BOSTON -- Boston College isn’t used to back-to-back years of Beanpot misery.
The Eagles made 36 title game appearances in the tournament’s first 66 years of existence, but Monday’s 2-1 win over Harvard propelled them into finale for the first time since current Vegas Golden Knights forward Alex Tuch scored the only goal of the game in overtime to beat Boston University in 2016.
BC captain Casey Fitzgerald (North Reading, Mass.) and his current senior classmates were freshmen when the Eagles raised the ‘Pot on the second Monday of February, and it was this year’s class of rookies that played a huge role in getting the job done on the TD Garden stage.
Freshmen Patrick Giles and Jack McBain scored the only goals BC would need, while Quincy, Mass., native Oliver Wahlstrom, who was one of three Eagle newcomers from the region skating in a Beanpot game for the first time, set up the latter classmate’s game-winner at 12:22 of the third period.
“We really rely on those guys, so it was huge that they came out so strong tonight,” BC junior forward Graham McPhee said. “All of us on the team trust each other, and we think we’re going to get this thing done” next Monday against Northeastern. The Huskies and Eagles will be going head-to-head for the Beanpot title for the first time since 2014.
Wahlstrom has been a key cog in head coach Jerry York’s lineup of late after struggling throughout the first half of his first collegiate season and spending part of the semester break helping Team USA earn a silver medal at the World Junior Championship last month.
The 6-foot-2, 209-pound right winger had posted 1-1-2 lines in back-to-back games against UMass Lowell and Connecticut prior to assisting on McBain’s winner in the Beanpot. He was the No. 11 overall draft choice of the New York Islanders last June.
Adjusting to the college game can take time, and Wahlstrom has found that to be true. But he’s turning a corner at the right time and felt there was no better time to put his name on the scoresheet again than on one of the grandest stages in New England hockey.
“I’ll be honest, I was struggling,” Wahlstrom said of recording only four points through his first 14 collegiate games before heading to World Juniors. “That’s what every good player goes through, but you just have to bounce back and work even harder. I’m starting to get back into it right now and have to keep plowing away.
“It was really good for the four of us (freshmen) to contribute. We played well, and I thought everyone played well tonight. … I’m proud of the boys. It was a character win for our team.”
The win also snapped BC’s 25-game winless streak (0-21-4) in non-conference play. The Eagles beat Arizona State on Nov. 13, 2016 before, ironically, beginning the streak five days later over at Harvard.
The performance of Wahlstrom and his rookie classmates stood out to York, as did the play of junior goaltender Joseph Woll. The Maple Leafs prospect and St. Louis native, who has a pair of World Juniors stints on his collegiate resume, made 13 of his 27 saves against a pressing Crimson squad in the third period.
Woll’s strong play will, obviously, be crucial as the Eagles look to make up a three-point difference on first-place UMass in the Hockey East standings over the final weeks of the year.
But the continued emergence of Wahlstrom is also a key factor in the search to find secondary scoring behind the likes of David Cotton, who is tied for the league lead with 15 goals, and the junior left winger’s top linemates in senior Christopher Brown and sophomore Logan Hutsko.
“He started slow with us, which is expected, because sometimes a high draft pick, 18 years old, comes into a new program and it just takes a while to adjust,” York said of Wahlstrom. “Everyone says, 'Hey, score three goals' on the first night. The expectations are through the roof. … I think he came back from World Juniors full of confidence, and he’s going to have a huge impact on success in front of us as we look at the rest of our season.”
Wahlstrom wasn’t the only local to contribute to his team’s success on the first of two Beanpot Mondays.
Third-year defenseman John Marino (North Easton, Mass.) dropped a nifty pass to sophomore Henry Bowlby for Harvard’s lone goal in the late stages of the second period. Reilly Walsh (Andover, N.H.) also posted an assist on that play. Northeastern senior Liam Pecararo (Canton, Mass.) did the same with an assist to classmate Patrick Schule only 3:14 into Northeastern’s 2-1 overtime win over BU in the nightcap.
For Wahlstrom, there were, naturally, some jitters to shake out prior to the game. But he had some well-known experience on the Garden ice.
“It was fun (to take the ice) after growing up watching the Bruins, and I did that little spin-o-rama move (during the Bruins’ Mini 1-on-1 competition in 2009) on this rink. It was special to step out and play a full game.”
For Wahlstrom and fellow rookie Eagles, there will now be plenty of time to make more memories next Monday night.
Crimson power play stymied
A major key to BC’s victory was holding the potent Harvard power play to a 0-for-4 showing after it entered the game converting on 23 of 67 opportunities, good for a nation-leading 34.3 percent. The Crimson managed only six of their 28 shots on goal during man advantages in the game.
The secret? Not at all one, in fact.
“I told Joe Woll to make a lot of saves,” York laughed. “Your goalie has to be your penalty killer, especially against that power play, but we tried to key on (Harvard junior defenseman Adam) Fox. He’s as good an offensive defenseman as we’ve seen for a long, long time, and he distributes the puck so well. He’s a clear Hobey Baker candidate.”
Harvard has scored a power-play goal in 13 of its 21 games this season but the attack was shut down in back-to-back games and three of the last four.
Odds and ends
Both semifinal games were decided by the same score in a Beanpot for the first time since 2005 when BU beat BC and Northeastern needed double overtime to take down Harvard. The Terriers started a run of three consecutive titles with a 3-2 overtime win over Northeastern on the following Monday. …
Following the first Beanpot Monday, Northeastern ranks 11th in the PairWise, Harvard 17th, BU in a tie for 24th, and BC in a tie for 31st. …
BC finished fourth in back-to-back Beanpots for the first time since 1974 and 1975 after a 5-4 overtime loss to the Crimson in last year’s consolation game. York improved to 15-2 as BC’s head coach against Harvard in the Beanpot with this Monday’s win. …
Freshman Tyler Madden scored on a breakaway only 51 seconds into overtime to lift Northeastern in this Monday’s nightcap, putting the Huskies a win away from capturing back-to-back Beanpot titles since 1984 and 1985. Eighth-year Northeastern head coach Jim Madigan was a player on both of those teams. …
BU junior Jake Oettinger made 47 straight saves after allowing the goal to Schule on Northeastern’s first shot of the game. …
Prior to Monday, Northeastern had not beaten BU in a Beanpot game that went to overtime since the 1980 semifinal. The Huskies won the tournament for the first time ever that year. …
