BU women's hockey falls to Northeastern 4-0 in Beanpot final at TD Garden

Today at 09:47 PM

BOSTON — The Boston University women's hockey team fell to Northeastern in the 46th Women's Beanpot championship, 4-0. 

It's the second consecutive season the No. 15 Huskies (15-8-1, 10-6-1 Hockey East) bested the Terriers (14-8-1, 11-4-1 HE) at TD Garden.

13,279 filed into the TD Garden for Tuesday's game, beating last year's mark of 10,633. It's the fifth-largest crowd ever for a Division I women's NCAA game. 

Here are three takeaways and a rundown of how it happened.

Northeastern's speed proved to be a problem

It was no secret that the Huskies had the speed advantage over the Terriers. Freshman Éloïse Caron and senior Skylar Irving both possess game-breaking speed.

On Tuesday, it was clear that BU's blue liners were wary of getting caught too far up the ice, which stopped the Terriers from getting out fast in transition.

The Huskies collective team speed forced BU from completing clean breakouts in the defensive zone, which led to Northeastern’s second goal. 

Both netminders stood tall

Senior Callie Shanahan and freshman Lisa Jönsson played well Tuesday night. Shanahan stopped 26 of the 29 shots she faced, and Jönsson continued her spectacular first collegiate season, stopping all 30 shots she faced. It was her sixth shutout of the season.

Shanahan didn't have a chance to stop Northeastern’s first goal, and on its second, her defense put her in a bad spot. Other than that, she kept the Terriers in the game. 

Jönsson was excellent for the entire 60 minutes. Standing at six feet, she has great command of her crease and rarely gives up rebounds, limiting second and third chances against her.

BU's offensive struggles continued

After being shut out Saturday against New Hampshire, the Terriers once again failed to muster high-danger chances on Tuesday. BU hasn’t scored in its past 120 minutes of play.

BU finished with 30 shots on goal, but very few were high-quality looks as Northeastern did a good job of blocking shots.

The Terriers had their opportunities with several odd-man rushes but either failed to get the puck on goal or tried to make the extra pass.

How it happened

Northeastern opened the scoring at 8:31 of the first. Graduate defenseman Lily Yovetich ripped a shot from the point, which deflected off senior forward Ani Fitzgerald's stick. Shanahan was unable to react in time as the puck sailed past her to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.

After senior defenseman Maggie Hanzel turned the puck over in the defensive zone, graduate forward Jaden Bogden fired a wide-angle shot. Shanahan saved the initial shot, but junior forward Lily Shannon buried the rebound to give Northeastern a 2-0 lead at 17:39 of the second.

40 seconds later, at 18:19, the Huskies extended their lead to 3-0. Bogden redirected a point shot from junior blue liner Jules Constantinople that squirted through Shanahan's five-hole.

Irving found the empty net from across the red line to extend the Northeastern lead to 4-0 at 17:16.