Kooper blog

N'eastern and Boston College to play for Beanpot

BOSTON – Boston College will play Northeastern for the 59th Beanpot championship.

Tommy Cross scored on a power play with 3:17 gone in overtime Monday night and BC beat Green Line rival Boston University 3-2 to advance to the title game.

BU will play in the consolation game for just the third time in 28 years. The Terriers will play Harvard, which lost to Northeastern 4-0 earlier Monday.

BC (20-6-0) is the defending Beanpot and NCAA champion and the No. 1 team in the nation. BU (13-8-7) had dominated the Beanpot, winning 29 titles to equal all three other teams combined.

Jimmy Hayes and Philip Samuelsson also scored for BC, and John Muse stopped 34 shots.

Wade Megan and Corey Trivino scored for BU. Kieran Millan made 37 saves.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BOSTON (AP) — Northeastern took care of the easy part in its quest for its first Beanpot title since 1988.

The Huskies beat Harvard 4-0 in the first round of the college hockey tournament on Monday, reaching the championship game by taking advantage of the pairing against the other Beanpot also-ran. Next up for Northeastern: either defending champion Boston College or perennial Beanpot power Boston University.

Those schools have won 44 of the 58 Beanpot titles — and the last three NCAA championships, too. That's why Harvard and Northeastern played the early game in front of a sparse crowd before fans filled out the TD Garden for the main event between BC and BU.

"I think we've got a little of a mentality of, `When are they going to win this thing?' and they're sick of it," Northeastern coach Greg Cronin said. "We don't get to the finals that often. They should come out and see it."

Mike McLaughlin scored twice and Chris Rawlings stopped 41 shots for his fifth shutout of the season for Northeastern (9-11-6).

Harvard (4-18-0) has not won the Beanpot since 1993.

The tournament pits the area's four college hockey powers against each other on the first two Mondays in February, rotating the first-round matchups, so BU and BC meet in the first round only once every three years. That has proven the best chance for Harvard or Northeastern to reach the championship.

Boston College won last year on its way to its second NCAA title in three years, and the Eagles (20-6-0) are the No. 1 team in the nation. No. 14 BU, which won the national championship in 2009, has 29 Beanpot titles — as many as the other three schools combined.

The Terriers won their last two years ago when they beat Northeastern 5-2 in the title game. The Huskies beat BC in the opening round in '09 — the first time they had beaten anyone other than Harvard in the first round since '88.