Tuesday, February 04, 2025

Cole Hutson, Kaplan power Beanpot semifinal rout of Harvard

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Behind two-goal efforts from Cole Hutson and Devin Kaplan and another strong performance in goal by Mikhail “Mike” Yegorov, #8 Terriers continued to flex their offensive muscle and dominated Harvard, 7-1, in the Beanpot semifinal at TD Garden. 

Next Monday, BU will seek to win its 32nd Beanpot tournament and first since 2022, facing arch-rival BC, who similarly thumped Northeastern, 8-2. 

Shane Lachance, Quinn Hutson and Jack Harvey had the other tallies and 11 BU skaters hit the scoresheet with six having multi-point nights. 

Per BU post-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.”

BU shook off a slow start that saw them yield a power-play goal, then tied the score later in the first period and never looked back. Terriers would outshoot the Crimson in the middle period, 16-4 and put five pucks behind the Harvard goalie.

“It was a really strong effort from us,” Coach Jay Pandolfo said, post-game. “I thought we started a little slow. In the first 10 minutes, we weren’t moving our feet. We weren’t winning our 50-50 puck battles. Just couldn’t manage the puck early on. Then, the last six or seven minutes, we got going. Got a late goal by Kappy and in the second period, we played really well.

“When you want to have a chance to win this tournament,” he added, “you’ve got to take care of business on the first night. And we did that.” 

A Cole Hutson hooking penalty gave Harvard an early man-advantage.  A shot from the right point was slowed by Gavin McCarthy’s stick. Yegorov was about to freeze the puck when Mick Thompson knocked it to the side where Casey Severo had an open side to make it 1-0. 

Eight and a half minutes into the game, Harvard was out-shooting BU, 8-3. However, after killing a second penalty, things began to click for the Terriers as they created multiple offensive chances. 

With four minutes left in the period, Jack Hughes pilfered a puck at center ice and took off with Kaplan. He dished the puck to the junior wing, then took a return pass. Forced wide and behind the goal line, Hughes backhanded the puck to Kaplan, driving to the net, for a quick shot past Ben Charette on the stick side. Kaplan’s sixth goal knotted the score at 1-1. BU finished the period with a 12-9 shot advantage.

An early power-play gave BU a chance to take the lead, which they did. Quinn Hutson sent an entry pass to Lachance’s forehand with his back to the goal. In a blink of an eye, the sophomore co-captain put the disc between his legs and backhanded it past a bewildered Charette for his ninth goal and second in two games after a nine-game scoring drought. Tom Willander had the second assist.

The crowd was still buzzing about that tally when Cole Hutson took a puck at his own blueline, raced up ice, drove to the net and beat Charette through the five-hole. His sixth goal, assisted by Brandon Svoboda and Nick Roukounakis, extended the lead to 3-1.

Midway through the period, McCarthy won a d-zone battle along the boards and lofted the puck to center ice where Harvey tracked it down, creating a 2-on-1 with Ryan Greene. At the right dot, he cut across the slot and fired a high shot back against the grain that sailed past Charette’s glove. It was the Minnesota native’s seventh goal of the season and fourth of the semester.

Goal number five came at 18:37. Roukounakis handed the puck to Hughes who skated behind the Harvard cage and out to the left circle. He held the puck, drawing the attention of four Crimson defenders, before rifling a cross-ice pass to Kaplan at the right circle for a quick wrister into a half-open cage. Kaplan’s seventh goal stretched the lead to 5-1.

Terriers weren’t quite done and continued to put on the pressure in the final minute of the period. On the rush, McCarthy put a shot on goal and in a scramble for the rebound, Quinn Hutson pushed the puck toward the goal line behind Charette  A defender appeared to keep the puck out, but a video review confirmed it had barely crossed the red goal line for Hutson’s team-leading 16th goal. Cole Hutson had the second assist.

BU took its foot off the gas only slightly in the third period with ten more shots on goal for a total of 38. The punctuation mark on the win came at 14:52 on the Terriers' third power play. Cole Hutson skated out of BU's end zone, slid the puck to Cole Eiserman in the neutral zone and took a return pass in full stride. Racing around a defenseman, he closed to the goalmouth and beat Aku Koskenvuo, who mercifully had relieved Charette, to the short side for his seventh of the season and second two-goal game. 

Yegorov handled all 14 Crimson shots in the final period and had 26 saves in total. In nine periods of action, he has yielded just four goals, with only one at even-strength.

"He was great. He was calm. He was composed," Pandolfo remarked about his freshman netminder. "He has a confidence and a belief in himself. He’s not from around here, so he doesn’t get caught up in the moment. He enjoys the moment. He’s been very good for us. Even tonight, they had some quality chances and he was right there. He made some of the saves look easy…He reads the play really well."

Kaplan, who had previously scored goals at TD Garden--2024 Beanpot, 2023 Hockey East tournament--said after the game,“I’ve been watching the Beanpot and the Terriers for as long as I can remember, so these games really mean something to me,” Kaplan said. “When we get to this stage, it’s pretty special, and I couldn’t be more grateful to be able to play in an environment like this.” 

McCarthy and Cole Hutson were both +4 for the game. 

McCarthy left the game near the end of the second after a contact to the head penalty left the sophomore defenseman shaken. Pandolfo did not have an update on his condition after the game.

►Lachance's through the legs backhand did indeed make SportsCenter's Top 10 as #2.

Check back later for the Terrier Takeaway

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score
● Post-game Pandolfo/Kaplan/C.Hutson
● Highlights
● Photo gallery
● Boston Hockey Blog BU dominates Harvard in Beanpot semifinal, 7-1  

● College Hockey News Stars New and Old Shine as BC, BU Dominate Beanpot Semis
 

Shane Lachance and BU teammates salute the crowd after Monday’s Beanpot win 

                     Photo credit Matt Woolverton

 ►BU moved up from #10 to #8 in both the USCHO Division 1 poll and the USA Hockey/The Rink Inside poll, prior to the Beanpot game. Terriers sit at #9 in the Pairwise.

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