Women’s Beanpot 2023: Preview

Feb 7, 2023 - 5:00 PM

Welcome to the biggest two weeks of the year folks, time to award some cookery. Every year, other then the COVID induced blackout period, the four area schools get together talk some trash and decide who deserves the whole pot of beans. On the men’s side is is traditionally Boston University’s to claim, with Boston College being their traditional foil. However, on the women’s side Northeastern reigns supreme, with Harvard nipping at their heels.

Harvard

Championships: 15

Last Title: 2022

Last Tournament: 1st Place (Beat BC 5-4 in Championship)

Prediction: 4th Place

Record against other teams this year: 0-1

Harvard is in turmoil. No we aren’t talking about the off the ice issues though those are big and likely part of the issue. In the calendar year the Crimson have won only three games out of 10. One of those was an overtime escape against last place Dartmouth and other was a win over a weak RPI team, surprisingly they do have a win at Cornell and a tie against St. Lawrence. The off ice issues can’t be good for the locker room and one can only wonder how that will factor.

Their lone meeting with a Beanpot school was a road trip to Chestnut Hill, previewing their semifinal, that did not go well.

Having lost badly to their semifinal opponent and not playing well of late it looks like Harvard will have to wait another year to close the gap on NU for total titles.

Boston University

Championships: 2* (*Their first title in 1981 was as a club program.)

Last Title: 2019

Last Tournament: 4th Place (Lost to NU 0-3 in Consolation)

Prediction: 3rd Place

Record against other teams this year: 0-3

The Terriers have been bad this season. You can’t say anything else about a season in which you lose the season series to Holy Cross, including on the big stage of Fenway Park. Though of late they have not lost since their final Holy Cross game in OT, their last regulation loss was a thumping at the hands of their semifinal opponent.

BU will finish their season series against BC between Beanpot weeks, possibly playing them next week as well, and ends the season with Northeastern. So far though they have lost all of their meetings being shutout once by each, they were able to almost take BC at home but were unable to recover from a 5-1 deficit.

Boston University should not win their game tonight, but we said that about BC last year and that was in Matthews, so a BU team that has been hot of late could be the team to utterly destroy Northeastern’s season. They should be the favorites in the consolation over Harvard if that is the matchup that comes to be.

Boston College

Championships: 8

Last Title: 2018

Last Tournament: 3rd Place (Lost to Harvard 4-5 in Championship)

Prediction: 2nd Place

Record against other teams this year: 3-3

Boston College has been a weird hit or miss team this season. Last weekend they shutout Providence which was a shock and leaves them open to a move into third in Hockey East. Issue is two weeks before they were garnering some votes in polls then lost to both UNH and Maine.

When playing Northeastern they have not scored a goal in three games, in their three against BU and Harvard they have a combined for 13. They play at Walter Brown this Saturday regardless of tonights results but could garner another meeting next Tuesday.

The Eagles got a little lucky with their semifinal matchup, a reeling Crimson squad rather then a streaking Terriers. They should make it to the late game again and will look to excise some demons against NU in it.

Northeastern

Championships: 17

Last Title: 2020

Last Tournament: 3rd Place (Beat BU 3-0 in Consolation)

Prediction: 1st Place

Record against other teams this year: 4-0

Northeastern is one of the hottest if not the hottest team in the country right now. They have lost only two games this season both on the road one by a single goal and had a tie that they took the shootout point. They clinched the Hockey East regular season trophy in January and have been rolling.

In their three meetings with BC they won by an aggregate score of 7-0 and beat BU 6-0. They will wrap their regular season with a two game series with Boston University.

Once again the tournament is Northeastern’s to lose. If they do not take both games in regulation they will have a lot more lost other then just the trophy as the PWR is tight for them in the race for home ice. The Huskies are playing well even in the high pressure games and should take care of business.