James Hagens, Boston College dominate Harvard in first Beanpot semifinal

College Sports

Boston College will face Boston University in the final.

By John Powers, The Boston Globe

February 3, 2026 | 11:10 AM

3 minutes to read

Not that Boston College’s hockey team needed extra incentive to win a Beanpot game on Monday evening. But after a decade without their varsity lifting the oversized silver bakeware, folks around the Heights have been getting antsy.

“The guys understand once they’re at school very quickly how important it is,” coach Greg Brown said. “The faculty and the people around Conte Forum are saying, good luck in the Beanpot. People that weren’t even aware that we have hockey.”

What do they know is that the Eagles haven’t won this neighborhood wrangle since 2016. If not this year, when?

So they put themselves in a position to do it, soaring above Harvard, 5-1, in their opener at TD Garden to advance to next Monday’s championship game defending titlist Boston University, which edged Northeastern in a shootout, 3-2.

This one was all but decided in the first 16 minutes when BC (15-8-1) staggered the Crimson (12-9-1) with three goals.

“I don’t think when you play these high-caliber teams you can afford to chase the game,” said Harvard coach Ted Donato, whose squad had won five of its last six outings. “To go down 3-0 early on … we need to make sure we start the game on time.”

After defenseman Drew Fortescue wristed one from the left circle at 3:10 just after a BC penalty expired, James Hagens popped in two at 13:11 and 15:21.

First, he knocked in the rebound from Finnish freshman Oscar Hemming’s shot. Then Hagens cashed a deft give-and-go from Hemming, a gifted mid-season addition.

“We just gave up goals way too easily,” observed Donato, whose team outshot BC, 18-16, in the period. “I don’t think we executed at a level that gave us a chance to win the game.”

Being down by three was a significant hole for Harvard, which had held all but one opponent (Cornell) to a goal or less during the past couple of weeks.

Still, there was ample time to climb out of it. And the Crimson got one back 29 seconds into the middle period when defenseman Ryan Healey poked the puck out of a scramble and past BC goalie Louka Cloutier (30 saves).

From there, goalie Ben Charette (38 saves, 20 of them in the middle frame) kept the Eagles at bay until his mates took consecutive penalties in the final four minutes of the period.

“You’ve got to be smarter,” said Donato, “They’re too dangerous to give them back-to-back. We need to manage the game better than that.”

The Crimson killed off the first penalty. But on the second, Hagens launched a bomb from the right point that Dean Letourneau tipped in 20 seconds before the end of the period.

Another power-play tally from captain Lukas Gustafsson with 65 seconds left in the contest was a final flourish. But before next week’s title match, there’s a home date with Vermont.

“It feels great,” Hagens said, “but our minds are focused on Friday.”

The Eagles, whose only losses since Thanksgiving have come against reigning national champion Western Michigan and a weekend sweep by Providence, are in position for an at-large berth in the NCAAs.

But BC, which is only two points behind leader Providence in the Hockey East race, is gunning to win next month’s conference tournament and the automatic berth that comes with it.

That’s also the goal for Harvard, which is an at-large longshot. The Crimson, who stand 21st in the NPI power rating that determines the 16-team field for the national tournament, could have used a triumph over a higher-ranked rival to boost its chances.

That quest resumes on Friday when Harvard, sitting in fourth in the ECAC standings, hosts Dartmouth. A victory would help them secure a first-round bye and home ice.

“I don’t think we’ll have much trouble motivating for Dartmouth with everything that’s at stake in the standings,” said Donato, whose squad then has four consecutive road games before finishing with Princeton and Quinnipiac. “I expect us to regroup and come out with an excellent effort.”