Eagles Storm to Beanpot Final

The 59th Annual Beanpot is only halfway done, but the excitement level has certainly risen to a championship caliber thus far. Last night marked the opening round of this year's Beanpot, and it pitted Harvard against Northeastern before Boston College against Boston University in the latter game of the evening. After Northeastern stoned the Crimson, 4-0, the stage was set for college hockey's greatest rivalry.

It was an unreal atmosphere going to this historic game for the first time as a BC student. The T-Storm saw hundreds of Superfans lining up outside of the green line subway station to pack the train cars and stampede through the city en route to Boston's beloved Garden. When the train broke down, though, the Eagles faithful scrambled to find cab cars and buses to make their trek to the site of the action. By the time the puck was dropped, the balcony sections behind each team's goal were packed full of students -- half from BC, half from BU -- hollering spiteful chants at one another.

The Eagles drew first blood with less than six minutes to go in the first period when Philip Samuelsson fired a shot from the left boards that deflected off BU defenseman (and Bruins prospect) David Warsofsky and over the shoulder of goaltender Keiran Millan for a 1-0 BC lead. Just 38 seconds later, though, the Terriers pulled even with sophomore winger Wade Megan's sizzler past John Muse's blocker side. Then, early in the second, BU's Corey Trivino notched the go-ahead goal as he snapped a loose puck through Muse's five-hole for a 2-1 Terriers lead.

Boston College appeared to tally the equalizer late in the second when Pat Mullane crashed the net and seemed to have pushed the puck over the goal line, but the call on the ice was no-goal. Video review lacked conclusive evidence, so the call on the ice stood and the Superfan section made their displeasure heard loudly and clearly.

But five minutes into the third period, Eagles forward Jimmy Hayes erased any doubt in the minds of the faithful when he fired a feed from Mullane past Millan's glove side to knot the score at 2-2. That was when the fun stuff really began.

The Terriers got back-to-back power plays in the final five minutes of the game on two cross-checking penalties by Boston College, and they peppered the BC goal. John Muse made some spectacular saves in the most critical moments, and the Eagles were able to get clears on the brink of collapse each time. At the end of the second kill, Samuelsson jumped out of the box and was sprung for a clean breakaway, bringing the entire house to its feet. Millan stood tall between the pipes for BU, though, stoning Samuelsson's deke attempt with 51 seconds remaining. Millan also turned aside a last-second chance by the Eagles and sent the game to overtime.

It didn't take long for the overtime momentum to establish itself at the Garden. End-to-end action in the first minute -- most of the pressure applied by the Eagles -- led to a penalty on Boston University and critical power play chance in overtime for Boston College. They didn't let it pass them by, and a future Bruin capped off the instant classic with a memorable goal.

United States Junior Olympic defenseman Brian Dumoulin slid a pass over to fellow defenseman Tommy Cross at the blue line, and Cross danced across the line before snapping a shot toward goal. The puck soared past multiple players in the slot before getting the slightest piece of a BU shin pad and continuing past Millan's glove side. The goal light flashed red and the near-side stands erupted. As John Muse celebrated down the other end of the ice, the Boston University fan section flooded to the exits behind him. The Superfans were rejoicing at 3:17 of the first overtime session, where future Bruin Tommy Cross delivered the game-winning power play strike.

The Superfans will all be flooding back to the green line en route to the Garden next Monday night when they will compete for their 16th Beanpot title against the Northeastern Huskies. The Huskies, led by captain Tyler McNeely and goaltender Chris Rawlings, will look to win their 5th Beanpot title and dethrone the nation's #1 ranked team. It will be difficult for the excitement level to top last night's showcase, but all bets are off when you're talking about a tournament so prestigious, so historic, and with so much pride and tradition at stake.