BOSTON — Tuesday night, when the doors separating each team’s respective locker rooms from the ice opened, Boston College and Northeastern University staged more than an ordinary hockey game. Taking part in the 46th edition of The Dunkin’ Women’s Beanpot, the two teams entered the ice beneath flashing lights and a roaring, record crowd as warriors in the storied coliseum that is Matthews Arena.
Now in his seventeenth year at the helm of the women’s hockey program, Northeastern head coach Dave Flint had never seen a crowd as sizeable, nor as energetic, as the 3,298 fans who piled into Boston’s 115-year old arena Tuesday night. With the useful life of the iconic arena rapidly waning, Huskies faithful, Eagles fanatics, and Boston hockey fans alike took to their seats for what was likely the final Beanpot game to be contested on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and St. Botolph Street.
In a historic night, the crowd – which set records for the largest attendance for a women’s Beanpot game at a campus site, and the largest for a home game in Northeastern women’s hockey history – exited the arena’s archaic doors as witnesses of a Northeastern 4-2 victory.
With the win, the Huskies can set their sights on another piece of history; a Beanpot three-peat.
Coming off of a 3-0 loss on Nov. 30 in the sole meeting of the season against their opponents from Chestnut Hill, the Huskies entered Tuesday’s contest with doubts. Doubts about the ability for the four offensive lines to match the production of the Eagles’ star-studded first line, doubts about the lockdown defense’s ability to contribute offensively, and doubts surrounding the ability for the entire team to outlast an opponent steadied by the consistent play of junior goaltender Grace Campbell.
Luckily for the home crowd, they wouldn’t have to wait long before the Huskies broke the deadlock. Picking up a neutral zone saucer pass from freshman compatriot Éloïse Caron, freshman winger Morgan Jackson followed up a sleek toe drag by depositing a snapper from the high slot past Campbell with 9:56 remaining in the opening frame.
“It means a lot,” Jackson said when reflecting on her opening goal. “Especially for the players who wore the jersey, just getting that win and playing as a team, it felt really good.”
A mere 56 seconds later, captain Taze Thompson extended the Huskies’ lead, locating junior defender Jules Constantinople’s deflected slapshot and steering it above Campbell’s glove-side shoulder.
With the momentum in their favor, and the celebrations in The Doghouse testing Matthews Arena’s structural integrity, Northeastern continued to hold the Eagles’ defense under siege.
The Huskies injected the confidence earned from its tenacious play into its struggling power play. After cycling the puck behind the Boston College net and to the right-side point, Northeastern earned its third goal of a dominant opening period when senior defender Tory Mariano unleashed a snapshot, which only slowed when it rippled the twine above Campbell’s blocker and landed behind the red line.
“It’s always nice to get some scoring from the back end, and the D really stepped up,” Flint said. “They logged a lot of minutes and they stepped up.”
For Northeastern, a third goal was invaluable – the Huskies entered Tuesday with a 7-0-1 record this season when scoring three or more goals.
The Eagles, who featured eight different players to have posted multi-goal games in their opening three contests of 2025, had come out of the gates slower than anticipated. But before the buzzer could sound on what had been a catastrophic opening twenty minutes for Boston College, team scoring leader Sammy Taber shoveled a backhand effort beyond freshman goaltender Lisa Jönsson to breathe life into a team whose wings had appeared clipped.
“Our team was excited after putting one in,” said head coach Katie Crowley about the late first period goal. “We have great leaders and great players in there, and they all believe that they could come back out and win a game. We just weren’t able to put enough in today.”
For Boston College, Northeastern’s auspicious start was too much to overcome, especially when clawing back from a two goal deficit requires getting the better of Jönsson, the freshman phenom in net. Entering Tuesday’s contest, the Swede led the nation in both goals against average (1.00) and save percentage (0.959).
Through several phenomenal saves, including multiple series requiring use of her legs and glove in quick succession, Jönsson anchored a Northeastern team whose failure to maintain a two-goal lead could have altered the nature of the contest quickly.
“They threw everything in the kitchen sink out,” Flint remarked. “She made some huge saves when it was 3-1 in the second period there – all of a sudden it gets to 3-2 and that can be a different outcome. She stepped up and I’m really proud of her performance.”
Northeastern’s penalty kill, operating at 93.3% efficiency entering Tuesday’s showdown, was tied for best in the country. Pairing that with stats showing Northeastern as a team tied for fifth in the nation in the shutout category, it is clear that the Huskies are a team characterized by a robust defensive unit who succeed at keeping the puck far away from their own net.
When Jackson was identified as the culprit for a tripping penalty in the final five minutes of the second period, Northeastern leaned into its shorthanded strength to bring its opponent back to earth.
Throughout the first two periods, the Huskies’ ability to win puck battles in transition powered their ability to limit the offensive firepower of Boston College, or even allow them meaningful time on the puck. This, paired with its success on the penalty kill, delivered tangible results when Lilly Shannon pickpocketed an attempted BC stretch pass and held off the defender en route to tucking a fourth goal past Campbell’s outstretched left pad.
When the second period came to a close, Northeastern led 4-1 and restored its three goal lead.
In a back-and-forth third period, the two teams exchanged perimeter chances before graduate student winger Gaby Roy picked the needle out of the haystack of players in Jönsson’s goal crease and grabbed a consolation goal back for Boston College.
When the final horn sounded, Northeastern came away with the 4-2 victory, and the opportunity to win a third Beanpot title in as many years was clinched.
But beyond the scoreline and the accolades, Northeastern’s thrilling win on home ice represents far more than a chance at some hardware.
“In 17 years, we’ve never seen a crowd like that,” Flint said. “It’s just gotten better and better, and this band support, the support from the university; it’s tremendous, [and it is] one of the reasons we’ve been successful.”
From playing for the women who came before them and an amassed 19 Beanpot titles, to growing the program to fill an arena whose charm will soon only be accessible through archives, Northeastern women’s hockey made a statement Tuesday night: a statement that something special is brewing, and the Northeast should take notice.
The Huskies return to the ice for a home-and-home set against Providence this weekend before next Tuesday’s Beanpot final game at TD Garden against Boston University. Written coverage will be provided following Friday’s matchup in Providence. WRBB will return to the air on Saturday, with Amelia Ballingall, Armaan Vij, and Emma Sullivan on the air for puck drop at 3 p.m. from Matthews Arena.