Tuesday, February 03, 2026

Hutson shootout goal sends Terriers to Beanpot final

BU men’s hockey team celebrates after winning Beanpot shootout  

                Photo credit Eliza Nuestro 

Last year's Beanpot MVP came through in the clutch once again. Cole Hutson, who created numerous scoring opportunities during regulation and overtime, scored the decisive shootout goal that sent the Terriers back to the tournament championship game with a chance to defend their title.

With the shootout win, BU advances to the final for the 58th time in 73 tournaments. In a rematch of last year's championship game, they'll face BC who disposed of Harvard with a 5-1 win.  BU has reached the title game in seven of the last nine tournaments, winning in 2015, 2022 and 2025.

Image 

Check back for updates 

In a game filled with non-stop action, BU responded twice to overcome one-goal deficits resulting in a 2-2 tie with the Huskies following a scoreless overtime.  Along with Hutson, Jack Harvey connected in the shootout while Dylan Hryckowian had the only goal for Northeastern.

Both BU goals came in the second period from the third line with Jonathan Morello and Nick Roukounakis finding the net. 

BU appeared to win the game in the final minute of overtime when Ryder Ritchie rifled a shot past NU's Lawton Zacher, but an interference call on Gavin McCarthy on the play negated the goal. 

While the Terriers scored just twice, they dominated offensive zone possession, held a 38-26 shot advantage and had more than double that number in shot attempts.  

"I really liked our effort tonight," said Coach Jay Pandolfo. "From start to finish, we really played well. We only scored two goals again…I think we had 87 shot attempts, and we had the puck a lot tonight. It’s too bad we couldn’t win it in regulation or overtime, but we got the job done. We really needed that."

He added, "Obviously, it’s been a struggle recently, but we had to have this game to have a chance to defend the Beanpot and now we have that opportunity."

Similar to Friday's loss to BC, BU played a strong opening period, skating hard and creating scoring chances, only to find itself down, 1-0, after 20 minutes. The Huskies converted on a power play midway through the period with Terrier nemesis Dylan Hryckowian scoring from the left circle.

BU came closest to tying the score late in the period when Ben Merrill hit the crossbar and then when Zacher robbed Cole Eiserman with a 5-bell save. 

Terriers got that equalizer just two minutes into the second period. Charlie Trethewey took a pass from Sascha Boumedienne and made a power move to the bottom of the left circle. His centering pass was deflected home by Morello for his sixth tally of the season. 

Northeastern regained the lead at the five minute mark, scoring on the rush with Jacob Mathieu beating Mikhail Yegorov from the right circle. 

At 7:44 BU tied the score on a 2-on-1 rush. From the BU end, Hutson sent the puck up the boards to Roukounakis. The sophomore muscled past one defender, around another, and skated into the offensive zone with Ritchie. From the left circle, he wired a shot high over Zacher's blocker for his fifth of the season. 

Moments later the Huskies nearly retook the league on a breakaway. The shot missed the net but Yegorov had to make a big time save on a second attempt. 

Yegorov came up even bigger midway through the third period. BU had limited NU to just three shots when Hutson wiped out behind the Terrier net and the puck came to Hrykowian just outside crease. Big Mike fought off the shot, keeping the score tied.

Later in the period both teams clanged shots off iron. Tynan Lawrence skated into the offensive zone 1-on-3 and made his way to the slot, but his initial shot and two follow-up attempts were defended by Zacher.  

With the shootout score tied at 1-1, Yegorov stopped the Huskies' third shooter, setting the stage for Hutson heroics. Not the first time we've used that phrase. 

Yegorov made 24 saves including several of the highlight-reel variety. 

Terriers won 35 of 61 draws led by Lawrence with 13 of 21 and Kamil Bednarik with nine of 15.  

● GoTerriers.com recap and box score

● Video Highlights 

● Beanpot photo gallery

●  Post-game: Pandolfo, Hutson, Roukounakis

● Boston Hockey Blog BU downs Northeastern in shootout to advance to Beanpot final: Takeaways 

● College Hockey News It's BU, BC Again in Beanpot Final  

Looking back

Evan Rodrigues scored his 10th goal in Florida's 5-3 loss to surging Buffalo. 

Macklin Celebrini scored his 28th goal and assisted on another but the Sharks were doubled up by Chicago, 6-3. Matt Grzelcyk recorded an assist for Chicago. 

In a battle of U.S. Olympic Team goalies, Jake Oettinger outdueled Connor Hellebuyck at Dallas beat Winnipeg in overtime, 4-3. 

 

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Site Meter