When the 2024-25 hockey season started, it was hard to say where the two-time reigning women’s Beanpot champions stood.
The Northeastern women’s hockey team fought through an up-and-down first half of the season, struggling to win back-to-back games with a power play percentage near the bottom of the NCAA, while still claiming big wins over ranked opponents like Penn State and Quinnipiac. Meanwhile, Beanpot rivals Boston College and Boston University elbowed their way up the national rankings, earning recognition of their own. Now, the crosstown trio sits neck-and-neck at the top of the conference and within the top 15 of the national Pairwise rankings.
The Huskies are currently ranked fourth in Hockey East, but ahead of them lie UConn, who the Huskies swept back in November; BU, who the Huskies split with in October; and BC, one of few teams to give Northeastern outright trouble in their sole contest so far this season.
However, that’s who Northeastern faces first in the Beanpot.
Northeastern absolutely locks it down on the back end. They’re a defense-first program, and that especially shines in their goaltending and penalty killing. The Huskies and freshman netminder Lisa Jönsson boast nation-leading marks in many categories — including a 93.3% penalty kill team wide, plus a .959 save percentage and a 1.005 goals against average for Jönsson – but BC was able to break down those walls in their 3-0 victory Nov. 30. The third goal was an empty-netter, but the other two both came on the advantage for the Eagles. Only one technically counted as a power-play goal — the only power-play goal against Jönsson in her 11 collegiate starts — but the other came just as the two-minute minor expired, before the Huskies could get their fifth skater back into position.
The problem was letting BC get net-front. With one goal a deflection in the paint and the other a rip from mid-slot, the Eagles took up territory in prime scoring locations.
The Huskies especially need to keep an eye on Hockey East scoring leaders Sammy Taber and Abby Newhook. Each of these veteran forwards potted one in the latest Eagles-Huskies battle, and haven’t let up all season long, with 23 and 19 points respectively.
On the other end, the Huskies just couldn’t get it going on the scoring front against BC.
Junior netminder Grace Campbell (.927 SV%, 1.94 GAA) is formidable between the pipes, but not impenetrable. The Huskies put up 10 goals on her last season, and while the main thorns in her side — namely Peyton Anderson, Megan Carter, and Katy Knoll — have graduated out of the program, Northeastern’s depth scoring has finally started to get rolling in 2025, which could be beneficial against BC.
Since the New Year, the Huskies have gone 3-0 with at least three goals in each game and contributions up and down the ice. The return of Allie Lalonde has been huge for Northeastern. The sophomore forward already has two assists under her belt, but more importantly, the lines have shaken out to a place where they just click. Lalonde centers a youthful, but dangerous, second line flanked by freshmen Éloïse Caron and Morgan Jackson. Behind a top line of Jaden Bogden, Skylar Irving, and Lily Shannon, Northeastern’s top-6 is dangerous enough, but add to that captain Taze Thompson’s work in the dirty areas and Jules Constantinople’s blue-line blasts, just to name a few, and the Huskies put up a well-rounded scoring front.
It certainly won’t be an easy task. After getting stung in a 1-1 tie and subsequent shootout loss to UConn to open the second half of the season, BC took out its frustration in back-to-back shutouts over Maine (5-0) and UNH (4-0).
Furthermore, The last time these two teams met in the Beanpot was the 2023 championship round, where the Huskies took home the trophy with a 2-1 victory.
In what’s bound to be an electric competition, the Huskies will seek to earn their third-straight Beanpot title, starting with a BC-Northeastern semifinal on home ice.
The Beanpot tournament begins Tuesday, January 14. Harvard and BU get the earlier slate of the semifinal at 4:30 p.m., while the puck drop for the Huskies-Eagles competition is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Zeno Minotti, Emma Sullivan, and Chase Alexander will have the call of this highly-anticipated night live from Matthews Arena on 104.9 WRBB.