Women make it a Beanpot double, in double OT, for Northeastern

It took seven years, then a three-hour, double-overtime game, but the Women’s Beanpot is headed back to Huntington Avenue.

No. 3 Northeastern topped No. 9 Boston University, 4-3, in double overtime at Walter Brown Arena on Tuesday night to win its first Beanpot championship since 2013, and its 17th in program history, in front of a tournament-record 1,790 fans.

Junior defender Lauren MacInnis potted the winner on a power play with 3:57 remaining in the 20-minute overtime period. Courtney Correa earned a penalty for body checking with 4:36 left, which allowed MacInnis to capitalize.

“A ton of emotions ran through my head,” MacInnis said. “I was like, ‘We won. We won Beanpot.’ I saw my teammates cheering, and I was kind of in shock.”

Northeastern’s Aerin Frankel (61 saves through two games) earned the Bertagna Award for best goaltender of the tournament, and Chloe Aurard (3 goals, 3 assists) earned Most Valuable Player.

The defending champion Terriers wasted no time going ahead, Kristina Schuler scoring her eighth goal of the season shorthanded at 4:55. She deked past Aerin Frankel to slip the puck over her right leg for a 1-0 lead.

The Huskies maintained composure through a penalty kill of their own before Chloe Aurard evened the score with 2:28 left in the first period. Then, at 6:33 of the second, the French winger tallied her 20th goal of the year to give the Huskies an advantage.

Northeastern’s defense weathered a huge blow for the second time this tournament, when Skylar Fontaine got involved in a scuffle in front of the BU net in the second period. She earned a major penalty and game misconduct for roughing, while the Terriers’ Breanna Scarpaci sat for two minutes at 8:55 of the second period. Fontaine, the Huskies’ starting left defender, has 30 points this season and had already put up 10 shots on goal at the time of her ejection.

MacInnis, who has appeared in 24 games for the Huskies, immediately stepped in to fill Fontaine’s empty slot on the power play.

“I was really nervous,” MacInnis said. “I’ve never played that many minutes in a game before. I was pretty tired. That’s when our mental toughness kicks in and we all have to step up. Not just me but everyone.”

BU emerged on the scoreboard and the stat sheet by the close of the middle frame, as Abby Cook — who potted the eventual winner during last week’s 4-0 semifinal win over Harvard — added an equalizer at 12:02 of the second. The Terriers held the advantage in shots (20-14), shots on goal (11-8), and faceoffs (11-4), but Northeastern took control in the third period, with 10 of the first 12 shots and, ultimately, 12 to BU’s six.

Freshman Jess Schryver scored on the power play with 5:19 left in the game to break the tie, and for four minutes and fifty-six seconds, the Huskies — already Hockey East regular-season champions — had a hand back on the trophy.

But BU captain Sammy Davis tied the game with 23 seconds to play. The teams immediately played a five-minute overtime, putting it officially in the scorebooks as a 3-3 tie, but played on until the Huskies reclaimed the championship.

“You witnessed a classic hockey game there,” said BU coach Brian Durocher. “Two teams that played their hearts out, displayed an awful lot of talent, compete, and toughness, and made their institutions awful proud, win or lose.”

Combined with NU’s 5-4, double-OT win at TD Garden over BU on Monday night, this is the first year since 2014 that a program has swept the Beanpots, and the first time Northeastern’s done it since 1988.

“For us to bring the Beanpot back to Northeastern, and then do it the same year the men did, is really a special moment for us, but also for the university,” said Northeastern coach Dave Flint. “It’s a tremendous feeling.”

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For the first time in two years, Boston College defeated No. 10 Harvard.

Tuesday’s night 3-1 victory in the Beanpot consolation game at Walter Brown Arena was more than just a tick in the win column. It was their first victory over a ranked opponent this season, and the first over Harvard — 7-1 winners at Kelley Rink on New Year’s Eve — since Jan. 16, 2018. It stopped a two-game skid for the Eagles, who were coming off two shutouts: 4-0 to Boston University in the first round of the Beanpot, and a 3-0 loss to New Hampshire over the weekend.

“When teams beat us pretty bad, we kind of get that motivation to get back and beat them and just work harder than them,” said freshman Hannah Bilka, who scored the Eagles’ final goal to secure the win midway through the second period. “Once we get in our groove, I don’t think anyone can beat us.”

Harvard came out strong offensively, winning the first seven faceoffs, while its defense killed an early Eagles power play and blocked six shots while senior Beth Larcom stopped all 11 that came her way.

Crimson sophomore Dominique Petrie, who returned to the lineup over the weekend after three weeks out, landed in the box for hooking at 9:12, and the Eagles (15-12-3) used the advantage to go ahead 37 seconds into the power play. BC freshman defender Alexie Guay accepted a pass from sophomore Kelly Browne in the low slot and worked her way around Harvard defender Sydney Sorkin to score her third goal of the year.

The second period opened similarly. The Crimson (13-11-1) struggled to capitalize on a period-opening power play, and back at full strength, Boston College senior Delaney Belinskas doubled the lead at 3:41 with a wrister from the left circle. The goal gave the Williston Northampton alumna a career-high 17 on the season, and put her one point away from entering the top 25 in scoring in program history.

Bilka, who led the nation’s rookies in points per game (1.19) heading into Tuesday’s contest, added a third when she deflected a shot from Hadley Hartmetz from the right post at 11:58.

Harvard finally got on the board with 8:36 left to play as Kristin Della Rovere, waiting at the post, deflected a shot from Anne Bloomer.

“When our [defense] got the puck, they weren’t as convicted about what they wanted to do with it,” said Harvard coach Katey Stone. “Early on, it was one of those weird games. Pucks are bouncing all over the place. All that was very unsettling. Our team can play a lot better, and I certainly hope they do down the stretch.”

The Crimson finished the night with nearly double the advantage in shot attempts (75-52) and faceoffs (41-23), but couldn’t string together anything offensively. The Boston College defense blocked 28 shots on the night, taking edge off of sophomore goaltender Kelly Pickreign in her first start since Jan. 17.

Pickreign, a Harvard, Mass. native and Nobles grad, made a career-high 36 saves. Larcom finished with 22 for the Crimson.

“[Pickreign] was just seeing the puck really well,” said Boston College coach Katie Crowley. “She was just very confident today, and I thought that was huge for us. Especially when you’re struggling to score goals, you want to try to keep them from scoring. I thought she did that for us, so we could go and relax a little bit.”