. BU challenged unsuccessfully for the transgression to be upgraded to a major. The Terriers have struggled with the man advantage all season, converting at just 15.7 percent. And they were unable to capitalize against NU’s penalty kill, which entered Monday’s game tops in Hockey East at 85.9 percent.

Northeastern had several good opportunities to double the lead, but Yegorov (24 saves) had the answer each time. The Terriers had a great chance of their own when Sascha Boumedienne carried the puck in on a three on two rush and sent a shot on net. Zacher made the save, with the rebound kicking out to an open Cole Eiserman, but his put-back was denied by Zacher, who kicked out his right leg to get a piece of the puck, which then deflected off his blocker and harmlessly over the net with 1:09 remaining.

That would be it for the first 20 minutes, as NU took a 1-0 advantage into the second period despite being outshot, 11-8.

BU did not waste much time in the second period getting the equalizer on Jonathan Morello’s goal at 1:41. The Bruins prospect was set up by Trethewey, who flipped a backhander toward the net, where if deflected off Morello for the score.

The Huskies regained the lead a little more than three minutes later when Jacob Mathieu worked a nice give-and-go with Hryckowian and beat Yegorov at 4:56, but the Terriers answered again. This time it was Pembroke native Nick Roukounakis, who took off on a two on one and kept it himself, beating Zacher top shelf at 7:44 to make it a 2-2 game.

That’s how it stayed through the remainder of the period, with each squad putting 11 shots on net, and BU holding a 22-19 advantage through 40 minutes.

The two programs had combined to win the last seven Beanpots, with Northeastern capturing five beginning with its 2018 title that ended a 30-year drought, while BU entered as the defending champs after knocking off BC in the 2025 title game.

It was the fourth meeting between the teams this season, each decided by a goal, with the Terriers prevailing twice. The most recent matchup came in the final game at Matthews Arena on Dec. 13 in which BU scored twice in the final two minutes to rally for a 4-3 win.

It had been rough sledding for both squads since then. Each entered Monday night on a three-game losing streak, with BU 3-5-0 to open the second half and dropping to 12-13-1, while NU was 2-6-0 and had dropped eight of its last 10 overall for a record of 12-12-0.