300 Battles, 1 Pot of Beans (Beanpot Championship Preview)
The Terriers and Eagles will face off in their 300th Battle of Comm Ave with the Beanpot on the line
The 2026 Beanpot Championship will see the Boston University Terriers and Boston College Eagles meet for the second straight Beanpot final for the first time since 2006 and 2007.
First Round Recap
Before we preview the 73rd Beanpot final, let’s take a look back at the first round, where both finalist put things away early.
Semifinal 1: BC 5 Harvard 1
Drew Fortescue opened the scoring in the 73rd Beanpot at 3:10 in the first period. It was his first goal since November 14th and it ties a career high 4th of the season. At 13:11 and 15:21 identical stat lines of James Hagens from Oscar Hemming and Andre Gasseau gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead going into the first intermission. It was Hagens first multigoal game since November 28th vs Notre Dame in which he scored a hat trick.
30 seconds into the 2nd period Harvard’s Ryan Healey got the Crimson on the board with his third of the season. At the near mirror point of the period at 19:40 in the period Dean Letourneau restored the Eagles 3 goal lead with his team leading 15th of the season and first in the Beanpot on the power play.
In the third Lukas Gustafsson scored just his 11th career goal in 135 games, but his 2nd straight Beanpot semifinal goal on the power play at 18:55 in the period.
The Eagles move on to their second straight Beanpot Championship game for the first time since 2013 and 2014—both times facing NU and winning. The win was BC’s 14th over Harvard in the Beanpot semifinal and first since 2019. It was the Eagles first win over Harvard in a Beanpot semifinal by more than a goal since 2013, a 4-1 win.
Advanced Stats
Semifinal 2: BU 2 Northeastern 2 (BU wins shootout 2-1)
In the nightcap, Huskies’ leading scorer Dylan Hryckowian opened the scoring with his 1st power play goal of the season at 9:20 in the first period. It was his second career Beanpot goal and 15th goal of the season.
In the second, Jonathan Morello tied things up for the Terriers at 1:41 in the period. The goal was his 6th of the season and 6th in the City of Boston—4 at Agganis Arena, 1 at Bright-Landry Hockey Center, 1 at TD Garden. He is also the first Bruins prospect to score at TD Garden for BU since Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson vs. BC in the 2017 Beanpot semifinal. At 4:55 in the period Jacob Mathieu gave NU the lead back, Mathieu’s 2nd goal of the season against the Terriers. Just over 3 minutes late Nick Roukounakis tied things up at 7:44 in the period. Roukounakis has 4 points in his 3 Beanpot games and 8 points in all other games. Cole Hutson assisted on the goal and extends his point streak at the Garden to 4 games.
After a scoreless 3rd, the teams headed to overtime where a late game winning goal for the Terriers was wiped away due to an interference penalty. The Terriers killed the last 38 seconds of overtime a man down.
For the first time ever, the Beanpot semifinal headed to a shootout. Mikhail Yegorov stopped Giacomo Martino’s first attempt. Jack Harvey gave BU the lead after the first round. Dylan Hryckowian tied things up in the shoot out as Cole Eiserman’s 2nd round attempt was saved. In round three Jacob Mathieu saw his attempt saved. 2025 Beanpot MVP Cole Hutson stepped up, with the game on his stick and sent the Terriers to their 58th Beanpot Championship game as he shot trickled into the net.
The Terriers advanced past the Huskies for the first time since 2016. It was the Terriers 3rd “NCAA tie” in the Beanpot following two ties in 2020—Beanpot advanced in 2OT in the semifinal over BC and lost in 2OT in the final vs. NU. It was the Terrier men’s first time in a Beanpot shootout. The women’s squad has competed in 3 and advanced in their last 2 (2019 and 2024).
Advanced Stats
The Terriers won both OZone Faceoffs (56%-46%) and DZone Faceoff (54%-44%) while teams were even in NZone Faceoffs (50%-50%). BU held possession at EV 59% to 41%.
Cole Hutson has his second best career Game Score performance only behind last year’s Beanpot semifinal vs. Harvard (7.2736).
BU recorded 3 High Danger shots (1.17 xG) one of which resulted in Morello’s goal (.46 xG), one was saved (.46 xG), and one missed the net (.25 xG). NU recorded just 1 (.21 xG) which was saved.
BU dominate the xG differential from puck drop to the end of the game.
Battling Back
Consolation Game (4:30 pm): Northeastern vs. Harvard
For the second straight year Northeastern and Harvard will face off in the Beanpot Consolation game. NU are in the early game in back to back years for the first time since 2016 and 2017. Harvard is making their third straight appearance in the game.
NU enters (12-13-1, HEA (6th): 12-13-1) on a loss to UConn, shut out 0-2 at a game played at Bentley. The Huskies are winless in their last 5 and have just 2 wins since December 7th.
Harvard enters (12-10-1, ECAC (4th) 10-6-0) losers of two in a row. After losing to BC in round one on Monday (1-5), the Crimson fell to Dartmouth at home (1-3), Richard Gallant the lone goalscorer against the Big Green.
Harvard has played in 7 of the last 8 Beanpot Consolation games and 45th overall (21 thirds, 24 last place finishes). Northeastern has not won the game since 2017.
Championship Game (7:30 pm) BU vs. BC
The most played Championship Game matchup (23) in Beanpot history will get its 24th edition Monday night, as the Boston University Terriers take on the Boston College Eagles, in a rematch of the 2025 Title Game. It will be also be the 300th Battle of Comm Ave, TD Garden will take sole possession of 5th place as the site now 31 of the matchups.
The Defending Beanpot Champion BU (13-13-2, HEA (4th): 9-10-0) enter unbeaten in their last two following a shootout win in the semifinal with an overtime win over Maine (3-2). Ryder Ritchie, whose OT goal was wiped off the board on Monday, got the game winner for the Terriers. Jack Murtagh and Cole Eiserman both had goals.
BC (15-9-1, HEA (2nd): 10-6-0) come in on an up and down week. After putting up 5 against Harvard, the Eagles gave up 6 to Vermont in a 1-6 loss. James Hagens, the only goalscorer for the Eagles on the power play 47 seconds into the second. The goal which cut the deficit to 1-2 was followed up by 4 unanswered goals.
BU holds the edge in Beanpot Final matchups, 13-10, after winning last year’s final. This will be just the 3rd final between the rivals in which BU comes in with a win and BC comes in with a loss—1995 and 1997, both BU wins.
Last seasons final was first between the two not to go to OT since 2010 and first that was not a one goal game 2001 and the first three goal game since 2000.